Apple Touch ID to create new functionalities on iPhone
15 May 2015
Currently used to deliver security features to the iPhone and iPad, Apple's fingerprint recognising Touch ID, which debuted on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, might bring added functionality to the home button on future iOS devices.
The company filed a patent yesterday with the US Patent and Trademark Office that details using Touch ID to add functionality to the home button, such as the ability to navigate content and applications purely on the basis of finger movement.
The main idea brought out in the patent application was to use Touch ID to allow other functionalities in the home button over and above using fingerprint recognition for unlocking a device or to authorise Apple Pay transactions and app purchases via iTunes.
In addition to security via Touch ID, the home button on an iPhone had three other functions: holding the home button down for activating Siri, double press it to view a list of open apps, or press it once to return to the home screen.
Apple has included illustrations in the application to show how pressing down or holding the home button could launch the search function from the home screen. Another illustration showed how the fingerprint sensor in the home button could improve game-play; rather than swiping and tapping the screen – and obscuring the screen view – the home button can be used by players to perform actions directly.
The application also described how the fingerprint sensor could replace on-screen multi-touch gestures or multiple button presses commonly used for accessing and navigating between multitasking applications.
The fingerprint sensing had yet another application – to lock the display orientation- in either landscape or portrait mode- based on the orientation of the users' fingerprint on the home button.
According to commentators while the patent application document hardly made for easy reading, it clearly showed that Apple was looking to expand the uses of the innovative security-based technology.
"There is a need for electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for conveniently interacting with user interfaces (e.g., for navigating through an application, for switching from one application interface to another or for displaying a multi-tasking user interface)," the application states. "Such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface."
