Many Mac users have hoped that Face ID would come to the Mac. A newly granted patent shows that this may happen.
About the patent
The patent, dubbed “Personal Computing Device Control Using Face Detection and Recognition,” elates to personal computing devices and, more particularly, to personal computing device control using face detection and recognition.
In the patent Apple says the proliferation of personal computing devices is so extensive and pervasive that many tasks performed by individuals, in their daily lives, involve some form of interaction with one or more personal computing devices. Typically, users can actively or passively interface with a personal computing device.
Active interfacing may include typing words on a keyboard, saying words, scrolling through a list, using a mouse pointer to select an icon, pressing one or more control buttons, and any like active user interaction. Passive interfacing may include viewing a text file, viewing an image, viewing a movie, listening to a song, listening to audio, or feeling a vibration or motion.
Apple says that one problem with existing personal computing devices is that such devices often perform certain functions regardless of whether users are passively interfacing with the devices. In other words, personal computer devices can’t determine whether a non-active or passive user is present so are unable to perform certain operations to accommodate the passive user.
For example, a Mac may automatically activate a screen saver every five minutes regardless of whether a user is viewing its display screen. Apple says that this means “a passive user is often inconveniently required to actively perform an interaction with the PC at least every five minutes to prevent the initiation of the screen saver or to deactivate the screen saver after it is initiated.” This means there’s “a need for providing a user interface for a personal computing device that is capable of determining when a passive user is present without the need for active user interaction with the device.”
Another problem with personal computing devices is that such devices often can’t efficiently determine whether certain users have the authority to perform certain functions of the personal computing device. For example, to access a restricted computer application, a user may be required to actively enter a password. For these reasons Apple says there’s a need for a more efficient and reliable user access control mechanism for personal computing devices. The company thinks that control using face detection and recognition is one solution.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “Systems and methods are provided for control of a personal computing device based on user face detection and recognition techniques.”
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