Apple has obtained from the USPTO the registration of a “gradient temperature sensor for portable electronic devices”. The title of the document approved by the Stars and Stripes Patent Office is pretty clear on the purpose of the component, and so is the area in which they plan to use it in Cupertino: the product is an Apple Watch, and it is curious that the patent, which dates back to July 2020, has been registered now, a few weeks after the presentation of the Watch Series 8.
According to rumors, in fact, the next Apple Watch should be equipped with a sensor for measuring body temperature. It is a bit risky to think that Apple has included it in the Watch Series 8 project, risking that the USPTO will not approve it in time for the launch, but it is a hypothesis that in the absence of precise information cannot even be excluded. The fact remains that the times are undoubtedly curious.
In the Apple patent describes how it is possible to integrate a sensor for detecting body temperature into an Apple Watch. It is a differential system, that is, it works detecting the difference in electrical voltage between two points to deduce the temperature: in short, one end is placed on a surface in contact with the skin, the other is connected to the temperature sensor. An algorithm then takes care of deducing the temperature through the voltage difference between the two points.
Last year these days it was rumored that Apple would introduce body temperature detection with Apple Watch Series 7, then as we know nothing was done due to the accuracy of results provided by the algorithm not satisfactory with respect to expectations. Apple says in the patent that the system (the hardware) is ad high precisionbut for the measurement to be reliable the algorithm must be too that from the voltage must deduce the temperature (therefore the software).
So more than an Apple Watch Series 8 able to take the place of a traditional thermometer, it is more likely than Apple use the system as a basis for some functionalities based on temperature variation corporeal. Possible applications are the system that detects ovulation in women – a function that has been talked about for some time – or to make sleep monitoring more precise and complete.
In short, the Apple Watch could also warn us that we have a fever, but in all probability for the exact measurement temperature will have to wait a little longer.
Opening photo by Victoria_Borodinova from Pixabay.
