Although in-display fingerprint recognition systems have already been actively used in smartphones Android at least since 2018; technology has not seen major developments in recent years. However now Xiaomi presented his own solution, which allows you to touch any part of the gadget screen with your finger to identify the user through fingerprint recognition.
Xiaomi and fingerprint recognition
According to the latest data from the Chinese Patent Office, the company has awarded a patent for a fingerprint scanning technology that allows you to use the scanner more freely, without having to place your finger on a certain point on the screen. In the patent, Xiaomi described the operation of a network of integrated infrared LED elements located between a display AMOLED and a capacitive touch layer.
The network of “receivers” will be below the display. These elements will form the basic infrastructure of the new scanner. When the user touches the screen with a finger, the touch screen records the touch, its position and the shape of the fingerprint, after which the elements LED they will begin to emit infrared light in the desired area. In this case, elements elsewhere on the screen will remain inactive.
The infrared light is then reflected by the finger tip and projected on the receivers. The system will process the data to obtain a “card” of the fingerprint; and the smartphone will compare them with the sample saved in the memory; in this way the user can unlock the device by touching any part of the screen.
In August, Huawei patented its technology for a similar purpose, in several markets, including China, Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea and India, but the development has not found commercial use, although it is possible that this is due to sanctions from United States, which severely limit the company’s technological capabilities.
Since Xiaomi has not yet faced such sanctions, it is possible that new scanners will be launched globally in the near future.