Future iPhones, iPads may change the user interface depending on which accessories are attached. Apple has been granted a patent (number 11553070 B2) for “dynamic user interface schemes for an electronic device based detected accessory devices.”
About the patent
The patent involves electronic devices — especially electronic devices and accessories that use near-field wireless communication systems to dynamically alter the operation of the electronic devices. Obviously handheld electronic devices such as the iPhone and iPad display input objects such as icons, buttons, keys, and other graphical objects with which a user may interact to control the devices and their various functions. The devices may also display output objects, such as text or images, that convey information to the user.
According to Apple’s patent, carious different types of accessories may be configured to use near-field wireless communication systems to affect the operational modes and/or characteristics of devices that are using those accessories. For example, a protective case for an iPhone may be configured to change the operational mode of the mobile phone in one manner, while charging docks change the operational mode of the mobile phone in another manner, while an “alarm clock” docking accessory changes the operational mode of the smartphone in yet another manner.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s (somewhat technical and long-winded) abstract of the patent: “A method includes, at a computer system with a display, a housing, and an attachment mechanism, detecting attachment of an accessory to the computer system, where the accessory, while attached, has a predetermined orientation relative to the attachment mechanism, and in response to detecting the attachment of the accessory to the computer system in accordance with a determination that the accessory is a first accessory with first physical dimensions, displaying, on the display, a first visual indication that the accessory has been attached to the computer system, wherein the first visual indication indicates at least one property of the first physical dimensions, and in accordance with a determination that the accessory is a second accessory with second physical dimensions that are different from the first physical dimensions, displaying, on the display a second visual indication that the accessory has been attached to the computer system, wherein the second visual indication indicates at least one property of the second physical dimensions and the second visual indication is different from the first visual indication.”
