With the rumors of a bezel-free iPhone 8, it’s not too surprising to see Apple have patents for an embedded Touch ID sensor in the display. On the other hand, Apple has also been reportedly working on an iris scanner for the new iPhone, which would replace fingerprint scanners.
We’ve previously seen two different methods of an embedded Touch ID sensor, and today’s patent marks a third…
The patent, discovered by AppleInsider, describes using infrared emitters and sensors placed along the LEDs inside an OLED display.
Exemplary methods and systems use a micro light emitting diode (LED) in an active matrix display to emit light and a sensing IR diode to sense light. A display panel includes a display substrate having a display region, an array of subpixel circuits, and an array of selection devices. Each subpixel circuit includes a driving circuit to operate a corresponding infrared (IR) emitting LED in a light emission mode. Each selection device may be coupled to a corresponding sensing IR diode to operate the corresponding sensing IR diode in a light sensing mode.
This method seems to only work with an OLED display, however. Which means certain models, which would feature an LCD display, would not work.
