Apple is rumored to be developing several technologies outside of smartphones and tablets, such as a VR headset and a car, but new patents awarded to the tech giant on Thursday suggest it may be working on a drone.
Approximately two patents describe small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that pair with wireless controllers or drones operated via an iPhone or a Nintendo DS.
Apple, however, initially filed the patents in Singapore 'to keep the projects a secret,' but have since filed the pair with the US Patent & Trademark Office.
The images in the patents depict a small drone with four rotors, a common designed for small UAVs.
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Approximately two patents describe small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that pair with wireless controllers or drones operated via an iPhone or a Nintendo DS. The images in the patents depict a small drone with four rotors, a common designed for small UAVs
The patents were first filed in May 2020 in Singapore, but made their way to the U.S. in February and April and were awarded to Apple on November 11, as first reported on by Patently Apple.
One patent, entitled 'Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Controller Association,' describes using wireless controllers to operate the Apple's UAV.
This document covers apparatuses, systems and methods for pairing/unpairing UAVs to/from UAV controllers.
The controllers, according to the application, would feature at least one antenna to perform cellular communication with the drone.
Th second patent, titled ' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Tracking and Control. Unlike the other application, this one describes using a smartphone, specifically Apple's iPhone, to control the drone
The UAVs would also be designed with a type of memory and processing element that would allow it to recall previous tasks sent by the controllers.
'Apparatuses, systems, and methods for pairing/unpairing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to/from UAV controllers (UACs). A UAV and/or a UAC may initiate, based on a triggering condition, a paring/unpairing of the UAV to/from a host UAC and receive, from a network, a configuration update that may confirm the paring/unpairing of the UAV to/from the host UAC,' reads the abstract of the patent filed in the U.S. on April 27, 2021.
'The triggering condition may include at least one of the UAV moving from a location designated as controlled by the host UAC, the UAV moving into a location in which the host UAC is restricted from controlling the host UAV,
