The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent on Tuesday called “Vein imaging using detection of pulsed radiation,” granted to Apple. First applied for on November 12, 2015, the patent describes the use of an infrared emitter and a receiver that can detect blood vessel patterns below the surface of the skin.
The system consists of an optical transmitter that emits multiple pulses of infrared light towards an area of the user’s body, such as a hand or a face. The infrared light can pass through the skin and reflect off the user’s veins, with returning light received by an image capturing device capable of accepting IR light.
