Apple Patent Hints At Smart Stay Like Feature For Future iOS Devices

The Smart Stay feature was introduced by Samsung last year when it launched the Galaxy S3. Basically what this feature does is that it detects whether or not the user is looking at the screen, if the user’s eyes move away from the display, its dimmed and turned off. If the user’s eyes are affixed on the display, then Smart Stay does not auto-dim and prevents it from being turned off automatically. Its pretty useful in instances such as when the user is reading for long periods of time. According to a patent application of Apple, the Cupertino company may bring a similar feature to future iOS devices.

Its called “Electronic devices with gaze detection capabilities,” the technology described in this patent will make use of the device’s accelerometer and its front camera. The former will be used to judge whether a user is holding the still and the latter will then use face detection to judge whether the user’s eyes are on or off the display.

This patent application is fairly recent, it was filed earlier this year in January. We remain skeptical about technologies described in patents, some of it never sees the light of day. However, there exists a possibility that Apple might introduce this feature in iOS 7 since its major rival is already offering it. [Image via Unwiredview]

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Apple
Tags: iOS 7, patents