Apple has managed to sneak in two new patents before Christmas. The company has been successfully granted the patent to a touch and hover interface; which would allow their devices to recognise the difference between a direct touch and a finger-like object hovering above the interface. Named the ‘Touch and hover signal drift compensation”, it is oddly similar to Samsung’s S-Pen hover feature. Although, Apple may come up with something completely out there.
The other patent is a “Seamlessly embedded heart rate monitor”. It appears to be a device for monitoring users’ cardiac activity. The patent specifies that the device will, “Using the detected signals, the electronic device can identify or authenticate the user and perform an operation based on the identity of the user. In some embodiments, the electronic device can determine the user’s mood from the cardiac signals and provide data related to the user’s mood.”
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It could be speculated that a future Apple device may be unlocked with an EKG reading. Which would be in line with the biometric verification options that the company has been experimenting with.
[Source: Phys.org, AppleInsider]
