Future Mac laptops may come equipped with an integrated biosensor as evidenced by a newly granted patent for a device with such a sensor. It seems to be a health feature.
About the patent
The patent relates to determining a health metric or physiological condition using a bio-sensor that is integrated with an electronic device. Lots of traditional portable electronic devices are configured to receive input using a keyboard or similar input device. However, in the patent Apple says that few, if any, traditional notebook computers include sophisticated sensors or sensing techniques to monitor the user.
The patent involves systems and techniques for integrating a bio-sensor into a surface of a laptop. The sensor is configured to detect blood perfusion in the body part of the user and the health metric is at least one of a heart rate, a respiration rate, a blood oxygenation level, a blood volume estimate, or a blood pressure. Presumably, this is designed to allow a Mac laptop user to get a quick check of those health-related features.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “An electronic device includes a translucent layer that forms a portion of an exterior of the electronic device, an opaque material positioned on the translucent layer that defines micro-perforations, and a processing unit operable to determine information about a user via the translucent layer.
“The processing unit may be operable to determine the information by transmitting optical energy through a first set of the micro-perforations into a body part of the user, receiving a reflected portion of the optical energy from the body part of the user through a second set of the micro-perforations, and analyzing the reflected portion of the optical energy.”
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