Apple applied for a new patent prohibiting texting while driving.

Apple applied for a new patent prohibiting texting while driving.

Abstract: According to news reports, yesterday (Tuesday, April 22nd), the US Patent and Trademark Office disclosed a new patent application of Apple. With this patent, the iPhone can judge whether the user is driving. If the user is driving, the mobile phone will automatically turn off the SMS function, thus avoiding the traffic accident caused by the user's distraction by texting while driving.

The patent name published by the US Patent and Trademark Office is "Driver Handheld Computer Equipment Locking", and the patent number is 8706 143. Its implementation is divided into two parts:

The first part is to judge whether the user is driving. The user does not need to make any input, and the on-board sensor judges whether the user is in a driving state;

The second part is the transmission of locking signal. The car can transmit the lock signal to the iPhone, effectively preventing users from sending and receiving text messages while driving or using other functions of the smartphone.

The picture shows a screenshot of the patent.

If there is no signal input from the car, the iPhone will rely on the data provided by the motion analyzer and the scene analyzer to decide whether to activate the locking mechanism. According to this document, accelerometers, light sensors, cameras, GPS receivers and other sensing components are used to process raw data.

The motion analyzer monitors whether the motion speed of the equipment reaches the corresponding threshold, and then judges whether the equipment is in the moving car. In order to make the system more accurate, the data collected by GPS and accelerometer on iPhone is used to judge whether the user is running, walking or cycling. The scene analyzer is more complicated. It judges whether the user is in the "safe operation area" by collecting and processing scene pictures. For example, the analyzer can take photos or videos. If the face and steering wheel appear in the photo, it proves that the user is sitting in the driver's seat. If the analyzer "sees" two faces, one in the driver's seat and the other in the passenger's seat or back seat, the device may conclude that it is in a safe area.

The picture shows a screenshot of the patent.

Part 2 is much simpler. Communicate with cars through radio signals on RFID or iPhone. Vehicle sensors, wireless ignition keys or other similar sensor devices can send locking signals to nearby mobile phones, turn off short messages and other functions. It is worth noting that users can choose which functions to turn off when driving. It is unclear whether Apple will apply this patent to future versions of iOS, and CarPlay system does not seem to have this feature. As mentioned in the patent application document: "This is a sales technology that will promote legislation and require all handheld computing devices to turn off text messages and other functions that distract drivers while driving."

Bian Xiao believes that this function can be realized on mobile phones, which can really improve driving safety.

This article is the latest information of the report compiled by Pacific Auto Network.

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