Apple Inc.

Karthik Sudhir

Stephen M Lottermoser

Sofiane Toudji

Bartosz Ciechanowski

Erik Markus Berget

Glen S Low

Lance T Parker

Alykhan F Kanji

Erik A Partridge

Devin O Clary

Michael W Fullerton

Christopher J Gearhart

The subject disclosure provides systems and methods for providing privacy-preserving social attribution for electronic devices. For example, when information is received from a contact of a user at the user's electronic device, various applications at the electronic device may later display the received information. It can be desirable to attribute the displayed information received from the contact to that contact, without exposing identifying information of the contact to the displaying application. Aspects of the subject technology include a system process that generates an image including contact information, that can be rendered in a user interface of an application, without providing the image or the contact information to the application.

Privacy-preserving sharing attribution for electronic devices

A method is provided that includes receiving, by a first process executing on an electronic device and from a second process executing on the electronic device, a request for links to content items that are associated with the second process. The method further includes obtaining, by the first process and from a link index, a link to a content item associated with the second process, wherein the link index is locally stored on the electronic device and the link index comprises links to content items communicated via a third process executing on the electronic device. The link to the content item obtained from the link index is provided by the first process for presentation by the second process, wherein selection of the link causes the second process to present the content item.

Syndication of links to content

Fingerprint actuation is described for unlocking a mobile device and activating customized mobile device functions by using a fingerprint authentication technique. The mobile device uses a fingerprint sensor to authenticate a user for allowing secure access to certain mobile device functions or contents, and provides a utility in addition to unlocking the mobile device. This allows the user to control access to one or more mobile device functions concurrently with invoking fingerprint authentication in order to unlock the mobile device when the user presses a finger to the fingerprint sensor. The mobile device may be unlocked using a designated finger that activates a panic mode of operation, wherein personal data stored on the mobile device is not accessible or viewable to the user. In other implementations, the user may register particular fingerprints to be associated with different modes of operation and activate the different modes based on the particular fingerprints.

Fingerprint activation of a panic mode of operation for a mobile device

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Karthik Sudhir