Apple patents hint at full face and object recognition for iPhone

Apple’s latest patent applications have hinted at an exciting future for the iPhone - one where it’ll be able to recognise you by scanning your face or match real world objects to information retrieved from a network.

The range of applications for this technology are enormous, including scanning in items from shop shelves in order to fetch product information. You can currently do such a thing with barcode scanning technology, but this is a definite step up.

Or imagine visiting an art gallery, scanning in a painting and retrieving a load of information on the piece and the artist behind it.

On the face-recognition side, your iPhone would be able to recognise the user and award the appropriate permission level.

As for gaming applications, imagine a game where you’d have to locate and scan in everyday objects within a strict time limit. Or real-world top-trumps, where recognised objects are imbued with unique attributes.

Any more ideas as to what you could do with it?