Apple patent app turns iPhone into a smart home universal remote control

Apple is always out to file a patent on just about any technology its engineers can dream up whether or not it intends to actually put that technology into a product. A new patent application has turned up that was published by Apple recently showing a way to turn a device like the iPhone into a smart home remote control. Home automation is becoming more and more popular as automation systems become cheaper.

The patent application has some artwork that shows exactly what the user interface might look like if it was operating on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The artwork shows recommended scenes, saved scenes, and other content that appears to not only change the lighting in the room, but selects specific input sources for home theater and audio systems as well.

The patent is US patent number 8,519,820 and is titled “Systems and methods for saving and restoring scenes in a multimedia system.” The patent was originally filed for five years ago by Apple by Alan Cannistraro, the same guy who created the first iTunes Remote application.

The patent application says that the app and device would interface with various AV components and smartphone devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other wireless protocols. The patent also shows ways of intelligently suggesting television, stereo, and lighting settings. The software also supports the information sent from devices on their operating state and can save those statuses for later retrieval making the operation of devices faster and easier in the future.