Apple acquires patents from the now defunct home security startup Lighthouse AI

Apple is trying to expand its business beyond iPhones, iPads and MacBooks for the past couple of years. Currently, smart home products are all the rage and to that end, Apple had released its smart speaker HomePod.Now a recent report has stated that Apple has acquired a handful of patents from the now-defunct home security camera company Lighthouse AI.[caption id="attachment_6204441" align="alignnone" width="800"]

Lighthouse.[/caption]While it is not sure what exactly Apple plans to with these patents, as per Patently Apple, the patented technology is mostly related to "computer-vision based security, visual authentication, and more". Lighthouse AI, which focused on augmented reality and 3D sensing to let users sort through security footage easily, shut down in December after not finding commercial success.The patents were purchased somewhere in mid-2018, but the US Patent and Trademark database has published the information only recently.As per the report, Apple could use the technology to give better insights to users on its iOS app. FaceID is one place where Apple could also potentially use the 3D sensing patents from Lighthouse. Apple's HomeKit support is another area pointed out in the report which could benefit from these patents.In more recent news regarding Apple, Qualcomm on 4 March kicked off court proceedings in a patent challenge to Apple, capping off a two-year legal strategy to put pressure on the iPhone maker before a major antitrust lawsuit between the two goes to trial in April. Qualcomm alleged, in a federal court in San Diego, that Apple violated three of its patents and is asking for tens of millions of dollars in damages.