Apple patents fingerprint sensor that works through displays, hints at 'iPhone 8' tech
Apple on Tuesday was awarded a patent that, if recent rumors are to be believed, might make its way into next year's iPhone model. Specifically, the company now owns IP covering a fingerprint sensor capable of gathering accurate readings through structures like a device screen.
Source: USPTO
As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the tech described in Apple's U.S. Patent No. 9,460,332 for a "Capacitive fingerprint sensor including an electrostatic lens" offers a solution to a major design hurdle presented with the rumored design of next year's iPhone.
According to reports, the 2017 iPhone will do away with the iconic home button to make way for a "full-screen face" comprised of an edge-to-edge OLED display. Instead of the physical Touch ID module seen in contemporary iPhone and iPad devices, Apple is said to be working on a virtual button which presumably carries over the same features and functions.
The home button has been a mainstay of Apple's portable device lineup since the first iPhone launched in 2007. Initially mapped to execute a "return to home" command, home button functionality has expanded to invoke Siri and control security via an embedded Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Software commands can be easily replicated with graphical buttons (or through a press on modern 3D Touch screens), but how Apple planned to integrate now-standard Touch ID fingerprint technology into a handset lacking a home button was unclear. Today's patent overcomes design hurdles by introducing capacitive sensing technology that works through gaps in space, thereby allowing a future Touch ID module to sit behind iPhone's display.
With common fingerprint sensors, separation between the contact surface where a user places their finger and the capacitive sensing array results in a blurring of the finger's electric field. This can lead to degraded fingerprint image resolutions and decreased recognition accuracy.
To alleviate blurring caused by gaps, Apple proposes the use of electrostatic lenses, which are simply described as one or more patterned conductive layers. Depending on their position, relative voltage and shape, however, the layer or layers are able to shape or bend the electric field associated with a user's finger. This bending can in some cases offset the natural dispersion a finger's electric field experiences as it passes through a dielectric layer or space.
As explained by Apple, electric fields associated with particular points on a finger can be illustrated as a cones. From a contact surface, these cones spread out from their respective apices and commingle with each other, causing the blur mentioned above. Continuing forward with the example, electrostatic lenses are tuned to receive an unshaped cone and produce shaped versions that are subsequently spread across an array of sensing elements to achieve an accurate image of a user's fingerprint.
There is one caveat to the electrostatic design, however. Apple notes a drive ring is needed to supply a AC or DC voltage to a user's finger, electrically coupling the digit and providing a predetermined potential difference between it and the sensing array. A similar solution is used in existing Touch ID hardware.
Cross section of capacitive sensor array (206), electrostatic lenses (304), display stack (402), cover glass (400) and drive ring (406) in one embodiment.
The document goes on to detail a host of possible system configurations, from single-pattern solutions to installations with multiple sensors. Most importantly, the patent covers a scenarios in which an electrostatic lens is used to refine blurring caused by interrupting internal components like displays.
It is unclear if Apple plans to deploy electrostatic lenses in a future iPhone, or if a version of the tech is already present in current Touch ID iterations, though the IP does go a long way in bringing the "full-screen face" design to life. Today's patent is just one piece of a larger puzzle, as hiding a fingerprint sensor behind a handset screen would require numerous enhancements over contemporary technology. For example, to create a clean display surface, Touch ID's drive ring must be completely integrated with, or more likely deleted from, the display cover glass.
Apple's electrostatic lens patent was first filed for in September 2014 and credits Jean-Marie Bussat as its inventor.
Source: USPTO
As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the tech described in Apple's U.S. Patent No. 9,460,332 for a "Capacitive fingerprint sensor including an electrostatic lens" offers a solution to a major design hurdle presented with the rumored design of next year's iPhone.
According to reports, the 2017 iPhone will do away with the iconic home button to make way for a "full-screen face" comprised of an edge-to-edge OLED display. Instead of the physical Touch ID module seen in contemporary iPhone and iPad devices, Apple is said to be working on a virtual button which presumably carries over the same features and functions.
The home button has been a mainstay of Apple's portable device lineup since the first iPhone launched in 2007. Initially mapped to execute a "return to home" command, home button functionality has expanded to invoke Siri and control security via an embedded Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Software commands can be easily replicated with graphical buttons (or through a press on modern 3D Touch screens), but how Apple planned to integrate now-standard Touch ID fingerprint technology into a handset lacking a home button was unclear. Today's patent overcomes design hurdles by introducing capacitive sensing technology that works through gaps in space, thereby allowing a future Touch ID module to sit behind iPhone's display.
