Apple Awarded Patents for Curved Display, Facial Recognition, and Light field Camera
As pressure for innovation is intensifying especially for smartphones, Apple gets awarded another patent, which suggests that it is possible for the highly anticipated device iPhone 6 to feature a new level of design: curved touchscreen display.
Entitled as "Curved touch sensor," the tech giant is awarded patent No. 8,603,574 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today, Tuesday, December 10. The latest patent details how to create higher quality displays that would not be damaged "during the fabrication process."
Apple has also suggested that its mobile phones in the future could benefit from a production technique that results in "curved touch surfaces without deficiencies caused by substrate warping or deformation."
The patent outlines a possible manufacturing process for creating curved screen sensor: placing a thin film over a flexible substrate while the substrate is flat, which would then be joined to a flexible substrate using high heat. The process would result in a thinner sensor display with higher sensitivity.
In addition, Apple has revealed that the curved screen technology would certainly be implemented in smartphones, as well as other Apple displays such as touchpads, mice and more, bringing computer peripherals back to the fore. The Cupertino-based company has also hinted that the display technology could be used to produce screens with multiple curves and ripples.
Apple was recently awarded two patents for a "personal computing device control using face detection and recognition" and a light field camera that would allow users to refocus their photos after they have been taken.