Compact Biometric Acquisition System and Method

• US 20090274345A1
• Filed: 09/21/2007
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EyeLock LLC (VOXX International Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Eyelock Corporation (VOXX International Corporation)
• Inventors: Hanna, Keith J., Hoyos, Hector T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,063 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/197 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/40 Spoof detection, e.g. liveness detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/45 Detection of the body part being alive
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A method of determining the identity of a subject while the subject is walking or being transported in an essentially straight direction is disclosed, the two dimensional profile of the subject walking or being transported along forming a three dimensional swept volume, without requiring the subject to change direction to avoid any part of the system, comprising acquiring data related to one or more biometrics of the subject with the camera(s), processing the acquired biometrics data, and determining if the acquired biometric data match corresponding biometric data stored in the system, positioning camera(s) and strobed or scanned infrared illuminator(s) above, next to, or below the swept volume. A system for carrying out the method is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system for determining the identity of a subject while the subject is walking or being transported along in an essentially straight direction, the two dimensional profile of the subject walking or being transported along forming a three dimensional swept volume, without requiring the subject to change direction to avoid any part of the system, adapted to acquire one or more biometrics of the subject and determine if the acquired biometrics match corresponding biometric data stored in the system, the system comprising one or more cameras and one or more infrared illuminators, wherein the cameras are positioned above, next to, or below the swept volume;

the illuminators are positioned above, next to, or below the swept volume; and

the illuminators are either strobed or are scanned over an area of biometric acquisition.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the illuminators are strobed in synchronization with image acquisition.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera is adapted to acquire iris imagery at least 25 pixels in diameter.

4. The system of claim 1 where at least one illuminator is located less than about 3 meters from a point along the swept volume where the one or more biometrics are acquired.

6. The system of claim 1 further including means to cause the subject to look toward the housing while walking or being transported along the path.

7. The system of claim 1 further including an attention light or TV screen which causes the subject to look toward the camera lens and infrared illuminator while walking or being transported along the path.

8. The system of claim 1 further including a loudspeaker.

9. The system of claim 1 having means to optimize the acquisition of wide spectrum data with single spectrum data.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more illuminators are scanned.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein light emitted from the one or more illuminators is scanned over an area of biometric acquisition using one or more mirrors.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one camera is positioned above, next to, or below a doorway or portal and the system is adapted to acquire biometric data when the horizontal distance between the subject and at least one camera is between 97.28 and 201.93 cm.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one camera is positioned in a counter in a point of sale identity verification application and the horizontal distance between the camera and the area of biometric acquisition on the subject is about 0.15 to 1.2 meters.

17. The system of claim 1 comprising a plurality of illuminators wherein the illuminators provide low-level illumination and higher-level illumination emitted from the same illuminators.

18. The system of claim 1 comprising a plurality of illuminators wherein the illuminators provide low-level illumination and higher-level illumination is emitted from different illuminators.

5. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

16. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

20. A method of determining the identity of a subject while the subject is walking or being transported in an essentially straight direction, the two dimensional profile of the subject walking or being transported along forming a three dimensional swept volume, without requiring the subject to change direction to avoid any part of the system, comprising acquiring data related to one or more biometrics of the subject with the camera(s), processing the acquired biometrics data, and determining if the acquired biometric data match corresponding biometric data stored in the system, positioning camera(s) and infrared illuminator(s) above, next to, or below the swept volume, wherein the illuminator(s) are either strobed or scanned.

21. The method of claim 20 further including detecting the presence of a subject walking or being transported along the path with a motion sensor, visual light projector, and processor, turning on the illuminator when only when motion is detected along the path, and projecting visible light on the path so as to signal the subject to walk or be transported along the path.

22. A method of determining the identity of a subject comprising using a camera to acquire biometric data from the subject and an illuminator, and scanning an area of biometric acquisition of the subject with the illuminator.

23. A method of determining the identity of a subject comprising providing a camera and an illuminator and illuminating at a first low level sufficient to detect the potential presence of biometric data and upon detection illuminating at a higher level sufficient to acquire biometric data with improved signal to noise.