Apple Watch将迎重大变化，表带不再是摆设

苹果公司近日递交的一项最新专利很有可能将给苹果手表（Apple Watch）带来重大变革。

这项专利又叫“可穿戴设备的模块化功能性表带连接技术”。顾名思义，是指智能手表的表带可以搭载若干“电子元件”，比如额外的电池以及可以用来监测健康状况的传感器等等。更有趣的是，这种表带还能充当触控显示屏甚至是摄像头，因此大大扩展了它的功能性。

和其他公司一样，苹果也在不停地申报各种新技术的专利。虽然有些专利技术有可能会出现在未来的某款产品上，但也有一部分专利可能并不会得到实际应用。因此，外界基本上无法断言该项专利最终会出现在哪种型号上。

这项专利是前不久被一家专门研究苹果公司动态的网站AppleInsider发现的。不过它至少表明，苹果正在考虑对Apple Watch进行重大革新。Apple Watch是苹果于2015年推出的一款智能手表产品，它搭载了一块触摸屏，可以支持苹果和第三方研发的应用程序。除了可以像传统手表一样显示时间，它还具有显示通知、监测健康以及打电话等功能，可以说是一种集智能手表和健康追踪器于一身的产品。

Apple Watch搭配了多款表带，但没有一款具备能够提升用户体验的额外功能。它们要么是纯功能性的，比如让用户出汗后仍然可以佩戴，不必担心受损；要么是纯设计性的，主要着重于审美。

不过，苹果最新注册的这个专利表明，苹果正在想方设法在表带上添加各种功能。苹果显然认为Apple Watch的用户是需要这些附加功能的，而这些功能又需要硬件来驱动。由于表壳本身能承载的元件就那么多，因此利用表带来搭载附加功能就成了一个必要的选项。

苹果的这一新专利也预示着Apple Watch走定制化道路的可能性。这些表带完全可以搭载不同的元件以满足不同用户的需求。比如有些用户可能对健康追踪功能有更高的需求，他们的表带就可以更注重这方面的功能。还有些用户可能想要更大的显示面积。换句话说，Apple Watch的功能将可以根据顾客的偏好实现定制。

苹果公司在该专利文件中写道：“单一的表带功能模块可以组合起来运行。比如，包含了电池和LED功能的模块可以通过点亮的LED灯的数量来显示所有电池的剩余电量。再比如，包含了摄像头和麦克风功能的两个功能模块可以并行录制视频。”

美国专利与商标局最近还公布了苹果公司的另一项专利，该专利将Apple Watch的通知振动功能转移到了表带上。这一专利将使Apple Watch的表壳变得更薄，同时也将进一步提高表带的实用性。 （财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Apple has secured a patent that could bring major changes to the company's Apple Watch wearable.

The patent, called "Module functional band links for wearable devices," describes a technology in which a wearable's watchband links could come with several "electronic components," including additional batteries and sensors that can track a person's health. Perhaps more interestingly, the band links could feature touch displays and even cameras, allowing the wearable's watchband to enhance the device's functionality.

Like other companies, Apple is always filing patents on new technologies. And while it's possible its patented technologies could come to a future device, it's also possible they won't. It's impossible to say in which pile this latest patent might land.

Regardless, the patent, which was earlier discovered by Apple-tracking site AppleInsider, suggests Apple is at least considering a major innovation to its Apple Watch. The wearable, which launched in 2015, comes with a touch display and support both Apple and third-party apps. While it can tell the time, it's also capable of displaying notifications, tracking a person's health, and even take calls. The device is equal parts smartwatch and health tracker.

Apple Watch comes with a slew of bands, but none of them come with additional features that could enhance the user experience. Instead, the bands are either functional, allowing users to wear them while they sweat and workout without worry of damage, or designed for style.

The latest Apple wearable patent, however, finds Apple looking for ways to bundle additional features into those bands. Apple apparently reasons that Apple Watch owners might be looking for additional functionality that would require hardware to drive those features. Since the Apple Watch case itself can only house so many components, utilizing the band to bundle additional components could be necessary.

Apple's patent also highlights the possibility of customization. The band links would come with different components that could be attached to each other. So, customers who wanted more health-tracking could get band links focused on activity and attach those to the Apple Watch, while others who want an additional display could attach that. Apple Watch's features, in other words, could be customized to customer taste.

"Separate modular functional band links may work in combination," Apple wrote in the patent. "For example, modular functional band links that include batteries and light emitting diodes (LEDs) may illustrate total power remaining among all batteries by the number of LEDs lit. By way of another example, camera and microphone included in separate modular functional band links that cooperate to record video."

Recently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an Apple patent application that would move the Apple Watch's vibration effect that alerts users to a notification or other information to the band. The move would make the Apple Watch case thinner and make the watchband more useful.