Regarding Face ID, the patent describes a variety of sensors that can be embedded in the display, including such for Touch ID (hooray, Touch ID might come back to the iPhone). Keep in mind, though, that we are talking about a patent here, we might see none of this new approach to Face ID gets implemented.
Other sensors that the patent mentions can be embedded in the screen including pressure sensors, magnetic sensors such as compass sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometer sensors for measuring three-dimensional non-contact gestures (“air gestures”), health sensors, and more.
As for Dynamic Island, the patent reads that its position can be made adjustable via transparent windows whose size and positioning could be moved around the display while different pixels are selectively activated and deactivated.
The transparent windows may be shifted by a random amount in a random direction relative to a grid defining point and/or may be randomly rotated to increase the non-periodicity. A transparency gradient may be formed between the transparent windows and the surrounding opaque portion of the display. The transparent windows may be defined by non-linear edges.
According to Apple, most of its devices have displays that come with a total of 13 layers, which is a lot of light to pass through. In Apple’s case, as much as 80% of the light gets blocked. That is why the company is thinking of removing some of those layers if the above-mentioned sensors end up being incorporated into the screen in the future.
What’s more interesting here, though, is that the patent is talking about an approach that would distribute these areas so that they would become invisible to our eyes, without affecting the overall performance of the display itself. In addition to all of that, neighboring pixels would be capable of selectively turning off to allow more light to pass through.
