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 the main inventor of the patent is Wayne Westerman. 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.