A U.S. patent filing by South Korea's Samsung suggests the company is investigation using eye recognition technology for authenticating users of its devices. In its filing, Samsung compares eye recognition -- in this case iris-based authentication -- to fingerprint recognition, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The iris has unique patterns whose number is larger than that of the fingerprint ... and ... is being evaluated as a biometric identification technology more advanced than a fingerprint or retina scanning technology," the South Korean electronics giant said in its filing with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Samsung has already made use of eye recognition technology; recent Galaxy smartphones feature software that scans a person's eyes to determine if the brightness of a phone display needs adjusting, and can even scroll a Web page up or down based on a user's eye movements. While a Samsung spokeswoman declined to confirm to the Journal whether the company is considering iris-based authentication for its next flagship smartphone, the patent filing said the technology could be incorporated into a computer, a tablet or a mobile device.