Apple has filed a fascinating and disturbing new patent called Augmented Reality Calorie Counter (ARCC). Thanks to this new technology, the iPhones of the future could be able to detect, through the microphone, if we are chewing. Devices may even criticize our unhealthy food choices.
To report the news is Appleinsider, who also explains how this new technology could be applied to the iPhone of tomorrow. When implemented on smartphones, ARCC it may ask you to take a picture of the food you are chewingprocessing its content and relative protein intake. The patent doesn’t explicitly say that iPhone will contest all of our snacksbut it is very likely that the functionality will expand the already numerous health solutions offered by Apple devices.
“Many factors often make calorie counting inaccurate,” Apple says. “For example, portion sizes can be difficult to measure while eating in a restaurant. As a result, people have out-of-tune calorie counts that undermine their weight-loss efforts and diets. Inaccurate counting could also compromise drug dosages and much more.”
The iPhone of the future will know how much and what we chew
Precisely for this reason – reports Appleinsider – Apple believes iPhone can contribute to the accurate detection of calories consumed. How? Through a microphone that senses when the user is chewing.
“Through a microphone it is possible to detect the noise of chewing – continues Apple – by activating the functioning of a camera. By obtaining the image of the food consumed from the photo, we can estimate its caloric intake”. And that’s not all, Apple adds that “the data from the photo can be cross-checked with the chewing frequency”.
In essence, by knowing what’s on the plate (from the camera), and knowing how much of it is being chewed (from the microphone), future iPhones may be able to accurately measure calories.
With this new technology, iPhone will be able to know what you eat, how long you eat it, how much you are eating and even how many times a week you consume that particular food. Extremely useful or very disturbing?