On Tuesday Patently Apple posted an IP report titled "Apple has been granted a patent for Systems relating to a National ID Verification System."  Today, the U.S. Patent Office published a patent application from Apple titled "User Authentication Framework," about authenticating a user with a mobile device beyond Face and Touch ID and into the area of an e-Passport.  

Apple notes that various governments are now issuing various forms of identification that are capable of storing identification information that can be used to authenticate a user. For example, modern passports (called e-Passports) may include an electronic chip that stores a passport holder's name, date of birth, and other forms of information.

When a person is passing through customs, the person may present the passport to a customs officer, who places the passport on a reader to extract information stored in the passport. Upon verifying the information printed on the passport against the internally stored information, the officer may confirm the identity of the holder and allow the holder passage through customs.

Apple's invention describes embodiments in which a person may present identification information through an iPhone (or other mobile device) instead of presenting a traditional form of identification.

For those willing to read the full patent filing, you'll find Apple discussing storing identification information (e.g., of a passport, driver license, government-issued ID, student ID, etc.) on an iPhone (mobile device) backed by patent figures 1-5B. The next phase of the patent filing describes an authentication framework for performing a user authentication at the mobile device that's backed by patent FIGS. 6 and 7.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for authenticating a user with a mobile device.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 below is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an enrollment system that attests to a device's ability to authenticate a user.

Apple's patent application number 20210105265 was published today by the U.S. Patent Office. The patent was originally filed in Q3 2020. Two out of the three engineers working on this particular user authentication framework are from the Apple Pay team is noted below:

Ahmer Khan: Sr. Architect, Apple Pay

Martijn Haring: Sr. Standards Engineer, Apple Pay

Xiangying Yang: Sr. iOS Systems Engineer

Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.