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Apple`s iWatch patent revealed: Device with flexible touchscreen and `slap wrap` strap could be powered by movement of your arm
Tokyo, February 23 (AZERTAC). A patent application filed by Apple has revealed that its long-mooted iWatch could use the same technology as a child`s slap wrap to mount a flexible touchscreen on a user`s wrist.
The innovative design, published for the first time today, reveals the technologies that could one day be seen in an Apple wearable computer. It comes after tidal waves of rumours and speculation on exactly what an iWatch might be like, including a range of designers revealing their take on the `smart watch` - but none managed to predict what has emerged. U.S. patent application no. 20130044215, filed by Apple in August 2011, specifies the technology for a `wearable accessory device` with a `flexible display`. It describes: `A wearable video device ... comprising: a flexible substrate having a flat state and a curled state [and] a flexible display disposed upon a first surface of the flexible substrate.` The wrist band type device described in the patent application would attach to users` wrists using the same kind of mechanism as a slap wrap toy. The patent application has emerged after a tidal wave of speculation suggesting how the iWatch could look. Apple has not made a single comment about the rumoured new product, but designers have nevertheless rushed revealed their take the `smart watch` with professional looking mockups of the device, ranging from a glass cuff to a `claw` design. The rumours started when Chinese websites reported in December that the computer giant is working with chip-maker Intel on a wrist-worn gadget. The emergence of the `44215 patent app today appeared to back up some of those claims. `Active communication between an accessory and a portable electronic device can be accomplished wirelessly,` it says. `A wireless data connection such as the 5 GHz 802.11n protocol can provide sufficient data transmission bandwidth to transmit a high quality video stream.` Alternatively, `the accessory device could also connect to the portable electronic device via Bluetooth.`While it might not carry the same amount of data it may be preferable for situations in which only small amounts of data are being sent back and forth.` Apple has a team of about 100 product designers working on the wristwatch-type device, a report in Bloomberg claimed.