Apple registers Touch ID that works anywhere on the screen

We don't usually cover new patents registered by Apple for a very simple reason: dozens / hundreds of them are registered, but that does not necessarily mean that we will see such an invention being implemented in some product or service. Often, it is just a matter of registering a new technology that was invented (perhaps even to prevent the competition from using something similar), for example, without any relation to prototypes and plans for a specific use. Others, however, we can not ignore because they hit the popular desire. the case of the patent 10,198,610, which covers “acoustic pulse coding for images of entrance surfaces”, as informed by the AppleInsider.

The name is weird, but the description is very interesting, since it explains how sound can be applied to a surface to detect how another object comes into contact with it. In summary, an array of acoustic transducers, positioned in contact with the surface, can transmit an encoded pulse signal in response to a touch. By monitoring and receiving reflections from multiple encoded signals, an image could then be generated based on that touch. Sound pulses are sent and come into contact with the user's fingerprint ridges. These ridges interrupt the transit of the impulse and are reflected, with these reflections being interpreted in a fingerprint image that can be properly analyzed. Ufa

Conclusion: this could allow a fingerprint to be read by pressing your finger anywhere on an iPhone screen. That's right, a Touch ID occupying the entire iPhone screen! You could touch the middle, the top, the bottom does not matter! The iPhone would recognize your finger.

The benefits of this technology (compared to the existing one) are many: little thickness for the components (which can be placed away from others), the fact that it is not necessary to place electrodes on the display, less processing power (making authentication faster) ), etc.

Woman using Face ID on iPhone X

practically a consensus that the Face ID is here to stay and that we will hardly see the return of the Touch ID. On the other hand, many people still prefer biometric recognition by digital instead of face, and a new technology capable of doing this type of recognition across the screen would not be bad. It is worth noting, however, that Apple itself has already registered other patents for possible new fingerprint readers (one in February and the other in August 2017), so this is definitely not an unusual move.

Particularly, I highly doubt that Apple will relaunch Touch ID, as it would be a testament to Face ID's bad reception (which, while some might not like it, is far from being hated by users). Even more now, that everything indicates that we are facing a second generation of technology (which may come with improvements in the angle and distance of recognition, among other things).

I also find it very difficult for Apple to maintain two biometric systems in the same device, as many Android manufacturers make the company's history shows us that it “decides what is best for the user” and defends this idea tooth and nail. On the other hand, would it be interesting to see something like this being released, anyway?

tip of @ bearded30, via Forbes