Apple plans sensors below the screen to include both Touch ID and Face ID

There are constant rumors that Apple will reduce the size of the Face ID notch in future devices like the “iPhone 13” line. Separately, there have been regular claims that Touch ID will return as part of a display, rather than through a separate physical button.

Now, a recently revealed patent suggests that Apple sees the two as part of the same goal. Apple wants to be able to bring Touch ID back inside a screen and remove the notch entirely with the same method.

“Optical transmission, reception or detection through the screen through micro-optical elements” is really concerned with any detection of anything through the screen. But even in a patent that naturally aims to be as broad and expansive as possible, Apple distinguishes between Face ID and Touch ID – without using those terms.

Instead, Apple says that in some cases, “it may be desirable to determine whether an object or a user” is near or looking at a device.

“It may also be desirable to capture a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) image of an object or user near a device,” continues Apple. “In some cases, the 2D or 3D image may be an image of a fingerprint, face, or scene in a field of view (FoV).”

There are elements of the patent that go beyond whether it’s your thumb blocking the screen or your nose pointing at it.

“It may also be useful to acquire images or data relating to the environment of a device

The patent therefore relates to methods making it possible to have any type of sensor under the screen and capable of recording the light received – or of transmitting it.

“[An] an optical emitter, an optical receiver, an optical transceiver or several optical transmitters, receivers and / or transceivers can be placed behind the screen of a device, “the patent continues,” and the light can be transmitted or received through translucent openings extending from a front surface to a rear surface of a display stack of the apparatus. “

A key phrase here is “translucent openings”. Apple’s proposal aims to cover both sensors that are completely under a screen and others that can use invisible spaces in the material.

“The emitter, receiver, or optical sensor can transmit or receive light opportunistically through translucent openings available in the display stack,” he says, “or the display stack can be configured to. providing translucent openings in a deterministic pattern. “

Desai of the patent showing one of the many possible arrangements of sensors under a screen

Most importantly, Apple wants these sensors to have no effect on anything the screen displays.

“When a transmitter, receiver or optical sensor is placed under the screen of a device, part of the display surface of the device does not have to be reserved for the transmitter, receiver or to the optical sensor, “the patent states,” and in some cases the screen size of the device may be increased. “

The latter is that Apple admits that the screens can end up getting a bit thicker because of it. But it also says that the entire surface of a screen will be used for whatever the user wants, there won’t be bezel-like areas on these sensors.

This patent is awarded to six inventors, including Wenrui Cai and Mark T. Winkler. Their previous collaborations include a proposal for users to share data by pointing their iPhones at each other.