Google gets patent for auto-opening, -closing laptop lid

The latest laptops and notebooks have been very trendy in the past few years, thanks in part to improvements in body design. Hybrids such as detachables or convertibles are expected to remain attractive for consumers and an important segment of the growing PC market in the next four years, but what is next for laptop design? Google thinks it might be the motorized laptop or notebook lid, which it has already patented.

Google's future laptops or notebooks, in case it decides to push through in manufacturing the said patented design, will feature lids that open and close automatically upon knowing the owner is within distance or not. To make this possible, the company's patent describes adoption of a face recognition technology that is reportedly like Windows Hello. It also mentions the use of eye tracking so that the moving laptop or notebook lid can adjust to an angle suitable to the user's viewing level.

Tech news site The Verge sees the possibility of the laptop design coming to life, noting that face-recognition technologies such as the iPhone X's Face ID are gaining traction. Some consumers, meanwhile, are thinking eye movement-tracking display is indeed an interesting feature to add.

For the face recognition and eye tracking technologies, it might be interesting as well for some to know how Google plans on making these more secure and accurate. For instance, how the laptop lid will avoid get tricked by images of faces and get the angle to the eye level right.