According to the report of Patently Apple, an American technology blog, the first patent describes the method that iPhone scans fingerprints and provides data to Secure Enclave module for fingerprint matching and authentication.
This technology does not store fingerprint photos, but draws a "fingerprint map" and uses it in an encrypted way. Doing so can prevent hackers from obtaining user fingerprint data from the hacked iPhone. Secure Enclave module only allows fingerprints to compare with verification information, and does not support other verification methods. Patently Apple pointed out: "Apple's invention includes the process of discretizing a complete fingerprint into checksums, hash functions and histograms."
Regarding this patent, it is worth noting that Wayne, the main inventor of the patent? Wayne westman. He is the main inventor of Apple's multi-touch technology. Westman has been a senior engineer of Apple since his company Fingerworks was acquired by Apple in 2005.
In another patent application, Apple listed all the components of the touch ID fingerprint sensor, including the information provided in the previous marketing materials. Apple Insider, an American technology blog, pointed out that this patent solved the problem of scanning fingerprints with opaque Home button. The report said: "Touch id also considers aesthetic design. This patent describes the way that the ink module is printed on the lens and the transparent button becomes opaque, so the user will not be able to directly see the fingerprint scanning element. "
These two patent applications were filed in March this year. At present, Apple has not officially obtained these two patents. Another temporary application was in May of 20 12, which also showed that Apple spent a long time developing this technology.
Question 2: The fingerprint unlocking technology of Apple's mobile phone is patented by that company. It should be said that it is fingerprint identification technology. Unlocking is only one of its functions, and it is the technology of AuthorTec, but AuthorTec was acquired by Apple on 20 1 1, and Apple obtained the non-exclusive hardware, software and patent technology authorization of this company, so it may be said that it is Apple's technology.
Question 3: Who will save the fingerprint identification technology patent? It should be said that fingerprint identification technology, unlocking is only one of its functions, and it is AuthorTec's technology, but AuthorTec was acquired by Apple on 20 1 1, and Apple obtained the non-exclusive hardware, software and patent technology authorization of this company, so it can also be said that it is Apple's technology.
Patent applications need to provide application documents in duplicate and application fees. If the content of the application has been recorded in the retrieved patent documents or other public publications, it may affect the authorization prospect of the application. In addition, even if there is no literature, the patent application will be rejected if others can determine that it is common knowledge in this field. Benefits of patent search: A careful understanding of what belongs to the existing technology will help the applicant to judge whether to apply for a patent and write patent application documents. The "background technology" part of the specification should be written with the closest existing technology. For utility model patents, it is usually necessary to provide background drawings, so that examiners and the public can clearly understand the substantial improvements and advantages of the invention. Patent application documents for invention and utility model: request, specification, abstract and patent claim; Inventions can have drawings as required, and utility models must have drawings; An application for invention involving new biomaterials shall submit a preservation certificate and a survival certificate; Where nucleic acid or amino acid sequence is involved, the machine-readable text of the sequence table shall be submitted. Design: requirements, pictures or photographs; Indicate the products using the design and their categories; Request for color protection, submit color pictures or photos; If necessary, write a brief description of the design; Brief description should indicate design points, omitted views, colors to be protected, etc. Patent Examination The patent application will be notified and accepted after being submitted to the State Information Bureau, and will be examined after paying the full fee. Patent examination is divided into preliminary examination and substantive examination, the latter is only for invention patents. The patent examination process generally lasts 1-3 years, depending on the patent type and invention content. The utility model and design patents are authorized after preliminary examination, while the invention patents that pass the preliminary examination will issue a preliminary examination notice, waiting for substantive examination. When the patent application is under examination, the applicant has no right to prevent others from infringing on his rights. However, after the publication of the invention patent (usually 18 months from the date of patent application), the applicant may ask the infringer to stop the infringement and pay the appropriate royalties, or the infringer may refuse. After the patent is granted, the applicant may pursue the tort liability from the infringer through judicial procedures and demand compensation. The substantive examination of the invention patent shall be conducted in the actual examination department of the patent office. Examiners evaluate the novelty, creativity and practicality of patent applications by searching domestic and foreign patent documents and public publications, and also review whether the writing of patent documents meets the requirements, such as whether it meets the requirements, whether it is single, whether it is fully open, whether it is out of scope, etc. The substantive examination must be carried out after the invention is published. According to the law, the publication is carried out within 18 months from the date of filing. Some applicants are willing to disclose their inventions in advance, so there will be patent applications published within 6- 10 months. Usually, the examiner in the actual trial stage will send at least one notice of examination opinions to the applicant or his agent, and the examination opinions can reflect the possibility of the invention being authorized and the existing defects. Review opinions generally include format errors, novelty problems, creativity problems, full openness problems, oneness problems and so on. The time for examination of patent substance is uncertain, generally 6- 18 months, which depends on the content of the invention, the examiner's understanding of the invention, the examiner's work arrangement and the time for documents to travel back and forth between the examiner and the applicant or his agent. The fee for examining the substance of the invention patent is 2500 yuan/piece.
