Apple patent filing shows Touch ID, biometric key on upcoming Macs

A patent application from Apple showing how future Mac keyboards could have a fingerprint biometric button featuring a textured ceramic key cover has been published, Patently Apple reports.

The iPhone giant was first granted a patent for Touch ID for MacBooks in 2015, but it was only one year later that Apple introduced Touch ID on a single key within the Touch Bar.

The new patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office hints at a Touch ID biometric button whose cap and textured ceramic cover may each be configured to provide a desired visual and tactile property.

The document also specifies the button may be formed of a single crystal, such as single crystal alumina, and configured as not to “substantially interfere with the operation of the biometric sensor.”

In addition, the patent mentions how future iterations of the new sensors may offer users extra biometric-reading features.

These could include measurement of heart rate, blood oxygenation, respiration rate, medial arterial pressure, galvanic skin response, vein patterns, and more.

The new document, which was published on Thursday by the USPTO is patent application number 20210142030 and was initially filed by Apple in March.

The company has been filing a number of patents describing new biometric sensors in the past few months.

These include one for an under-display optical fingerprint biometric sensor in January, and one designed to improve Face ID biometrics for masked users earlier this month.

Article Topics

Apple  |  biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint recognition  |  patents  |  pc  |  research and development  |  Touch ID