Patent Shows How FaceTime May Soon See Screen Sharing

Apple's FaceTime is a great way to stay connected form afar. Though you can get some eye-to-eye interaction, that doesn't help when you're trying to read your little one a bedtime story, or share some in-app features with a colleague. A new patent, granted to Apple, details just how that might change in the near future. In addition to sharing your screen with others, you might even have the chance to collaborate on what you see on-screen.

With this new FaceTime sharing patent, Apple envisions many scenarios where you'll turn to their video chat. Reading a bedtime story form afar, where a child can see your face in the small window while viewing the book full-screen is explicitly outlined.

For the next day, Apple sees that same parent video chatting with colleagues, and sharing their screen, which might have apps or documents like a spreadsheet. Users can also select to keep some information private, like cells on a spreadsheet or times on a calendar.

Screen sharing is already pretty standard for desktop users, so it coming to mobile via Apple isn't a surprise. It's not a new feature, but it would be new for FaceTime, and possibly make it much more useful for enterprise.

As for when this might show up — nobody knows, of course. As Apple starts to make their mobile devices and service much more robust, we'll likely start seeing these kinds of features pop up, though, so keep an eye out.

Source: Apple Insider