Apple’s upcoming MacBook Pros might be able to use HomePod’s technology to sense the user’s environment and improve playback to smart audio.
Whenever a HomePod mini is being setup it automatically scans the room looking for certain things. It uses the proximity of the wall, size of the room, etc to adjust its audio accordingly. It also scans the room for a second HomePod, so the two can sync up to give a concert-like feel.
Future MacBook Pros to get features of HomePod
The device scans for the measurements of the room so that it can adjust its speakers, volume, and the stereo spread of a signal. Apple is considering these features for future MacBook Pro models.
In a patent application by Apple, they did not mention or specify both HomePods and MacBook Pro designs. The patent itself is about 12,000 words with the title ‘Enhancing a Listening Experience by Adjusting Physical Attributes of an Audio Playback System Based on Detected Environmental Attributes of the System’s Environment.
In the patent, there is a reference to a “clamshell” design, which is significant because the company’s patent application posits that the way a laptop’s “hinge housing may provide support… such that one or more surfaces… may also be operative as a sound wave reflecting subassembly for reflecting sound waves emitted.”
To form the sensing equipment, they would have to make use of a pair of sound waves emitting subassembly output components. The laptop’s camera is a suitable option to case the environment such as the location, space of environment, height, width, depth, geometry, or the users present in the environment.
This would mean that after opening the lid of future MacBook Pros, sensors could measure how big space is and its speakers could emit sound beams similar to HomePod’s. Apple’s patent says it is for “adjusting physical attributes of an audio playback system” all the while concentrating on the process rather than how and what it could be used for.
The patent is thanks to two inventors, Paul X. Wang and Ivan S. Maric. Wang has had many prior patents with Apple in the past however, this is the first one that is related to audio-only.
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