Apple Patent Application Details Temporary Location-Specific iPhone Applications
Patently Apple points to a
newly-published patent application from Apple describing temporary proximity-based or location-based applications that could appear on a user's iPhone or other mobile device when in a specific area. Content would be managed by a central server that would pair a device's location as relayed by Wi-Fi connections or other means and deliver appropriate applications based on that location.
The idea is simple. Deliver a location based service to information savvy iPhone users that wish to receive temporary retail and service-based applications. Imagine standing at the entrance of a restaurant and viewing their menu on your iPhone or entering a public library and being able to access their database. The minute you leave the library or the front of that restaurant, the app disappears so that you don't clog up your iPhone with hundreds of local business apps.
In the patent application, Apple offers several examples of how this technology might be used:
- Restaurant: The patent application describes two possible uses of location-based temporary applications that could prove useful to a user approaching a restaurant. The first is a "Wait Time" icon that would automatically tell the user how long the current wait is to be seated at the desired restaurant. A second "Place Order" icon could allow users to access a restaurant's menu on their device and submit their food orders electronically.
- Public Library: Upon entering a library, a user could see an application automatically appear on their device that would allow them to search the library's digital database of books and other content without having to secure a position at one of the library's linked computers. The application could then automatically disappear from the user's device once they exit the building.
The patent application is solely credited to Apple engineer Scott Herz and was filed in November 2008.
Popular Stories
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...