Apple has been awarded US Patent No. 8903519 by the US Patent and Trademark Office for a “protective mechanism for an electronic device”, designed to mitigate damage caused by dropping a an iPhone. The on-board system can predict which part of the device will impact first and shift it in mid-air to protect sensitive components from collision, such as the screen or camera.
The instrument uses accelerometers, gyroscopes, and GPS to determine where the device is, its speed, and its trajectory. It uses that data to determine which part of the phone will impact the floor, and utilises a small gimbal to shift weight to a less vulnerable area of the device, preferably its side of rear, to absorb the impact.
The inventors are credited as Nicholas V. King and Fletcher Rothkopf on the official patent.
Source: appleinsider
