[guest opinion: Bruce Schneier] Some speculate that the new Apple iPhone to be announced tomorrow will come with a fingerprint authentication system. Apple would be smart to add biometric technology to the iPhone; fingerprint authentication is a good balance between …
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While Apple has flirted with biometric-based patents before, we’ve yet to see them implemented in real-world technology. That hasn’t stopped it from filing yet another one though, as the latest application reveals a fingerprint sensor apparently embedded into the iPhone itself. The patent describes a hardware “window” that can become selectively “transparent or opaque.” When transparent, it would reveal a component comprised of an “image capture device, a strobe flash, a biometric sensor, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, or a solar panel, or a combination thereof” as a method of unlocking the phone. According to the filing, the biometric sensor in question might indeed be a fingerprint reader. The document goes on to describe an alternative method using face or eye recognition technology that can be used not just for security purposes, but for possible e-commerce solutions like completing an online transaction. Of course, take any of these patent applications with a generous pinch of salt — we haven’t seen an Apple stylus yet, for example — but perhaps this is the reason Apple bought fingerprint sensor maker AuthenTec back in July.
Filed under: Cellphones, Apple
Apple files patent application for fingerprint sensor that can be transparent or opaque originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple was just granted a patent for technology that could lead to a fancy new biometric unlocking mechanism on future Apple products. The technology could also be used to implement new security features for ecommerce. The patent comes just a few months after Apple bought security technology company AuthenTec for $356 million over the summer. More »
In the future, everything glows, and that includes the fingerprints left behind at the scene of future crimes. More »
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