This Apple patent could describe facial recognition for the next iPhone

One of the greatest problems with tech is that there is little room for nostalgia. Aside from Nintendo and potentially Fujifilm, few companies are willing to stick with what’s comfortable. And with good reason!

Take Apple, for instance. I may still be butthurt over the fact that my iPhone doesn’t have a proper headphone jack, dismayed each time I lose my dongle, but it’s hard to ignore that some new features, like Touch ID, haven’t drastically improved both the security and the user experience of the iPhone.

But out with the old and in with the new, right? And it seems that Touch ID might be the next old, new feature to get the axe.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported on rumors that Apple is testing facial recognition via a more powerful 3D camera on the iPhone, which would do away with Touch ID.

A few days ago, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next iPhone will have an all-display design and use facial recognition, as well.

Before these latest rumors, some have speculated that the Touch ID sensor will lay under the screen.

However, given the latest report out of Bloomberg/KGI, a new Apple patent has caught our attention.

The patent describes a method in which a computing device could spot a user through the camera while in sleep mode, using very minimal power, and wake automatically based on the movement of that user toward the computing device.

The system would use three parameters (skin tone detection, face detection, and movement detection) to determine whether you’d like to actually use your device and that you are, indeed, you. When all parameters are met, the device would wake to welcome you.

The images in this patent show a desktop computing device using the presence recognition system, which would likely be far easier than an iPhone or iPad, as mobile computing devices are often in motion themselves. Still, the patent doesn’t actually rule out that this facial/presence recognition system might be used in mobile computing devices.

Of course, as with any Apple patent, it’s unclear if the technology described in the patent will make its way to our consumer products anytime soon. However, the latest iPhone rumors about facial recognition certainly make this patent one to watch out for.

IPhone May Soon Have Face Tracking Technology

If rumours are anything to go by, Apple is looking use a face-unlocking technology to replace its fingerprint reader. The move would mark a major shift away from Touch ID, a mainstay in Apple phones since the introduction of the 5S, back in late-2013.

It is quite possible that Apple’s primary interest in 3D sensing could be part of its AR startegy. Tim Cook has been super bullish on the technology for a while (even seemingly brushing aside VR in favour of it), and at WWDC, Apple made a big splash with its ARKit development platform. More on-board 3D hardware could really give the platform and even bigger boost, but face scanning is another great application for the technology. 

Apple recently was awarded a patent covering the detection of human faces in digital video feeds by leveraging depth map information, technology which ignited the rumour that it could be a building block of a face-based bio-recognition system rumored to debut with this year’s iPhone. The patent describes an offshoot of computer vision technology that applies specialized hardware and software systems to object recognition tasks, specifically those involving human faces.

Apple is almost certainly looking to do something radical with its 10th anniversary phone — something considerably larger than the 7’s move from a mechanical to a haptic button. Most recent speculation has the company moving toward an (nearly) all-display design, and moving away from a fingerprint reader goes a ways toward heading in that direction.

The 3D sensing aspect would also help improve the technology over many existing solutions, and we’ve been hearing tell that infrared modules are coming to the iPhone for a while now — possibly showing up in the next model. Moving toward a technology that doesn’t rely on visible light could help Apple combat the problem many current solutions have in low light.

Building the technology on 3D scanning would make it harder to spoof than a 2D solution, but even still, a feature tied this closely to payment authentication isn’t something Apple is going to want to rush to market. At very least, it could make sense for the company to keep Touch ID around for a generation as it irons any issues with the new technology.