A patent has been given to Apple by the United States Patent Trademark Office recently, that could lend itself well to their plans to get involved in health and fitness tracking. The patent reports a headphone system that will detect heart rate, perspiration, temperature as well as other information that will track the user’s activity level, movements and fitness.
Both earbud and on-the-ear headphone will be designed with the fitness monitoring system including accelerometers and other sensors built into the system. Information is collected then fed back to an iOS device using bluetooth or wire. Sensors may be built into the headphone itself or else in a detachable component. The patent also describes a system for controlling playback using head movements. Very cool tech indeed!
Originally filed in 2008, the concept of the headphones is very practical. Recently, The Dash, a Kickstarter project aiming to create wireless headphones, is hoping to put fitness sensors into them later this year. However, there have been breakthroughs in miniaturisation and component availability which has made the project more financially realistic.
With the upcoming iOS8, Apple is reportedly trying to focus on health and physical fitness. Rumours have it that there may be a new dedicated app called “Healthbook” that tracks a user’s vitals and activity statistics over a period of time. Apple is also reputedly said to be working on a smart watch. However, the headphones may lessen the need for a stand alone tracker like a smart watch if the the health sensors come in headphones.
So keep your ‘i’ on Apple to see what they may soon bring out for all you heath and fitness buffs.
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