Following a leak on mobile benchmarking site GeekBench, BlackBerry’s rumoured new QWERTY keyboard device has surfaced in the news again — this time due to a BlackBerry patent published on October 13th that indicates the new handset may bring with it some unique authentication technology.
“Authentication may involve illustrating, to the electronic device, knowledge of a stored secret though providing input, at least in part, via the touch-sensitive keyboard,” states the patent’s abstract, “The input may be in the form of swipes alone or in combination with key actuations.”
The wording is vague, but suggest a number of interesting possibilities. There could be a fingerprint sensor element, as suggested by CrackBerry, or it could be that the typical alpha-numeric password will be replaced by one that combines gestures and key presses into a pattern. Of course, it may well turn out that both options are on offer.
The full patent is viewable here, and let us know your theories about this patent below in the comments.
[source]Fresh Patents[/source][via]CrackBerry[/via]
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