Biometric identification system

• US 20050218215A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gary A. Lauden, Chemtron Research LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Riptide Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Lauden, Gary A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,172,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence

Abstract

A biometric identification system that includes one or more identification devices or cards. Each identification card includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) element storing a first set of biometric information. A communication device operates to send and receive radio frequency signals to read the first set of biometric information from the identification device when they are proximal to each other but without insertion or physical contact. A biometric reader is provided that reads a second set of biometric information from an individual presenting the identification card. A comparison mechanism compares the first and second sets of biometric information to determine if the two sets are a match. When no match is found, a flag mechanism modifies a value of a flag in the RFID element of the identification device. An update mechanism determines when the match exceeds an accuracy limit and updates biometric information on the identification device wirelessly.

Claims

1. A biometric identification system, comprising:

an identification device comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) element storing a first set of biometric information; and

an identification system comprising a communication device using radio frequency signals to read the first set of biometric information from the identification device when the identification device is proximal to the identification system, a biometric reader reading a second set of biometric information from an individual, and a comparison mechanism comparing the first set of biometric information to the second set of biometric information to determine if the two sets of biometric information are a match.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication device reads the first set of biometric information without physical contact between the communication device and the identification device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification system operates when the two sets of biometric information are determined not to match by the comparison mechanism to modify a value of a flag in the RFID element of the identification device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the identification system determines the value of the flag prior to performing the comparing and only performs the comparing when the value of the flag is below a preset limit for the flag.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification system further comprises an update mechanism operable to determine when the match between the first set of biometric information and the second set of biometric information is within tolerance but outside a predefined match accuracy limit and to update the first set of biometric information by writing the second set of biometric information to the RFID element via radio frequency signals sent by the communication device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID element further stores a card identifier number and wherein the communication device reads the card identifier number and the comparison mechanism determines if the identification device is a valid device by determining whether the read card identifier number matches a number in a set of valid card numbers accessible by the identification system.

7. A radio frequency biometric identification system, comprising:

a biometric reader reading biometric information from an individual based on scanning a physical feature of the individual;

a data writer formatting the read biometric information and with radio frequency signals writing the formatted biometric information to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag provided on an identification device; and

a comparison mechanism comparing a set of read biometric information from the biometric reader matches a set of biometric information obtained from the identification device.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a proximity reader using radio frequency signals for reading the set of biometric information from the identification device without requiring insertion of or contact with the identification device.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising a flag mechanism operating when the comparison mechanism determines the two sets of biometric information do not match to increment a flag value encoded in the RFID tag using a radio frequency signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the comparison mechanism compares the flag value of the RFID tag with a preset flag value limit prior to performing the biometric information comparing.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising an update mechanism operable to determine when the match between the match between the two sets of biometric information is outside a predefined match accuracy limit and to write the set of read biometric information to the RFID tag via radio frequency signals.

12. A biometric identification method, comprising:

activating a biometric identification card including first scanning a biometric feature of a person and writing biometric information from the scanning into a radio frequency identification (RFID) element embedded in the biometric identification card;

without insertion or contact, reading the biometric information from the RFID element;

second scanning a biometric feature of a person presenting the biometric identification card as part of an access transaction to obtain a comparison set of biometric information; and

determining whether the comparison set of biometric information is a match of the read biometric information from the RFID element of the biometric identification card.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining of a match comprises determining whether the comparison set of biometric information matches the read biometric information within a preset accuracy percentage.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising after the determining of a match, when there is no match changing a value of an unauthorized use flag on the RFID element by transmitting a radio frequency signal to the biometric identification card.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising after the determining of a match, when there is a determined match determining whether an update of the read biometric information is to be updated and when an update is determined, updating the read biometric data by writing the comparison set of biometric information to the RFID element of the biometric identification card.