Biometric security technologies have been positioned as the favorites to be able to unlock our mobile. The pattern and the pin is something reserved for a handful of users, or entry-level terminals that do not have other options, or for those occasions in which the security of our terminal requires the classic manual method. Users of the latest iPhone can only use Face ID, so it makes sense that Apple wants to improve this technology more and more.
Having several biometric unlocking options is the idea, since fingerprint is the preferred method for most Android users. That forces Apple to try to have the best facial unlocking on the market, with a constant search for technologies that make the system more secure and efficient. The latest idea from Apple could be the definitive method in this regard and arrive integrated into the next iPhone 13.
More accurate mapping of the face
It has been a report revealed by Patently Apple, which has revealed the idea that the Cupertino are developing, whose patent has been approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office. What Apple has in mind is the integration of a technology capable of mapping the user’s face, taking into account its hot spots . This heatmap will be able to evaluate the reference points on the user’s face, and allow unlocking when necessary.
The system wants to be effective when the unlocking conditions are not optimal . A user efficiently registers their face following Apple’s guidelines, but in subsequent unlocks, when the iPhone must recognize the face to grant access, there are many items that were not there when the face was registered. We refer to darker areas, masks, scarves, one hand, hair on the face etc … This currently reduces the effectiveness and avoids problems with facial unlocking.
Complete what is missing
Reference point heat maps can be used to assess occlusion points on a user’s face, based on a previously recorded image. As we see in the patent example, the technology represents the user’s face on a grid, where scaled values are included that represent the number of reference points that can be used to estimate the location of parts of the face such as the eyes, the mouth, the nose … Basically, the system is in charge of completing, based on a computational calculation, the missing information, provided that it corresponds to the previously stored information of the user’s face. We do not know if Apple will arrive in time for the iPhone 13 to integrate this new system, but in the times of mask that we have had to live, it may be more necessary than ever to polish the system.
Source>Patently Apple