With an intent of using the Touch ID currently present on its iPhones for more than just fingerprint identification, Apple has today been awarded a fresh patent (Patent No.20150135108 via TechCrunch) which details out Cupertino giant’s plans of using the touch ID for manipulating (navigating) UI on iDevices.
The Patent titled “Device, Method and Graphical User interface for manipulating user interfaces based on fingerprint sensor inputs” details on the possibilities, that you might just be able to read ebooks/docs or view images on your iPhone without having to touch your screen for the same.
Apple intends to detect movement of a fingerprint on the fingerprint sensor and in response to that detections, aims to navigate you through the first user interface; and in accordance with a determination that the movement of the fingerprint is in a second direction different from the first direction, displaying a second user interface different from the first user interface on the display.
Apart from allowing a user to navigate through their iDevice using fingerprint sensor, Apple also details exhaustively on how the same sensor could be used for other applications like locking the display orientation of a mobile gadget in response to detected changes of fingerprint movement. The patent also talks about enabling users to multi-task using the same sensor without having to go through the sccreen.
Apple has further explained the possible use of Touch ID on a Mac computer or a Macbook. Again, Apple intends to replace all of user’s button presses with a Touch ID. According to the patent, the company aims to provide electronic devices with displays, and fingerprint sensors with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for switching between user interfaces, thereby increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction with such devices. Such methods and interfaces may complement or replace conventional methods for switching between user interfaces.
Such devices are obviously not offered by Apple as of now, but of a line-upTouchID equipped keyboards as a replacement for your conventional touchpad or TouchID equipped mouse could come out from Apple in coming years.
The patent also talks about haptic feedback and how the same can be used to help users identify whether they are using the fingerprint sensor-based functions correctly or not.
