For well over two years, one of the most persistent rumors in mobile technology was that Apple was pioneering a new form of facial recognition technology that would be implemented in one or more of its popular iDevices.
To date, Apple has released no such features in the latest generation iPhones and iPads. But that doesn't mean Apple won't. And there's evidence at the US Patent and Trademark Office to confirm the company's prospective plans.
Apple's recently discovered patent application called "Low Threshold Face Recognition" explicitly outlines how a low-computation solution could be deployed for the purpose of quickly and easily recognizing a user via an iPad or iPhone's front-facing camera.
The patent, which was discovered by our friends at Apple Insider, reveals that Apple's proposed technology doesn't "aggressively analyze" a user's face. Instead, the proposed technology capitalizes on a "high information portion" of a human face. In a nutshell, the software would be able to gauge the measurement of distance between ones eyes, mouth, nose, etc. to identify the user.
If the technology works as it's described, it would be able to measure the data captured in real-time against the reference image stored on the device to promptly determine if the iPad or iPhone owner is the individual presently accessing the device.
To learn more about the patent in question, click here.
Source: Apple Insider
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