Apple Patents a Wiimote Clone

[famousringo]

Looks like Apple might be prepping for a wiimote-like interface for the Apple TV. A pointer interface is a great idea for a home media device, and you can expect that any such device would have downloadable games which compete with home consoles in the same oblique way that the iPod Touch/iPhone competes with handheld game devices. Some of us on these forums have been talking about Apple making a move like this for over a year now.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/13/apple_remote_patent/

Pictures and more details are in the link above. Here's an excerpt:

Patent application #20090066648, entitled "GUI Applications for Use with 3D Remote Controller," takes the familiar Apple Remote and upgrades it to a motion-sensing, infrared-communicating 3D mouse and "flashlight."

As described in the filing, the wand will include a "motion detection component" such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, and will be able to communicate with a "media system" both through movement sensed by that detector and through absolute positioning determined by one or more infrared (IR) sensors, as does the überpopular Nintendo Wii.

Of Apple's current products, the most obvious beneficiary would be the company's "hobby" product, the Apple TV. To make it work with an existing big-screen TV, the wand would require an add-on IR receiver, as does the Wii.

Or Apple could release its own big-screen TV - aka "media system" - with IR sensors built-in.

The 68-page filing goes into excruciating detail as to how the wand could interface with the aforementioned media system. Unlike the Apple Remote, which merely allows you to beam commands toward your Apple TV much as does any standard remote (although with a vastly simplified array of buttons), the wand would provide the ability to manipulate objects on-screen.

By being able to broadcast to the media system its distance and orientation in addition to simply sending it commands, the wand could function as a 3D cursor controller.