Patents acquired by Apple could be used for continuous biometric authentication

Intellectual property previously owned by shuttered home security camera company Lighthouse has been reassigned to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after the tech giant purchased eight patents which BGR Media suggests could be used for passive, constant user authentication based on AI and facial recognition.

AppleInsider identifies patents for a “Computer-vision based security system using a depth camera,” a “method and system for visual authentication,” and other patents granted or pending related to dealing with low-light environments, speech interface with a vision-based monitoring system, and an incident notification system. The first among those patents refers to repeatedly executing steps for continuous security.

Lighthouse offered a camera for $300 that came with additional AI features on a subscription basis, until the company closed down in late 2018. Apple picked up the patents around the same time, but is not expected to go into the home security camera market, which Ring, Nest, Arlo, Wyze and other companies are fighting over.

Future iPhones are expected to feature Face ID upgrades, as well as a rear-facing depth sensing 3D camera, which opens up some different potential use cases for the patents.

Article Topics

Apple  |  artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  continuous authentication  |  facial recognition  |  patents