Shopping app would simplify visitng malls

Two more Apple patent applications have been published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The first, Accessing Shopping Center Services Using a Portable Electronic Device, illustrates an iPhone app specifically designed to aid and encourage shopping at malls. Before people even set foot into a building, the app could be used to guide visitors to the closest or simply easiest parking spot, and save their location for later return.

Different modes could be set, such as "casual shopping," which would show location, personalized maps and promotions like new arrivals and special offers. "Targeted" shopping would allow people to reserve products and check stores for stock. Detailed in the patent is the ability to check multiple stores simultaneously, and compare them against each other based on rating.

In an even more elaborate option people would be able to see a "heat map" of a mall, showing popular stores and products. Results would be based on sales figures from each shop.

GPS tracking could be used to monitor the location of friends and family during a trip so that no one becomes lost. Another function of the app would handle eating, by displaying available restaurants, open tables and the option to make a reservation.

The second application, Sensor Derived Authentication for Establishing Peer-to-Peer Networks, describes an easier way of forming a secure network between two devices. Instead of agreeing on a PIN number, Apple notes, people could rely on physical stimuli to generate a common authentication key. Two iPhones might be tapped together twice, for instance, and the intervening time gap used as the basis for the key.

Each device might alternately have wireless technology that reproduces the same results. Apple mentions many devices as potentially using sensor authentication; these range from the iPhone and iPod through third-party phones like the BlackBerry and Sidekick, and on to cameras, notebooks, household appliances and medical equipment.

The networking patent was originally submitted in February 2009, while the shopping app traces back to September.

by MacNN Staff