The new control interface could be used for gaming or within devices that come with video recording capabilities

Sep 8, 2015 12:26 GMT  ·  By

It's not the first time the United States Patent and Trademark Office has published an Apple patent detailing a way to control a device using hand gesture.

The interesting thing about the "Lens arrays for pattern projection, and imaging" patent is that it might be used in the upgraded Apple TV Apple is rumored to release during the September 9 event.

Moreover, as described in the patent, in order to control a device using air gestures an imaging device such as a camera is used to create a 3D map, which is in turn used to detect any user motions.

As reported by Patently Apple and detailed in the patent, Apple's "method for imaging includes focusing optical radiation so as to form respective first and second optical images of a scene on different, respective first and second regions of an array of detector elements. The focused optical radiation is filtered with different, respective first and second passbands for the first and second regions."

Kinect-like control interface

This type of device is very similar to Microsoft's Kinect, and if this patent is used as the base for creating such a gadget, the Apple TV is the most probable candidate to receive such a technology first.

Having a Kinect-like imaging device and considering that most rumors also say the Apple TV will also come with inbuilt support for 3rd party Bluetooth gamepads, might also make it quite an appealing gaming platform, given the huge database of games in Apple's iOS App Store.

Adding to everything said above the possible inclusion of the more than capable A8 processor now found in the iPhone 6 models or an even better match in iPad Air 2's A8X, should make the Apple TV the new "one more thing" tomorrow, on Bill Graham Civic Auditorium's stage, in San Francisco.

Although such a beefed-up Apple TV is one of the things most Apple customers have been dreaming about for years, we shouldn't forget that not all published patents are used as a basis for new devices.

At least, not immediately.