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A newly released patent shows Apple is exploring an iPhone feature that can identify hand movements and gestures.

The feature is called 3D hand-tracking and is one of 36 Apple patents just released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, as reported by Patently Apple. Most of the patents are related to mundane things like battery power and wireless hardware, but 3D tracking is much more interesting: The feature would use the iPhone X's TrueDepth camera system, which currently enables the iPhone X to recognize faces.

SEE ALSO:Is the iPhone X's facial recognition twin compatible?

To accurately scan faces, the TrueDepth camera shoots out some 30,000 invisible, infrared dots onto an iPhone user's face, allowing the phone to accurately identify someone's unique facial features. Presumably, this same technology would be used to identify how a hand is moving or gesturing in 3D space.

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If Apple ever realizes this idea, it could lead to some cool features. According to Patently Apple, this could mean touchless drawing and sign language interpretation.

Perhaps the most futurist-sounding possibility might be controlling different apps — perhaps Google Maps — by just pointing and gesturing at the screen. For now, however, 3D hand tracking is just an idea, but one Apple could potentially pursue.

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TopicsAppleFacial Recognition

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