With a lot of legal battles over patents going on, every company is quick to file patents for any new idea or technology that it comes up with. Analysts have tracked Apple’s progress by reading the different patents filed by it, since they show the technological advancement happening at Apple’s headquarters. In this latest patent, Apple has filed a patent for the facial recognition feature in iOS devices.
According to the patents that have been filed by Apple, it seems that Apple may be considering introducing a facial recognition feature in the upcoming iOS devices. But this facial recognition doesn’t seem as simple as realizing the user’s face when it’s waved in front of it. The patent, at least, shows a lot more than that.
How the system detects the user’s face?
The patent is for a system that can detect a user when he is close by. And as soon as it recognizes the user’s presence, it unlocks and displays the home screen without having to touch the screen, as is the case in most prevalent facial recognition versions. There will also be the option of making the feature work on a high-security option where it unlocks with much more sophistication.
The detection is done by capturing the image and then matching it with a reference image already in store. The matching can be done through the eyes or the distance between an eyes-line and the mouth of the user.
While these are, more or less, the prevalent forms of facial recognition which deploys detecting of certain facial features, what remains to be seen is that how will Apple embed this feature within the iOS device so as to make it a success.
Image courtesy Patently Apple.
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