Whoa, now here’s a patent that’s actually worth discussing. (The majority of patents are boring, that’s the implication.). Published for the first time this week, a patent filing for the process reveals that Apple wants to provide a more secure method for preventing unauthorized access to a whole device — or private information on that device — than current techniques like passcodes; That is, the device would have a built-in scanner, biometric or otherwise, that would determine if you’re really you, if that makes any sense at all. You touch the iPhone’s screen and it recognizes your fingerprint; hello, world! You place your palm on your MacBook’s palm rest and trackpad and the computer recognizes you; no password needed anymore!

The solution, the company suggests, would be to automatically use a sensor either hidden within the device or else repurposed from its usual role. Devices could recognize a fingerprint or finger vein pattern simply by waiting for the user to touch the display, which would hide the sensors on or behind the screen. A forward-facing camera could alternately look for retinal patterns or even recognize the facial features of owners when they're in the right position for use.

Notebooks could use the trackpad, palmrest and a webcam for a similar purpose. Biometrics could also be context-sensitive and detect the shape of a user's ear before allowing a call to go through, for example.





As an alternative to biometrics, Apple further proposes using other, non-alphanumeric but also less obvious locks: in hardware, owners could get access by providing their voice to a microphone or tilting a device in certain directions.

On touch devices, users could place their fingers in a particular pattern on screen, make gestures or tap out a sequence. A more direct alternative to passcodes could also exist by making users match up shapes and colors through on-screen icons.



How likely it is any of the new inventions will appear isn't known. Even so, it's clear the processes were developed with the iPhone as a reference. Drawings included with the patent mostly show mockups of the handset's interface as it was when the patent was submitted in September of last year.

Of course, like all patents, there’s no guarantee this feature will ever find its way to market; companies file patents just for the hell of it, or just to keep “the other guy” out of their backyard.

Also, heading up the list of inventors is «iPod father» Tony Fadell, who helped develop the original iPhone and left the company just two months after the application first reached the US Patent and Trademark Office, to be replaced by former IBM executive Mark Papermaster.

Anything that improves a computer’s security, and as transparently as possible (in order to get Public to play along) is okay in my book