Face ID? Touch ID? How about Heart ID? Apple has been granted a patent (number US 12048547) for a “Seamlessly Embedded Heart Rate Monitor.” It hints at the ability of Apple devices to unlock when they detect/measure your heart beat.
About the patent
In the patent Apple notes that many electronic devices are used to store personal or confidential information. In particular, portable electronic devices such as cellular telephones, personal assistants, and music players are often used to store or access e-mail, contact lists, communications history, remotely accessed accounts (e.g., telephone, banking or credit card accounts), or other information that a user may regard as personal or private.
What’s more several users may use the same electronic device. For example, several users in a household may use the same computer or portable music player. As another example, a user may lend an electronic device to a friend (e.g., lend an iPad to a friend for a trip).
Apple says that to enhance each user’s experience with the electronic device, the electronic device can include several profiles that can be loaded and provided to the users of the device. Each profile can be associated with a particular user, and include several settings that allow the electronic device interface user interaction components, and available data or applications to be personalized for the user.
The electronic device can use several approaches to identify the user of the electronic device and provide access to the user’s private and personal information, or to load the user’s personal profile. Approaches include entering passwords, Face ID, and Touch ID.
However, Apple says that other biometric-based approaches can be used to authenticate a user. Per Apple’s new patent, electronic device can authenticate a user based on the attributes of the user’s heartbeat. For example, the durations of particular portions of a user’s heart rhythm, or the relative size of peaks of a user’s electrocardiogram (EKG) can be processed and compared to a stored profile to authenticate a user of the device.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “This is directed to an electronic device having an integrated sensor for detecting a user’s cardiac activity and cardiac electrical signals. The electronic device can include a heart sensor having several leads for detecting a user’s cardiac signals. The leads can be coupled to interior surfaces of the electronic device housing to hide the sensor from view, such that electrical signals generated by the user can be transmitted from the user’s skin through the electronic device housing to the leads. In some embodiments, the leads can be coupled to pads placed on the exterior of the housing.
“The pads and housing can be finished to ensure that the pads are not visibly or haptically distinguishable on the device, thus improving the aesthetic qualities of the device. Using the detected signals, the electronic device can identify or authenticate the user and perform an operation based on the identity of the user. In some embodiments, the electronic device can determine the user’s mood from the cardiac signals and provide data related to the user’s mood.”
