Amazon has filed a patent application for a new technology that would allow shoppers to scan their hand as a method of payment. The US Patent and Trademark office released the public filing earlier this week.
Currently, Amazon Go shoppers can scan their Amazon app to pay for their product. This new technology would be similar, but instead of the app, shoppers would be able just scan their hands.
Recode reports, “In the patent application published on Thursday, the inventors describe “a scanner device [that] is used to obtain raw images of a user’s palm that is within a field of view of the scanner. … The first set of images depict external characteristics, such as lines and creases in the user’s palm while the second set of images depict internal anatomical structures, such as veins, bones, soft tissue, or other structures beneath the epidermis of the skin.”
It is unclear if this technology would be used for strictly Amazon Go or for Whole Foods as well.
