Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to a fabric Apple Watch band that includes an electrochromic feature allowing color-adjustable elements that could change the color scheme and design in 3 distinct band zones to give the watch band a customizable look unique to the user.
In contrast to traditional watches, watch bands described in the patent can each provide adjustable color control to offer a variety of colors and color combinations to be displayed by a single band. The user or a control system can control, select, and/or adjust one or more colors of the watch band for visual display. The color selections can be made and adjusted without removing and exchanging the watch band.
Watch bands having adjustable colors can also be used to communicate information to a user. For example, an electronic system of the watch can control the color to provide a notification to the user. The color-adjustable elements of the watch band can be arranged and independently controlled in a manner that allows the system to display particular icons, shapes, and/or text by illuminating certain elements in a particular way. Accordingly, the color changing features can be used as a visual output of information from the watch to the user.