Question 4: Whose patent is the front fingerprint key? Apple can be Samsung. Apple is not as good as Samsung. Apple died after leaving Samsung.
Question 5: How did Huawei bypass Apple's fingerprint patent? I'm curious, but of course it's not infringing.
Pressing fingerprint identification technology is a patent issue of intellectual property rights.
AuthenTec is the world's most famous fingerprint authentication sensor and solution provider, and has developed a push-type fingerprint identification technology combined with Home button. IPhone5s and iPhone6 are its representative products. In the smart phone war between Apple and Samsung, the housekeeping means is to conduct early mergers and acquisitions of new companies, take new technologies for yourself, and prevent competitors from using them. As early as 20 12, Apple was keenly aware of the great prospect of fingerprint identification technology, and decisively spent $356 million to acquire Authentec. After the completion of the acquisition transaction, Apple immediately stopped Authentec's external product sales and technical services, blocked competitors' access to its press fingerprint identification, and won an unparalleled patent victory.
Since then, the push-type fingerprint identification module developed by AuthenTec can only be supplied to Apple alone, and other mobile phone manufacturers have to find another way out in the face of the iPhone that monopolizes fingerprint identification patents.
I won't leave you here, but I have my own place. Huawei once snapped up the flagship model Mate7 for half a year and found another supplier.
Since the front doesn't work, try the back. Sweden's fingerprint card AB (industry collectively referred to as FPC) company is also committed to the research, development, production and sales of biometric components and technologies, and has developed the fingerprint identification scheme of FPC 1020, cleverly avoiding the Home key patent of iPhone series. You can recognize the unlocking by gently placing your finger in the unlocking area. This contact fingerprint identification module is excellent, but the sensor is bulky and can only be placed on the back of the fuselage. Relying on the unique patented technology of FPC solution, Huawei Mate7, Mate8, Red Rice note3 and other mobile phones equipped with rear fingerprint modules have faster unlocking time and higher recognition rate.
In addition, in the fingerprint identification industry, China Ding Hui has also developed a set of low-voltage drive technology solutions. Ding Hui's GT66X8 fingerprint identification module has a unique patented technology of finger flash mode. In practical experience, there is no sensory difference between several different fingerprint identification schemes, but the technical difference lies in the noise reduction ratio of the sensor. Apple's touch ID is driven by high voltage to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The general working voltage is 18V, but when we use the iPhone6, we only activate the touch ID when necessary. Ding Hui and other manufacturers realize this by optimizing the front-end circuit design. Generally, the working voltage is only 2.8V~3.3V The completely different technical methods belong to the technical scheme of low-voltage driving.
Bypassing Apple's exclusive patent, FPC and Ding Hui realized the same experience with different R&D patented technologies. From the dominance of the iPhone to the present, the market is full of flowers. The patent ownership of intellectual property rights has constructed a two-way effect of benign development in the field of fingerprint identification. While protecting the unique patent first-Mover advantage of iPhone, it also prompted other manufacturers to invest in R&D, which finally set off a great leap forward in fingerprint identification technology and formed a prosperous scene in the field of fingerprint identification.
Question 6: Why didn't Huawei apply for the patent of fingerprint identification on the back? Huawei already has a patent for fingerprint unlocking. As long as Huawei's products can be put on the market, there is definitely no infringement, because before the product is launched, the intellectual property department either owns its own patents or has purchased the corresponding patents.
Question 7: Is the fingerprint identification patent universal? Why are domestic mobile phones not universal now? You need to pay a patent license fee to use this technology.
Of course, many companies have their own independent research and development of fingerprint identification patents, such as Apple and Samsung.
Question 8: Who invented the mobile phone pattern unlocking? Is there a patent? Not only that, there are many more. The earliest one is not sure which one. Sliding unlocking is Apple's patent, but I don't know who got the patent of Jiugongge unlocking and other unlocking methods first.
Question 9: Is the fingerprint unlocking of mobile phone a patent of Nokia? Fingerprint unlocking is not a patent, but a technology. There are several companies that do fingerprint unlocking. When making mobile phones, mobile phone manufacturers choose the products of these companies to install on mobile phones.
Question10: After the iPhone applied for a fingerprint patent, other mobile phones could not make fingerprint buttons? No, it's not. His fingerprint patent here refers to the patent of unlocking scheme with fingerprint. Specifically. His hardware focuses on how to read fingerprint data, how to save fingerprint data, how to identify fingerprints and realize a set of solutions to unlock and verify passwords. To put it bluntly, it is to solve this problem. Positive fingerprint recognition Meizu also did it. Looks like the same effect. But the solution was made by a company in Shenzhen. Unlike Apple, different solutions have nothing to do with infringement, so other mobile phones can still use this. But only if the solutions are different.
Hope to adopt