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Fri, 03 Jul 2009 Apple iPhone 4G patent surfaces? Real-feeling "haptic" touchscreen & fingerprint scanning

Haptic Feedback, Fingerprint Identification, and RFID Tag Readers coming soon?

Nick Spence

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Three new Apple patents applications unearthed this week suggest a range of new features that may be included in the next generation iPhone.

MacRumors reveals the most interesting patent appears to be a haptic feedback concept employing a "grid of piezoelectronic actuators" potentially producing a fully tactile touchscreen. This could mean the ability to feel virtual buttons or a click wheel and receive small vibrations from the handset.

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Limited haptic technology has started gaining adoption in other mobile phones and there had been some talk that Apple might have been looking to adopt it.

Haptic feedback could embed “piezoelectronic actuators” under the touchscreen that can change the texture of the screen’s surface.

A second Apple patent application suggests the detection of a user's individual fingerprints as an input method, a security implementation likely to be welcomed by many. It could also mean allowing different parts of the iPhone and any applications to open or locked to different users.

A second Apple patent covers fingerprint identification as an input method.

The last, and possibly least, Apple patent application places a Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag reader in the actual display panel of a device, allowing it to read RFID tags. RFID tags are small circuits that can be embedded in objects for identification using a special reader. RFID tags are often used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management.

Apple suggests that a RFID antenna could be placed in the touch sensor panel itself, allowing it to also be used as a RFID reader. As RFID tags become more common, this could add a useful function to future touch screen devices suggests MacRumors.

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Comments received


Kadoogan said on Mon, 06 Jul 2009

Both ideas sound cool, but I especially like the fingerprint one. It would be great to set up the phone so that only you can launch apps. Much better than having to enter a code each time you pick up the phone to use it (as it would just recognise your print and do what you want), or having no security at all.

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