CNBC:

A patent granted on Tuesday depicted technology that would sense the “manner” in which a finger touched the iPhone screen to trigger a 911 call. For example, the phone might look for a particular sequence of fingers, the level of force, a gesture (pinching or swiping), or a certain cadence of taps to the screen, the filing says.

When the “panic command” is activated, the phone would provide the users’ location to responders, and could also livestream audio or video from the iPhone.

Here’s a link to the patent.

The key to this, for me, is the ability to subtly make a call to 911, capturing audio and video, all without a potential attacker being aware the call was placed. Terrific idea.