Patently ridiculous: Apple applies for iOS face unlock patent

This isn't the first time we've seen it from any tech company, let alone Apple, and it probably won't be the last, but Apple has put in an application to patent a technology which some of us are already using: face unlock. As we all know, face detection is nothing new, and anyone with a Galaxy Nexus knows that unlocking your phone with face detection certainly is nothing new, but luckily the US Patent Office doesn't bother with trivial things like that, so Apple has applied to patent it anyway. 

Of course is that Google's Face Unlock is not perfect. It can be fooled by a photo, or even a pair of glasses or a beard. Apple's patent is designed to use your mouth, the tip of a nose and eyes, and the distances between your facial features to analyze whether or not you are the owner of the iOS device and unlock the device. Of course, given how the facial recognition in Android can do all of those things in order to morph your face in the new camera app, none of this seems particularly new, or if Apple's way will be any more secure or reliable than how Android does Face Unlock. 

Either way, there is no reasonable way that this patent should be granted, but no one ever said the USPTO was a reasonable organization, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time Apple or any other company were granted a patent for something that already exists. We'll try not to get too worked up as this is just an application, but the fact that Apple even applied means it knows there's a chance it could be granted. Of course, there's very little likelihood that the patent would stand up in court, but there would almost certainly be a wasteful lawsuit following this patent around.