Samsung may be working on a rather interesting facial recognition system. One involves two under-display cameras. It is described in Samsung’s patent application filed with KIPRIS (Korea Intellectual Property Information Service) in March 2021. The documents in question were made public last week and were picked up by a Dutch publication.
At its core, the idea is fairly simple – get multiple picture angles from two users to better build a 3D model of the face and use it for authentication purposes . However, Samsung specifically mentions the use of an under-screen camera, which is interesting in itself. So far, the South Korean giant has more or less experimented with the technology on its Galaxy Fold line, without a wider launch. One speculation is that Samsung is exploring this new dual UDC technology for its foldable devices. While this may well be true, we believe the technology has broader implications and the desire to use UDC cameras stems from the need to keep the two cameras as separated as possible to get two different angles of the user. This may require placing a camera near the bottom of the phone, close to where the under-display fingerprint is now. It is even possible to combine the two into an optical module.
The patent doesn’t really specify. However, it does show a mockup of a normal “phablet”-style phone with two UDC cameras – one on top and one on the bottom. Another thing mentioned in the patent is measuring pupil size. The idea is that human pupil size should change based on lighting conditions. This can be used as an extra security measure against using things like photos or masks to spoof facial authentication.
The concept is of course interesting, but it should be noted that at this stage it is just a concept and not an actual product or any indication. However, we will keep an eye on any further developments.
1200Source (Dutch)
