Earlier this week Google was awarded a patent for a really cool bit of technology. The patent in question was titled “Login to a computing device based on facial recognition” further proof that we are living in the future. Google did already have a similar technology in a couple of their most recent android phones but apparently this new patented version is much more advanced. Does this have anything to do with Wikimotive’s Automotive SEO, well not really but it’s pretty cool!

Apparently Google has beaten out Apple who submitted a very similar patent at the end of last year. A small section from the 17,000 page patent highlights what Google means to do with this technology. “A method of logging a first user into a computing device includes receiving an image of the first user via a camera operably coupled with the computing device and determining an identity of the first user based on the received image. If the determined identity matches a predetermined identity, then, based at least on the identity of the first user matching the predetermined identity, the first user is logged in to the computing device.”

What’s interesting here is that they keep using the phrase “computing device” so they’re planning on integrating this technology with a number of different devices perhaps even beyond computers and phones. In the future you may be able to log in to your Xbox Live account using facial recognition. The patent also describes multiple different methods of authentication including taking a single picture of the users face, multiple pictures for 3D facial recognition, and even 3D facial expression recognition where the user would have to make a certain facial expression to be authorized. There is also a section covering a device with multiple users all unlocked by different facial recognition profiles.