Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that generally relates to an overview of their wearable mobile device vision. The patent filing covers a lot of ground relating to the Apple Watch in terms of its wide ranging features including touch input, force input, an interchangeable attachment system, health monitoring functionality, wireless power charging, wireless authentication and transaction functionality along with other features. Yet there was one aspect of their vision that took me totally by surprise. Apple not only envisioned being able to interchange wearable bands with differing materials and clasps but also to eventually provide interchangeable bodies that could be an Apple Watch, mini iPhone, an iPod or health monitoring systems all with different size displays and unique features that fit on your wrist.

Cutting right to the chase, Apple's patent FIG. 5 tells the whole story. The figure depicts a system #500 of interchangeable components for a wearable device. More specifically, Apple's patent FIG. 5 depicts a system that includes a variety of interchangeable components, including multiple device bodies 515, 525, 535 that are configured to connect via a standard interface to any one of a number of different bands 551a-b, 552a-b, 553a-b, 554a-b, and 555a-b.

As shown in patent FIG. 5, the system may include a body or device that is adapted to attach to one or more bands, straps, or other similar component that may be used to attach the device to the body of a user.

As shown in FIG. 5, the system may include multiple device bodies 515, 525, 535 that may vary in size, shape, and composition.

The device body 515, 525, 535 may include one or more of the embodiments described herein and may include, but is not limited to a wearable computer, a wearable watch, a wearable communication device, a wearable media player, a wearable health monitoring device, and/or the like. 

In some embodiments, the device may be interchangeable or interchanged to provide a different set of functions or features. In some embodiments, the bands or attachment components may be interchangeable or interchanged to provide desired functionality or features.

Apple filed patent application 20160378071 back in September 2016. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

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