Person identification apparatus

• US 5,241,606 A
• Filed: 10/07/1991
• Issued: 08/31/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Horie, Ryuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHANG, JON CARLTON
• Application Number:
  US07/772,321
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 382/4, 356/71, 356/376, 73/105
• US Class Current: 382/126
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/24 for measuring contours or curvatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/421 by analysing segments intersecting the pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/145 Sensors therefor

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for identifying a person by making use of his fingerprint. The uneven fingerprint surface of a finger is scanned by a laser beam through a transparent plate. The distance between positions of the surface of the transparent plate serving as a reference surface of reflection and of the uneven surface of the fingerprint is detected as a deviation value due to the scanning. Pattern information obtained from the deviation value is indicative of undulation of the uneven surface of the fingerprint. The pattern information is collated with registered fingerprint data so as to determine whether or not the person whose fingerprint has been detected is registered or not.

Claims

1. A person identification apparatus comprising:

a laser beam source for emitting a laser beam;

an optical scanning means for scanning a fingerprint surface of a person'"'"'s finger by applying the laser beam emitted from the laser beam source so as to be obliquely incident upon the fingerprint surface, said scanning means comprising a reflector rotatable about two axes that perpendicularly intersect each other and that lie on a reflection plane of the reflector, whereby an entirety of the fingerprint surface can be scanned by the laser beam, said fingerprint surface having an uneven surface;

a transparent plate with first and second opposed surfaces, said first surface comprising a reference plane on which the finger is to be placed, the transparent plate being positioned such that said second surface is disposed between the laser beam source and said first surface;

a detector means for receiving a laser beam reflected from the uneven surface of the fingerprint surface and another laser beam reflected from the reference plane so as to detect a variation of distance between the fingerprint surface and the reference plane, said detector means providing an output representing said variation of distance; and

collating means for collating the output from the detector means with registered personal data.

2. A person identification apparatus comprising:

light emitting means comprising a semiconductor laser for emitting a laser beam;

an optical means, comprising a slit, a reflector and three lenses, for focusing said laser beam emitted by the light emitting means into an image and for scanning said laser beam over a fingerprint surface of a person'"'"'s finger;

a transparent plate having first and second opposed surfaces, said first surface comprising a reference plane of reflection on which the finger is to be placed the transparent plate being positioned such that said second surface is disposed between the laser beam source and said first surface;

light receiving means, comprising a detecting element which receives a laser beam reflected from the fingerprint surface and another laser beam reflected from the reference plane, for detecting undulation of the fingerprint surface in accordance with a deviation between a position at which said detecting element receives said laser beam reflected from the fingerprint surface and a position at which said detecting element receives said laser beam reflected from the reference plane and for providing an output representing said undulation;

calculating means for obtaining pattern information based on said output from the light receiving means obtained as a result of said scanning on the fingerprint surface by means of the laser beam, the pattern information indicating undulation of the fingerprint surface; and

collating means for collating the pattern information with registered fingerprint data.

3. A person identification method comprising the steps of:

(a) scanning a fingerprint surface of a person'"'"'s finger through a transparent plate by means of a laser beam, the transparent plate being arranged between the optical system and the fingerprint surface and having two opposed surfaces, one of which is a reference plane of reflection on which the finger is placed;

(b) detecting a variation of distance between the fingerprint surface and the reference plane to obtain a deviation value based upon light reflected from the fingerprint surface and the reference plane during the scanning performed in step (a);

(c) obtaining pattern information from the deviation value, the pattern information indicating undulation of the fingerprint surface; and

(d) collating the pattern information with registered fingerprint data so as to identify the person.