Apple’s move towards a focus on health and fitness for the iPhone was further evidenced today, after a patent for a sports monitoring system on board headphones surfaced.
In a patent filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple outlines how it would use sensors in a pair of headphones to track activity such as body temperature, perspiration levels and heart rate.
The iPhone maker first made the application in 2007 but recently overwrote it, showing Apple has been looking at health and fitness technology for some time.
While most of the data would be collected from skin contact, the patent also includes at least one accelerometer configured to detect user movements or gestures.
This could also be incorporated to control play and volume controls on the connected device using certain head tilts.
The patent follows a report claiming that Apple’s iOS 8 update will also focus on health and fitness tracking, making use of the iPhone’s M7 motion-tracking processor.
Source: Digital Spy
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