Microsoft has patented a biometric authentication technique that relies on user gestures, saying it offers advantages over the hardware demands raised by embedded fingerprint sensors.In a patent revealed by Patently Mobile, Microsoft describes a system that uses one or more types of sensors to scan capture multiple biometric features that relate to performance of a user-authentication gesture.The concept involves a graphical user interface being presented on the display that instructs a user to perform a user-authentication gesture multiple times during a training session.Recording aspects such as the timing, distance, and angle between each pair of taps, as well as the pressure and size of each finger tap, the system would then build a “biometric profile” of the user.”At the same time, the accelerometer and gyro sensors can be continuously sampled to capture the displacement and rotation of the device during the training gesture. “The patent developers point to purported shortcomings in solutions such as Apple's TouchID fingerprint sensor:”The iPhone introduced a touch identification technology that allows users to easily and securely unlock their devices by embedding a fingerprint sensor in the home button. Even though this approach addresses both the usability and security requirements of the authentication process, it is fundamentally limited to devices with large physical buttons on the front, such as the home button on the iPhone”.

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