Apple is looking to invent technology that would protect falling iPhones

[RaduTyrsina]

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When we buy an expensive device like the iPhone, we tend to operate it with the utmost of care. Dropping it on hard surfaces, or worst, in water, might prove detrimental to our efforts and expenses. But Apple is trying to come up with a solution to fix these issues and help even its more clumsy users.

With this intent in mind, the company has published with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a filing dubbed “Protective Mechanism for an Electronic Device”. The technology is based on a sensor which will detect the moment when the iPhone is in a state of falling. The sensors Apple is probably going use are the GPS and imaging sensors. These li​​ttle sensing machines will have to work in concert with a processor. The processor will be implemented in order to calculate the speed at which the object is falling and the approximate time it will hit the ground.

The complex engineering comes into place in the next step. Apple teams working on the project have to figure out how the device can be reoriented while still being in free fall, as to shield the important components. The patent lists some solutions – a thrust mechanism which they compare to a can of gas, for example.

Other possible solutions to the equation are also brought into question in the patent. The filing details a technology that would imply the existence of internal motors clutching on cables in order to cushion the fall.

Source: AppleInsider