Apple Inc. has been granted 34 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Included in the batch is an incredibly broad patent for gesture-based controls or “Three dimensional user interface session control”, as described in the patent.

The patent was actually first filed in 2011 and describes how human gestures could be used to control a “3D user interface”. According to images in the patent, a user would be able control a computer by making gestures in front of a webcam.

When Apple bought PrimeSense, a 3D sensor company, for approximately $360 million in November 2013, it was pretty obvious that they would be entering the gesture-control market at some stage.

Late to the gesture party?

Apple isn’t the first company to experiment with gesture control, with Microsoft Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. already incorporating it into their products.

Microsoft had the Kinect device on their Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles, which can respond to human voices, tracks movements and the Xbox One Kinect even having the ability to read a player’s heartbeat. It’s pretty amazing technology, but didn’t see widespread adoption and Microsoft eventually removed it from the Xbox One due to privacy concerns and its high price.

Samsung included gesture controls in its 2012 8000 series of HDTVS, but did not seem to have much success. They have also included it in their SUHD TV, which they recently launched at Consumer Electronics Showcase 2015, but they did not make a big deal about the technology at the event.

Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research, told CNBC “Apple may be looking to develop a gaming console or revamped Apple TV. This patent indicates that probably a completely new category of touchless devices may be in works at Apple.”

If anyone has the chance to succeed in this area, Apple is bound to be the one. They have revolutionized the touch-screen phone and the tablet market. It would not be surprising if gesture control were another area that they were to dominate.

image courtesy of Eric Risberg, AP