A patent application from Apple granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office shows how Siri could be used more conveniently in the future – even offline.
It is an open secret that Apple continues to research its technologies. Patent applications are published again and again, showing what we could expect in the iWorld. Now a new patent shows that Apple wants to make using Siri more convenient. In order to use Siri, a good internet connection is necessary. Its competitors also have this problem. Apple, however, is looking for a solution to make the voice data available offline. Since dealing with the various voice inputs is very data-intensive and complicated, among other things, the only way to do so is via Apple's servers. Even an iPhone Xs does not have the performance necessary to process this data - it would simply be overwhelmed.
Extra hardware required
The patent states that the respective devices require additional hardware for offline use of Siri. This would enable tasks such as creating reminders or calendar entries to be completed. Using machine learning, Siri would learn to understand the user better over time and thus perform its services more reliably. For online tasks such as checking the weather, iMessage or similar, Apple's voice assistant would need to be able to access the Internet - the data would still be processed on the respective device. In general, patents should be treated with caution. However, an offline Siri sounds very realistic and could possibly be introduced very soon.
