Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to the foundation of the future tabletop device as forecasted by Mark Gurman. The patent dives into a HomePod with one or two cameras, gaze controls and a Smart Assistant, likely to be Siri with AI to control home devices like lamps, appliances while acting as a FaceTime device.

HomePod with Built-in Camera that Provides Siri with Eyes to deliver Next-Gen Commands & Longer-Range Face ID

Apple was granted their second patent for a future HomePod with a camera and gaze controls along with a smart assistant (likely AI based). The foundation of the patent is likely behind the future HomeOS device that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman spoke of in his last weekend Power On Newsletter that he describes as a tabletop device for FaceTime and controlling home appliances. This is what this granted patent in-part describes.

Apple's patent point #46 states in-part: " In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located on the front of the device so that the user's image is, optionally, obtained for video conferencing while the user views the other video conference participants on the touch screen display."

Apple notes that the added cameras are able to capture a user's eyes and gaze directions when requesting Siri to perform a task such as turning on a very specific lamp in a room that has multiple lamps, for instance.

Apple's patent Figures 8A to 8C presented below illustrate one scenario where a user looks at HomePod while giving the command "turn ... on that light." The user first looks at HomePod and then shifts his head to gaze at the specific lamp that he wants turned on. HomePod executes the command while Siri responds "Table lamp turned on."

In one round of patent figures presented below you're able to see a woman making eye contact with HomePod and requesting that the lamp be turned on.

The response is personal with Siri acknowledging that it's "Jane" who made the request.  This indicates that Apple's next-gen TrueDepth camera used on this future HomePod will be able to use Face ID at a distance instead of the current version on iPhones that has a limited range. The ID first has to have been set-up on an iDevice previously for Face ID to work on this future version of HomePod.

Also provided is patent FIG. 6o (letter o) that outlines the camera system as well as a series of light formations located around the top of HomePod.

Patently Apple first covered this as a patent application back in April 2020. The foundation of Apple's future tabletop device is found in this patent. The future device reportedly goes one step further by adding an iPad-like display with a moveable arm. To dive into the full details of this patent along with a whopping 51 new patent claims, review granted patent 12105874.