A new patent application unearthed by AppleInsider has revealed that Apple has been looking into the possibility of using the forward-facing camera of an iPhone or iPad to recognize an individual person’s face, enabling the iPhone or iPad to then automatically customize apps, settings and other features to suit the user’s own preferences. The patent application is called “Low Threshold Face Recognition”, and presents with a low-computation way of recognizing a user’s face.

One of the main benefits of such a system would be that it would enable many different users to share the same device, with each user being able to customize the iPad or iPhone to suit their taste, using special unique wallpaper, apps, and so on. This would all happen without the tedious task of having to log on with an individual password, as soon as the user’s face was recognized by the device. The patent goes on to explain how the facial recognition software could be designed to ensure that it did not put too much of a drain on battery life, by analyzing a “high information portion” on a person's face, such as eyes, nose or mouth, rather than having to analyse the whole face.

The patent was first filed by Apple in June 2009, and is the work of Robert Mikio Free.

Source: AppleInsider | Apple's future iPhones & iPads could automatically personalize via face recognition

Wow!

I am waiting for that!!!

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Wow thts amazing man!

Well, it's not THAT amazing. The latest release of Android (ICS) (among other systems) includes facial recognition software. Unfortunately, to this point it appears relatively simple to defeat the feature by placing a photo of a user in front of the device. Further, reviews of facial recognition software suggests it fails to recognize a face frequently enough to make it more a PITA than a feature.

Furthermore, I'm very skeptical that Apple intends to enable multiple user profiles on iOS devices. They certainly don't need facial recognition software to do so and its benefits to consumers are far outweighed (it appears) by the costs to Apple in terms of encouraging consumers to buy multiple devices.

All in all, I'd be surprised to see facial recognition show up any time soon. And even more surprised to see multiple user profiles. This strikes me more as a typical patent defense tactic that Apple can use for legal challenges when it suits their purposes.

Originally Posted by jsh1120

Well, it's not THAT amazing. The latest release of Android (ICS) (among other systems) includes facial recognition software. Unfortunately, to this point it appears relatively simple to defeat the feature by placing a photo of a user in front of the device. Further, reviews of facial recognition software suggests it fails to recognize a face frequently enough to make it more a PITA than a feature.

Furthermore, I'm very skeptical that Apple intends to enable multiple user profiles on iOS devices. They certainly don't need facial recognition software to do so and its benefits to consumers are far outweighed (it appears) by the costs to Apple in terms of encouraging consumers to buy multiple devices.

All in all, I'd be surprised to see facial recognition show up any time soon. And even more surprised to see multiple user profiles. This strikes me more as a typical patent defense tactic that Apple can use for legal challenges when it suits their purposes.

Agreed on all points.

I have facial recognition on a laptop and netbook and have found it a pain. If the light isn't good, or you're not centered just right, it won't work. I'd rather sign in with a password.

Ya tru

Well you guy are right, but we have intelligent software assistance long time ago. But it wasn't since Apple bought Siri and step it to the next level that people started to pay attention to this awesome tool. Google have their own version of face recognition is one thing but for sure when Apple release a facial recognition software it would be something like we never have before.

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Originally Posted by Destroyer

Well you guy are right, but we have intelligent software assistance long time ago. But it wasn't since Apple bought Siri and step it to the next level that people started to pay attention to this awesome tool. Google have their own version of face recognition is one thing but for sure when Apple release a facial recognition software it would be something like we never have before.

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I have Siri on 4S and find it half-baked.

If Apple or whoever can improve on any tech, great. But I'll reserve judgment till I see what they actually deliver.

Originally Posted by Destroyer

Well you guy are right, but we have intelligent software assistance long time ago. But it wasn't since Apple bought Siri and step it to the next level that people started to pay attention to this awesome tool. Google have their own version of face recognition is one thing but for sure when Apple release a facial recognition software it would be something like we never have before.

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I think it's more a difference in corporate philosophy than engineering competence. Apple is far more committed to a bulletproof user experience than Google even if it means that Apple users wait for months or years before they see features common in other platforms. Google, on the other hand, is (in)famous for releasing software in beta and keeping it there for years, largely eliminating an obligation to support it.

In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Siri may be the first product Apple has ever fully released with a "beta" tag on it. I doubt they would have released it when they did if it were not for the fact that the iPhone 4S was such a disappointment in terms of new features when so many people were expecting a iPhone 5. Siri at least made some headlines for Apple. Without it, the story would have been far more negative.

I'm sure facial recognition software will continue to evolve. In fact, the title on this particular patent application is "Low Threshold.." I suspect that means what Apple considers to be patentable is facial recognition based on fewer points of comparison and therefore less computationally demanding processing. It may well be awhile before hardware processing power and optics evolve to the point that such software can be put in a small consumer device reliably.