With common fingerprint sensors, separation between the contact surface where a user places their finger and the capacitive sensing array results in a blurring of the finger's electric field. This can lead to degraded fingerprint image resolutions and decreased recognition accuracy.
To alleviate blurring caused by gaps, Apple proposes the use of electrostatic lenses, which are simply described as one or more patterned conductive layers. Depending on their position, relative voltage and shape, however, the layer or layers are able to shape or bend the electric field associated with a user's finger. This bending can in some cases offset the natural dispersion a finger's electric field experiences as it passes through a dielectric layer or space.
As explained by Apple, electric fields associated with particular points on a finger can be illustrated as a cones. From a contact surface, these cones spread out from their respective apices and commingle with each other, causing the blur mentioned above. Continuing forward with the example, electrostatic lenses are tuned to receive an unshaped cone and produce shaped versions that are subsequently spread across an array of sensing elements to achieve an accurate image of a user's fingerprint.
There is one caveat to the electrostatic design, however. Apple notes a drive ring is needed to supply a AC or DC voltage to a user's finger, electrically coupling the digit and providing a predetermined potential difference between it and the sensing array. A similar solution is used in existing Touch ID hardware.
Cross section of capacitive sensor array (206), electrostatic lenses (304), display stack (402), cover glass (400) and drive ring (406) in one embodiment.
The document goes on to detail a host of possible system configurations, from single-pattern solutions to installations with multiple sensors. Most importantly, the patent covers a scenarios in which an electrostatic lens is used to refine blurring caused by interrupting internal components like displays.
It is unclear if Apple plans to deploy electrostatic lenses in a future iPhone, or if a version of the tech is already present in current Touch ID iterations, though the IP does go a long way in bringing the "full-screen face" design to life. Today's patent is just one piece of a larger puzzle, as hiding a fingerprint sensor behind a handset screen would require numerous enhancements over contemporary technology. For example, to create a clean display surface, Touch ID's drive ring must be completely integrated with, or more likely deleted from, the display cover glass.
Apple's electrostatic lens patent was first filed for in September 2014 and credits Jean-Marie Bussat as its inventor.
Comments
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/lg-fixes-a-fingerprint-reader-under-your-smartphone-s-screen-1320178
I thought the idea behind a full-screen UI would be to radically simplify the UX (a design principle Apple prides themselves on) leaving just the content, in full-screen glory.
LG touts a very low false acceptance rate. What's the false failure rate? Maybe it's a great way to do it and Apple just developed another way.
notice the article was dates May of this year and apple patent goes back to 2014 and they were probably working on it long before that to figure out the final solution. LG could be one of Apple partners in the final design. Apple most likely had to make proof of concepts which they could not do themselves they would need someone like LG. LG is just showing off their part of the design does not mean others could implement without Apples part of the solution. It is just like the current TouchID sensor, apple does it better than everyone else.
the speaker does not need an opening. It would merely vibrate the glass in a specific area. This technology already exists. The camera will be a much bigger issue. I'm guessing translucent LCD display that clears for that opening. Light and proximity sensors are also going to be another challenge.
its hard to imagine the power, volume and mute buttons will go away in the next phone. Apple seems to take baby steps modifying one technology at a time. Adjusting to touch sensitive buttons for everything at once would be a major change that would certainly cause a lot of confusion. Then again, if orientation is no longer relevant, then those physical buttons would have to be software position able. That basically ensures people won't be able to feel their way around the phone anymore. Forgetting to silence the phone before a meeting or a movie could result in a much more disastrous ordeal of trying to turn it off. Maybe Apple is gambling on wearables like the Apple Watch or AirPods for control surfaces. But that's a big gamble. On the other hand, maybe they reduce all the buttons down to two symmetrical buttons on each end, which serve as a function recall for all virtual buttons. It's an extra step but pares the phone down to a minimum configuration with the reassurance of a reliable tactile physical interface.
What Apple is trying to do is give you the full screen, without a visible sensor.
The problem I see with LG's implementation action is that part of the screen will be missing to make room for the sensor.
The problem I see with Apple's idea is finding the part of the screen to put your finger on.
If they have to move the home button, it may end up on the side of the phone just like in Apple Watch and redesign the Sleep/Wake button somehow to not mess up with HOme button usage.