Apple was granted multiple U.S. patents this week for various technologies, reports Patently Apple.
One patent, titled "electronic device that computes health data," describes a device comprising a camera, an ambient light sensor and a proximity sensor to measure and calculate health data. Apple originally filed the patent (9,723,997) in the first quarter of 2015, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published it Aug. 8.
Here are three things to know about the patent.
1. With the device, users will be able to place their finger across the front-facing camera to obtain health data.
2. The technology will use electrical measurements to report heart function, compute an electrocardiogram, compute a galvanic skin response or measure body fat and blood pressure.
3. It's unclear whether the technology will be implemented on Apple's iPhone, but the patent indicates it will be used on a "mobile personal computing device."
Click here to read the full patent.
More articles on health IT:
CMS: Hospitals to submit meaningful use data via QualityNet in 2018
CNBC poll: People trust Apple with health data more than Google, Amazon
Nuance Q3 financial results show impact of malware attack: 4 things to know