Its seems that according to a new patent filed by Apple, they’re working on bringing over their Face ID tech to their MacBook and iMac. This would mean better, faster unlocks for their computers. This is similar to them bringing Touch ID to their iPads, so it’s no surprise they’re thinking of adopting Face ID to their Macs.
In the patent images, you can see the screen of the MacBook and an iMac a notch-like type bar in the centre, where the facial recognition sensors would be. It’s not pretty if the sensors are like a black bar on screen, giving the notch impression, but if they found a way to allocate the space to either be in display, or on the bezels, it should look decent enough.
The patent also highlighted the privacy of users and how they store the facial recognition data on the computers. They also mentioned how this facial recognition would help them keep their privacy safe.
“By performing these complex functions, sensitive data associated with these users may be gathered and/or stored by these computing devices,” Apple said to Apple Insider.
“To prevent unauthorized users from accessing this sensitive data, these computing devices may incorporate systems and mechanisms for authenticating users.”
What makes the process more complicated, as hinted by the patent, is the matter of space. Mainly because of the limited space available with internal cavities of these computing devices, and would have to be compact or have thin profiles.
This is also because Face ID isn’t simply a camera, detecting your face. It uses more than 30,000 invisible IR dots to create an IR image and dot pattern, which pushes through neural networks to create a mathematical model of your face, and sends that data to confirm a match. It also adapts to physical changes in appearance, and uses multiple sensors i.e. dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator.
