There are many dilemmas that begin to emerge almost 10 months after the new iPhone. The fast-paced race for the best sensors and technologies is now much faster. Rumors suggest that the next Apple phones can integrate a sensor into the screen to be able to unlock them with the fingerprint. This rumor begins to grow in intensity after meeting Apple has patented its optical fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen. In this way speculation begins about which devices will carry it and which technologies could fall along the way.
Will we see Touch ID and Face ID coexist on the same device?
The patent is named “Electronic device that includes the sequential operation of subsets of light sources while acquiring biometric image data and related methods.” This means that a device capable of performing two simultaneous functions has been patented. That is, the screen will allow information inputs and outputs. On the one hand, outputs because they show content derived from the processor and the device's own operating system. On the other hand, the novelty is in the entries that would be biometric imaging data, or what would be the same: our footprints.
Un dispositivo electrónico puede incluir una capa de cubierta dieléctrica que define una superficie de detección de dedos y al menos un sensor de imagen óptico debajo de la capa de cubierta. El dispositivo electrónico también puede incluir al menos un elemento óptico asociado con al menos un sensor de imagen óptico. Las fuentes de luz pueden estar debajo de la capa dieléctrica y pueden funcionar selectivamente en subconjuntos de fuentes de luz. Un controlador puede configurarse para operar secuencialmente subconjuntos adyacentes respectivos de fuentes de luz mientras adquiere datos de imagen biométrica del al menos un sensor de imagen óptico.
This patent brings Apple closer to the possibility of integrate Touch ID into the screen of your devices. This would not only allow progress to be made in security, but also in reduction of elements inside the «chassis» of their mobiles. That is, by eliminating elements from the interior of the products, you thus reduce their thickness, reducing the thickness.
However, now Apple's dilemma must be itself the coexistence of Touch ID and Face ID on the same device is viable and if it would be worth it. In my opinion, technologically it would provide a true two-step verification for possible integrations of more confidential elements such as the DNI or more sensitive data. In addition, by having a greater number of security tools it is the user who would decide what and when to use it. What do you prefer: Touch ID or Face ID?