AppleInsider discovered today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published a patent application from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) entitled “Method and Apparatus for Automatically Adjusting the Operation of Notifications Based on Changes in a Physical Activity Level.”
Essentially, iOS notifications would be adjusted based on your physical activity levels by silencing the iPhone when it knows that you are exercising or telling you to get off your fat ass and walk around if had has decided that you’re not moving around enough.
Don’t tell me what to do
While Fox News constantly rails against First Lady Michelle Obama for asking people to eat healthier or something as benign as suggesting that drinking water is good for you, this looks like something they might rightfully attack, and if they like AppleInsider stumble across it they likely will.
The patent application repeatedly makes reference to the “Do Not Disturb” function that Apple rolled out when it introduced iOS 6 to its hundreds of millions of users, now it looks like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would like users to enable a simple setting that would tell the phone that you’re busy working out or exercising. Presumably, it will know the difference between people in New York who walk quickly less they get trampled versus a snowbird with a recently replaced hip that walks the air-conditioned malls of Florida for exercise.
As well, Apple suggests that if you were to connect another device to the iPhone say a heart rate monitor, step tracker, or the fabled “iWatch” it would equally know that you are indeed exercising.
Again, it’s meant to be smart and shouldn’t “accidentally” enable the feature.
“In this way, a short burst of activity — e.g., running to catch a bus — is not mistaken for the beginning of an exercise workout,” the filing reads.
Apple to tell you “Go walk around”
Perhaps even more useful, as I can ignore phone calls and messages during a workout but can’t do my job without sitting in front of a computer, this potential addition to iOS would tell me to get up, stretch, walk around or even take a nap based on my lack of movement.
Unfortunately, that could lead my iPhone to tell me to go for a run sealing the deal on my switch to Android.
With both functions there is the promise of flexibility like never telling me to go for a run or always taking a call from my dear sweet mother.
The application was filed in January of 2013 but was just disclosed this week and Natalia A. Ziemianska and Devrim Varoglu were given credit for its invention.
