Not satisfied with gluing your eyeballs to the screen that resides in your pocket, Facebook’s latest patent reveals just what plans the company may have to eventually take over your home.
The patent first unveiled by Patently Apple specifically details a ‘home automation’ system that “provides a short-range, high-speed wireless communication link for enabling automated control of one or more home devices through connection with a social networking system,” the site reports.
Traditionally, home automation systems are very heavily dependent on Wi-Fi in order to establish a strong wireless connection with different aspects of your home. However Wi-Fi’s current stranglehold on the home automation market is said to worry the social network, especially as so-called “dead-zones” can often arise that impact the ability for the user to properly control certain aspects of these systems.
Instead, Facebook wants to enable a ‘truly automated’ system based on user preferences that would likely be set via its already colossal social-networking system, and that PatentlyApple notes will “further allow for a short-range, high-speed wireless connection that is contained within the safe boundaries of the home.”
In one embodiment for example, the company describes using a Wireless-Gigabit (WiGig) adapter capable of outputting at a “multi-gigabit per second (MGBps) rate.”
The filing is certainly an interesting one given how fast the home automation market is hotting up, with competitors Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft currently all vying for that space you once held so sacred.
But whether users will be trusting enough of big blue to let the service into their home, given the network’s alleged ties to government agencies – is yet to be seen …