“Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that generally relates to providing haptic feedback from energy harvesting components, and in particular, to techniques for providing tactile feedback from an element which harvests kinetic energy in iOS devices,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “There’s an industry wide effort in this area of technology to incorporate energy harvesting components in future devices.”
“While consumers are really hoping for an all-new energy source solution like fuel cells that will deliver sufficient power to mobile devices that will last for days on end, industry players are working on interim solutions such as energy harvesting,” Purcher reports. “To mitigate depletion of power between recharging cycles, the battery charge may be augmented by harvesting and converting energy from various sources such as solar power, kinetic energy, or ambient electromagnetic energy.”
Purcher reports, “Apple’s invention covers an energy harvesting component that augments battery power in a first mode and provides advanced tactile feedback in a second mode.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Harvesting kinetic energy seems promising, most especially from Apple Watch.