[読んだ] Apple preps iPhone face recognition • The Register [顔認識するiPhoneカメラ]

The US Patent and Trademark Office published 33 new Apple patent applications on Thursday, bringing the total filed in July to 55 - and we're not even a third of the way through the month.

Today's cluster of creativity ranged from flexible cabling to scrolling lyrics, but the bulk of the filings described new powers for the ubiquitous iPhone and its little brother, the iPod touch - especially when the 'Pod is equipped with a camera, which it seems destined to be.

Two of the filings are directly camera-related. One focuses on object identification and the other on face recognition. The former is targeted specifically for handhelds, while the latter's reach extends both into your pocket and out to the entire universe of consumer electronics.

The object-identification filing describes a system in which a handheld's camera captures an image of an object either in visual light or infrared, then compares that image with information stored over a network. The network then asks the you what information about that object you'd like to download, then provides it.

AppleはiPhone/iPod touchのユビキタス化にかなり本気なようすですね。