Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Leave it to Apple (AAPL) to solve all of our problems and make our lives easier. For most of us, passwords are a hassle. Now Apple is about to make passwords obsolete.
On Dec 29, 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application by Apple titled Low Threshold Face Recognition.
As an electrical engineer with a long background in patents, I recognize that most patents do not amount to anything. But this patent is different. In my opinion, Apple is once again about to change how we function in our daily lives.
Imagine no more passwords. Imagine our devices recognizing our faces and touches.
Facial recognition is nothing new, but to date mass application, especially in mobile devices has been difficult. Here is background from Apple’s own words:
Most face recognition systems fall into one of two categories. A first category system tends to be robust and can tackle various lighting conditions, orientations, scale and the like, and tends to be computationally expensive. A second category system is specialized for security-type applications and can work under controlled lighting conditions. Adopting the first category systems for face recognition on consumer operated portable appliances that are equipped with a camera would unnecessarily use an appliance's computing resources and drain its power. Moreover, as the consumer portable appliances tend to be used both indoor and outdoor, the second category systems for face recognition may be ineffective. Such ineffectiveness may be further exacerbated by the proximity of the user to the camera, i.e., small changes in distance to and tilt of the appliance's camera dramatically distort features, making traditional biometrics used in security-type face recognition ineffective.
Apple solves the problem by not analyzing the entire face but using only certain features of the face. Here is abstract of the patent:
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are disclosed for reducing the impact of lighting conditions and biometric distortions, while providing a low-computation solution for reasonably effective (low threshold) face recognition. In one aspect, the methods include processing a captured image of a face of a user seeking to access a resource by conforming a subset of the captured face image to a reference model. The reference model corresponds to a high information portion of human faces. The methods further include comparing the processed captured image to at least one target profile corresponding to a user associated with the resource, and selectively recognizing the user seeking access to the resource based on a result of said comparing.
The phrase ‘ low threshold’ in the title of the patent means that the method can tolerate a certain level of false positives and still make an accurate face recognition.
As the diagram shows, Apple relies on the distance between the eyes and between the eyes and the mouth.
Steve Jobs advocated simplest possible user interface. What could be simpler than your device recognizing your face?
Apple seems to be on the verge of leapfrogging Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and RIM (RIMM).
About Me: I am an engineer and nuclear physicist by background, have founded two Inc. 500 fastest growing companies and have been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. I am the chief investment officer at The Arora Report which publishes four newsletters to help investors profit from change. Please feel free to write me at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.
Full disclosure: I am long Apple from an average of $131. I took profits on 50% of the position at an average price of $360. Subscribers to ZYX Buy Change Alert may have a similar position and may have taken similar actions.
