Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a patent application from Apple that relates to a possible new camera designed for iPad that could be used in FaceTime conferencing.

Today, Apple has created the "Desk View" with a Continuity Camera feature to allow users to share drawings or something being reviewed during a conference. Today, that requires the use of an iPhone attached to a MacBook or Mac as illustrated below. In this patent, Apple expands that feature to an iPad without the need of using an iPhone.

In Apple's patent background they note that cameras continue to be an important feature of consumer electronics devices, especially in context with FaceTime conferencing. Apple's Center Stage was one such innovation and today we're learning of a possible new FaceTime Conferencing Camera innovation.

Apple notes that during live video conferencing sessions, a user may want to share content from different portions of their environment, but this typically requires a user to precisely position and/or manually reposition the camera to capture the desired content. Especially in instances where a user does not wish to actively hold the electronic device incorporating the camera, this need to precisely position (or reposition) the electronic device may be burdensome to the user. This is what Apple's latest invention aims to rectify.

Apple's invention relates to cameras, devices, and systems for setting a default position of an adjustable field of view of a camera. In some embodiments, a system includes a device comprising a camera, the camera having an optical axis and an adjustable field of view.

The camera may include a lens, an image sensor, and a position control logic configured to:

• (1) obtain camera orientation information associated with the camera,
• (2) select a lateral position of a default field of view using the camera orientation information,
• (3) control a relative position of the lens and the image sensor to maintain the adjustable field of view as the default field of view while the camera is stationary, and
• (4) capture an image at the default field of view.

Apple's patent FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a piece of paper #612 may be positioned on a surface #608 (table, desk) and a cropping boundary #614 is used to select a portion of the surface that includes the piece of paper for use in generating output images. These output images may be used to facilitate a video conferencing session as illustrated in FIG. 6C.

Specifically, 6C shows a front view of an iPad (#602) that includes its camera #604 and a display #616 that displays a communication user interface #618. The communication user interface includes a first video feed #622 and a second video feed #624. The first video feed #622 is a representation of an image stream captured by the camera #604, while the second video feed #624 is a representation of image data captured by a camera.  

A cropped portion of the camera's field of view corresponding to the cropping boundary is used to generate the output images that form the first video feed #622, which includes the piece of paper #612.

During a videoconferencing session system #600 may detect a user input (e.g., via an input to one of the controls #626, a keyboard input, a gesture, an audio input, or the like) to change the video conferencing session to a surface-focus mode.

The ability of the camera to image the surface #608 depends at least in part on the relative orientation and positioning between the camera and the surface. For example, in some instances the system #600 further comprises an accessory device #630 that may hold the device (iPad #602) and its camera in a particular orientation. The accessory device (Magic Keyboard #630) may be positioned in a fixed relationship relative to the surface and may thereby hold the iPad and its camera in a particular orientation relative to the surface.

In another example, the accessory device #630 could be a MacBook or iMac.  

While this patent first covers the continuity camera feature with Apple's Desk View using an iPhone as we know it, it then shifts to introducing a similar concept for an iPad without the need of using an iPhone camera.  

If that's even possible, it would certainly be a nice feature for future iPads, especially for those that use FaceTime Conferencing for giving online presentations.

For full details, review Apple's patent application 20240048847.