If you thought the purpose of iPhone’s camera was to take photos then think again.
Folks at Patently Apple have stumbled upon an interesting Apple patent that involves using the iPhone camera to detect finger swipes across the camera lens coupled with accelerometer to detect tapping input to supplement the finger swipes.
The patent application describes how the camera lens and accelerometer will be used to control iPhone:
In one embodiment, to access his voice mailbox, a user may tap the phone to cause playback of a message to pause, tap the phone again to resume playback, swipe his finger over the camera lens in one direction to fast forward playback, and swipe his finger over the camera lens in another direction to rewind playback. These actions allow the user to control functions of voicemail review without removing the device from over his ear.
In another embodiment, functions for controlling call features utilize similar user actions or motions. Features such as merging multiple calls, putting a call on hold, and switching between or among multiple simultaneous calls may be controlled by single or double (or any number of) taps of the device, as detected by an accelerometer of the device. These taps may be preprogrammed by a manufacturer, or selected and programmed by a user.
I really like the concept of using iPhone’s camera and accelerometer to control functions of voicemail.
However, it is important to note here that Apple like so many other companies, patents ideas and so these features might never see the light of day.
But I hope this one makes it to the feature list in the next generation iPhone OS.
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