Apple Patent Hints at More Uses for Touch ID Sensor

Apple has slowly expanded the utilization of the Touch ID sensor beyond its security-focused origins. And if a new patent is any indication of the company's ambitions, then the little touch button on the bottom of your brand-new iPhone might be able to do even more things in the future.

We're being vague, we realize, but that's the nature of patents. The existence of a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office doesn't necessarily mean that Apple is planning big changes for the iPhone 7 or other future devices.

But this particular patent spotted by AppleInsider is intriguing. It was submitted by Dale Setlak, who co-founded the company AuthenTec, acquired by Apple in mid-2012.

Said patent, which Setlak originally filed for in June of last year, is titled "Electronic Device Switchable to a User-Interface Unlocked Mode Based Upon a Pattern of Input Motions and Related Methods." To put that in common-speak, the patent describes various ways that the Touch ID sensor on a smartphone could be used to do a variety things.

One such example found within the patent involves a person twisting his or her finger around in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion to manipulate a digital lock on the smartphone's screen. In another example, a user drags a finger across the Touch ID sensor to complete a locking pattern on the iPhone itself. That would seemingly combine fingerprint verification with pattern identity.

The patent also teases the idea that perhaps Apple's Touch ID could serve as a super-precise sensor for when a person needs finer control over his or her finger movements. For example, if one is doing a bit of iPhone-based painting, perhaps running a finger over the Touch ID could be akin to lowering the DPI of one's mouse to more precisely manipulate the cursor.

Apple has already dabbled ever-so-slightly in Touch ID sensor recognition, though not a lot. Right now, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users can double-tap their Touch ID sensors—that's tap, not press—in order to temporairly shift the contents of their device downward. For those with tiny hands, but huge iPhones, it's a fun little trick for reaching the upper portions of the smartphone screen without having to shift a hand up and down.