Apple to sync movies across multiple devices
October 19, 2009
Apple have filed a patent application entitled Synchronisation of Media State Across Multiple Devices, which appears to combine local iPod and iPhone synchronisation with MobileMe and cloud-computing services.
The patent, if implemented, would note where you had stopped watching a video on any connected device, and would automatically set that as the start time on a different device. The patent also includes various forms of distance tracking, allowing for various sync operations to occur when two devices come within wireless range of each other. Apple specifically describes an Apple TV device detecting an iPhone coming within range, and then picking up the latest data from a central server.