Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to watch bands, and, more particularly, to watch bands with detection of a user's wrist and/or characteristics thereof. Our report also covers a series of new Vision Pro headset patents, and, as usual we wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple this week.

Apple notes in their patent background that proximity sensors are capable of detecting the presence of a target without physical contact. They generally emit electromagnetic radiation, measure the return signal, and identify the location of the target based on the profile of the return signal. Proximity sensors are commonly used on mobile devices such as smartphones to detect accidental touchscreen taps when held to the ear during a call. Portable devices such as wristwatches may also include a proximity sensor that detects whether the watch is “off wrist” and should be turned to a locked state. However, for those users who prefer to wear their watch loosely against their wrist, such a proximity sensor may cause unintentional locking of the watch or other undesired consequences.

Accordingly, it may be beneficial to develop alternate methods or devices to more accurately determine the configuration and/or location of a wearable device relative to the user.

Watch Band With Wrist Detection

Overall, Apple's granted patent covers characteristics of a watch band that can change when placed in different configurations, and each of these characteristics can be correlated with each of the various configurations.

The characteristics can be measured to detect in which of the various configurations the watch band is in. For example, the watch band can include a conductive trace that changes its resistance when the watch band changes its configuration.

For example, the resistance can change based on stretching of the watch band, bending of the watch band, and/or securement and release of an engagement element. The watch or another device can perform one or more operations based on the detected characteristic and configuration of the watch band.

The watch or another device can perform one or more operations based on the detected characteristic and configuration of the watch band.

• For example, the watch can respond to a detection by granting or restricting access to one or more features of the watch.
• By further example, the watch can use a detection to further detect a size of the user's wrist.
• By further example, the watch can use a detection to further detect a movement, activity, and/or gesture of the user.
• By further example, the watch can use a detection to further detect a health metric of the user, such as blood pressure (which we covered in another patent yesterday titled "Apple wins an extremely detailed Hypertension (Blood Pressure) Monitoring System patent that pertains to a future Apple Watch+").

For full details, review Apple's granted patent 12220028.

Tuesday Apple won a Series of new Design Patents

This Week's Remaining Granted Patents