Apple Awarded Two Patents for Their Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Suggesting They Could Be Building a Drone

Is Apple building a drone? It seems that the tech giant is developing other technologies aside from their usual smartphones, tablets, and watches. On Thursday, November 11, Apple was awarded two new patents that describe small unmanned vehicles (UAVs) with wireless controllers via iPhones and Nintendo DS.

According to Daily Mail, these patents were initially filed in Singapore to keep the projects a secret. But the company has since filed the pair to the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and has only been released recently. Images taken from the patent depict a drone with four rotors that are commonly designed for a UAV.

(Photo: Getty Images)
An exhibitor presents the AR Drone, a remote-controlled quadrotor helicopter with a built-in camera and WiFi and controlled by iPhone or iPod Touch, at the CeBit 2010 exhibition, the world's biggest high-tech fair in Hanover northern Germany, on March 2, 2010. AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU (Photo credit should read DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple Drone Patent Applications Spotted

An Apple drone might be in the works based on a patent application published last month. But it was only recently that this came to light when the tech giant was awarded two drone-related patents, suggesting that they attempted to keep it a secret.

According to 9to5Mac, patent applications are a matter of public record. That means people who have been scouring patents applied by Apple would immediately get wind of the new technologies that the company is developing. Most likely, this has led Apple to decide to hide its application.

The news outlet identified two ways that applying for a patent can be kept a secret. First is the delay of the publication of the patent application until after it was done, While the second one is to file it in another country, which is the option that Apple chose.

In the US, companies typically apply their patent to the USPTO, and this is also where most people would usually do their research of Apple's next technology.

However, patents applied abroad were hard to catch. According to Patently Apple, the Cupertino company initially applied the patents to Singapore in May 2020 and filed both patent applications to USPTO in February and April.

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Apple's Two New Patents of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

One of Apple's new patents is entitled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Controller Association," which describes using a wireless connection to operate the UAV. The patent includes the apparatuses, drone system, and methods for pairing ad unpairing the UAV from the controllers that feature one antenna to perform cellular communication.

The abstract of the patent also describes that the triggering condition to control the UAV may include one of the UAVs moving from the location designated by the host controller to a location in which the UAC is restricted from controlling the host UAV and when the controller loses signal capabilities.

The second patent is entitled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Tracking and Contro," which notes a portable gaming system like Nintendo DS or Gameboy advanced to power UAVs. Unlike the first patent, this second one uses Apple's iPhone or a smartphone to control the drone.

Despite being awarded two new p[atents, it is still unsure whether the tech company is developing a drone. For instance, they also received a patent in May about a technology for iPhone that could play 3D images on the smartphone without a virtual reality or augmented reality headset. This technology has also not yet been released to the market.