Apple has filed a trio of patent applications that indicate additional functionality for future iPhones. Of most interest here is an application that covers the use of the iPhone’s touchscreen as an RFID reader. The company has found a way to embed an RFID sensor in the phone’s touch panel, enabling it to read RFID tags. RFID, or radio frequency identification, is often used for local asset tracking and could have some interesting applications in the area of augmented reality.
The other two patents also involve the touchscreen. One application seems to indicate that Apple is considering adding some sort of haptic or tactile feedback to the touchscreens of future phones by including a “grid of piezoelectronic actuators” that can be turned on and off. That way, for example, if a user is driving they’d be able to differentiate between different icons and functions by the tactile feel of the display. Related is a third application that differentiates between different fingerprints so each can be used to initiate some sort of dedicated function when detected. Like tactile feedback, an included fingerprint reader would be used to enable non-visual use of the touchscreen.
