“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published a somewhat unusual Apple invention detailing a communications platform that ditches cellular in favor of direct, point-to-point network technology,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Apple’s patent application for ‘Point-to-point ad hoc voice communication’ describes a mode of communication much more intimate — and less ambitious in function — than the company’s iPhone product line,” Campbell reports. “Specifically, the invention outlines a headset capable of connecting with other devices of the same type via wireless ad hoc networks, also known as peer-to-peer or point-to-point links.”
“In some embodiments, the headset might also connect via Lightning or 3.5mm jack to a mobile device, opening the door to app-driven solutions,” Campbell reports. “Interestingly, Apple eschews support for distributed communications networks like cellular and satellite, instead opting for direct wireless connections facilitated through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other similar protocol. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This would be excellent for communication in businesses, schools, and hospitals, to name just three among myriad possibilities!
AirDrop for voice messages!!!
Interestingly, one of announced but abandoned functions of Apple Watch was direct communication between watches — not only sending heartbeats and drawings as now.
How about getting Airdrop to work first ?
Maybe they’ll use that instead of voice messages
We should bring back those phones that chirp at each other. “Where you at Dawg?”
I loved hearing those phones chirping in restaurants and movies, etc.
Yeah, I’d skip Bluetooth entirely for this purpose as the reliability and adequate signal strength distance are both low. Bluetooth also continues to suffer from constricted bandwidth resulting in less than hi-fi quality sound. (No, I won’t argue the point).
So Wi-Fi or wired it is! But it might be interesting to use the actual walkie-talkie frequency bands as well! Hmm! And yeah, that bandwidth is compromised as well. I have no idea what hardware bulk would be required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkie-talkie
Local, cellular-free communication between iOS devices would be a wonderful feature! I hope they add this to a future version of iOS.