On Tuesday Apple Inc. was awarded a patent that could see future models of the iPhone perform some complex mid-air acrobatics when dropped. The U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approved the patent for a “protective mechanism for an electronic device”, which was first filed in September, 2011.

The technology covered by the patent makes use of the phone’s internal sensors, such as the accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS, to track the iPhone’s position and orientation. If the phone is dropped the “protective mechanism” kicks into action and shifts the device’s center of gravity in an effort to control at what angle the phone hits the ground. It could, for instance, land on its back or side to protect the screen or the camera.

At its most basic level the system uses the iPhone’s built-in vibration motor to affect the device’s center of gravity. However, the motor the patent uses is one found in older iPhone models. Newer models, such as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, use different technology to signal notification events via haptic feedback. It therefore seems unlikely this will be how the “protective mechanism” works if it makes it into future iPhone models.

The patent also covers some more outlandish options for manipulating how the phone impacts the ground. These include a device to latch onto or jettison headphone cables if the mechanism detects a free-fall, another which involves air foils that extend and retract to create aerodynamic surfaces to control the device’s orientation during a fall and finally, a system of miniature gas canisters that apply directional thrust to slow down a fall and reorient the phone.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen unusual proposals for protecting smartphones when they’re dropped. In 2011 a patent filed by Jeff Bezos and Amazon VP Greg Heart proposed using tiny airbags to cushion the impact when a phone is dropped. The patent also included the use of “jets of gas” to flip the phone over to ensure it lands on the side fitted with the tiny airbag system.

These elaborate, and no doubt expensive, solutions may well prove unnecessary as products like the new Gorilla Glass 4 and others take us ever closer to the holy grail of unbreakable and scratch proof smartphone screens. (via AppleInsider)

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