People are often careless when it comes to protecting screens of smartphones and may end up breaking them. Nonetheless, you may carry a cracked screen as long as it does not give up on you because getting an iPhone screen fixed is darn expensive. But how would you decide if it is necessary to replace the screen or not?
Apple may have found the solution for you. Well, maybe not exactly a solution but the next iPhone may be able to detect damage on your phone before you notice the grand cracks.
A new Apple patent outlines a method for detecting potential cracks in the phone screen. The technology could detect exact problem areas and even unnoticeable hairline cracks that form under the surface of the screen. The phone could then, warn the user that another fall could send the phone to its death. The patent does not clarify any damage prevention method and instead focuses on just a safety warning.
The damage alert system will use the phone’s touch screen sensors to locate any problems that might be damaging. The patent outlines another system that makes use of vibrating hotspots that send signals throughout the screen and uses the feedback to identify any damages.
AppleInsider describes the system as:
Various types of sensors can be used to accomplish the described embodiments. For example, a touch sensor can be utilized for detection and characterization purposes. Alternatively, a crack detection specific sensor or sensors can be added to a device. In some embodiments, when formation of a crack is detected, a device having a sensor that detects a crack can adjust its behavior depending upon how the crack is characterized. For example, the device can be configured to notify a user of the device of any or all systems of the device that will be affected by the detected crack. In some embodiments, crack characterization data can be sent to a device manufacturer to improve subsequent device models.
Another potential method could be through the pulse emitters, which make use of the mirrors within the phone screen to identify any cracks. The sensors will be triggered each time the phone is dropped.
No matter how interesting this sounds; this is just a filed patent at the moment. There is no way of making sure that the feature will be added to the future iPhones anytime soon.
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