Apple could offer even more satellite powered features in the future as the company acquired a new patent. Emergency SOS is a satellite-based feature introduced during the launch of iPhone 14 series back in September. Apple enabled this facility on iPhone 14 models for users in a few countries like France, Germany, UK and the US. Emergency SOS has been helping users in a lot of ways since then. For instance, a man stranded in Alaska was rescued using his iPhone 14 which had the satellite-based SOS available.
The satellite feature could extend to telephone calls, video streaming and much more as well as the patent can go “far beyond” emergency SOS service, says the report. According to the Patently Apple report, Apple may include streaming and television data in the services related to satellite communication in the near future. “Communication Terminal” is the title of the new patent. It was acquired on 13 December from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The report said “Satellite communications data conveyed by transceivers #28 and antenna radiators #30 may include media data (e.g., streaming video, television data, satellite radio data, etc.), voice data (e.g., telephone voice data), internet data, and/or any other desired data.” The report also shows the list of a few inventors who have worked towards the Emergency SOS satellite feature that Apple provides.
As of now, it is only text-based and only allows emergency contacting facilities to users when cellular or Wi-Fi networks are not present and if the user is in a no-network zone. This facility also allows users to share their location with their emergency contacts via satellite using the Find My app which is in iPhones. The cost for the Emergency SOS via satellite feature is free for a duration of the initial two years.
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