Controlling the Apple TV or Mac through gestures is the future according to this new patent

Apple patents a three-dimensional interface capable of recognizing user gestures and translating them into commands

Apple patents continue to surprise us and make our imaginations fly to a hypothetical future where they could end up being a reality. The one that we bring you today is probably one of the most futuristic that we have seen in recent months, and its name is good proof of this. “Three-dimensional interface control”. Did you like the movie Minority Report? Well then you can not miss what Apple is working on.

The patent is structured on a gesture recognition system made up of an optical sensor that, on a three-dimensional interface, it would be able to recognize the gestures made by the users and translate them into commands and actions on the operating system. Thus, the system collects the tracking, movement and depth of the environment through a camera / sensor very similar to the current Xbox Kinect technology.

Users would be able to move their hand over a fairly wide area, recognized by the sensor as a 3D coordinate plane, to create gestures that would be processed by the computer and assigned a certain command or action on the system. For example, we might be able to unlock the screen of our Mac by scrolling vertically by hand.

Also, to avoid being constantly unintentionally interacting with the system, the sensor could automatically adopt three different states: locked / unlocked, tracking / not tracking, or active / inactive. To regain gestural control of the system and activate the sensor again, users would have to perform a certain gesture such as ‘push’ with their hand.

Apple could use the technology of PrimeSense, makers of Kinect, to make this technology a reality

Of course, the patent specifies that it is necessary for the user to be within range of the sensor so that their gestures are recognized by the system. To do this, the camera or sensor could incorporate some type of LED that would change color depending on whether or not we are within range.

As Appleinsider recalls, this technology greatly reminds us of Microsoft’s Kinect, which was in fact developed by the company PrimeSense, acquired by Apple in 2013 for $ 360 million. It’s very likely that the guys on the block are developing some kind of gesture recognition technology that could be a key part of Apple’s much-anticipated smart TV.

What do you think? Would you like to be able to control your Apple TV or Mac like this?