You can already interact with your Apple Watch by physical movements; namely, raising your wrist to “wake it up.” A new patent filing (number 20190018506) shows that Apple is looking at ways to take this to the next level.
It involves the smartwatch performing an operation in response to a positioning of a user’s hand and/or an orientation of the electronic device. In the patent filing, Apple notes that devices configured to be worn by a user can allow a user to view and respond to various types of alerts, such as text messages, emails, voicemails, and calendar alerts. The tech giant says that user interfaces that enable a reduced-size electronic device to be efficiently used for viewing and responding to alerts are desirable.
Apple’s idea is for the Apple Watch to be able to perform actions pre-set by the user based on how the user tilts her wrist, rotates her arm, etc. One example: you might answer an incoming call on a cellular-enabled Apple Watch by raising your wrist and tilting it slightly.
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
