Future iPhones could contain eye-tracking software

Eye-tracking software could be a feature of future iPhones and other Apple products after the company was granted a patent for the technology

                          

The next generation of iPhones could contain software designed to track the path of your gaze, and only display notifications when your eyes are focused on a certain part of the display, a new patent has revealed.

Filed by Apple in September 2012, the newly-granted patent outlines how a gaze detection device could delay the automated autocorrect of a misspelled word if it knew the user's eye weren't focused on the word, which it claims would be "more intuitive".

This could apply more widely to notifications, it suggests, delaying the delivery of a message notification until the user is paying attention to the display, minimising the risk of missing the message altogether.

Other examples could be for voice mail pop-up notifications, news alerts or software and app updates, the patent suggested.

The use of biometric technology, including voice and facial recognition and fingerprint and retina scanning is becoming increasingly commonplace for payment and identification methods.

Apple's iPhone 5s, 6 and 6s generations of iPhones all contain Touch IDfingerprint scanners embedded in their home buttons to unlock and swiftly make verified purchases.

• The Apple inventions that never surfaced

Google patented the use of an eye-tracking system to unlock devices by following the flight path of a bird or reading a line of text back in July 2013. Fujitsu unveiled its inbuilt iris-scanning smartphone authentication system at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), which it said will be applied to security systems.

As ever, there is no guarantee features explored in patents will ever make it into future products. Many companies are in the practice of patenting certain functions or materials to actively prevent rivals from using the technologies.

The iPhone's Touch ID sensor could soon act as a panic mode activator  

Apple was recently granted a patent for implementing a 'panic button' function into its fingerprint sensor, which could be implemented in various ways, including disabling a certain set of functions on the phone, denying access to contact information, emails and photos, or activating the handset's camera or microphone to document who is trying to use it. The recordings could then be forwarded on to law enforcement under certain circumstances.