System and method for capturing, enrolling and verifying a fingerprint

• US 6,766,040 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2000
• Issued: 07/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Biometrics Products Incorporated, Biometric Solutions LLC (BioMETRX, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Biometric Solutions LLC (BioMETRX, Inc.)
• Inventors: Catalano, John F., Magnant, Paul H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jayanti K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAWAN, SHEELA C
• Application Number:
  US09/677,257
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382/124, 382/125, 382/126, 382/313, 382/209, 382/190, 356/71, 713/202, 713/182, 713/183, 713/184, 713/185, 713/186, 351/206, 351/218, 340/5.2, 340/5.52, 340/5.53, 340/581-583
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1347 Preprocessing; Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification

Abstract

A low-power, fully self-contained fingerprint capture, enrollment and verification method and device (100). The device includes a logic unit (110), a memory (120), a fingerprint sensor (130) and an interface (150) to an external unit (140). Included in the memory is a program (126) that includes a sensor data capture module (200), an image processing module (202), a minutia extraction module (204), a template creation module (206), a template compare module (208), and a database (210). The processes for capturing, enrolling and verifying a fingerprint are designed to be minimally computationally intensive. This allows implementation of these processes in a portable, battery-powered unit using hardware with limited memory and computing capability, or implementation in a PC with substantial performance advantages relative to known fingerprint capture, enrollment and verification processes and devices. Fingerprint verification is performed using fingerprint templates storing information as to location and type of minutia point, and direction of fingerprint ridge leading to the minutia point, rather than full image-to-image comparison.

Claims

1. A biometric verification device for providing secure access to a unit connected to the device, the device comprising:

a. a biometric sensor capable of sensing a biometric trait of a user that is unique to said user and providing a first signal containing information representing said biometric trait; and

b. a processing unit connected to said biometric sensor so as to receive said first signal, said processing unit being adapted to compare said information with biometric data stored in said processing unit representing a biometric trait of an enrolled person, and provide a verification signal indicating whether or not said information corresponds sufficiently with said biometric data to verify said user is said enrolled person, wherein said processing unit completes said comparison and generates said verification signal within 20 seconds of when said biometric sensor senses said biometric trait, said biometric sensor and processing unit, together being configured to use no more than 1W of peak power.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said biometric trait is a fingerprint.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein said biometric trait is an iris pattern from an eye.

4. A device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit completes said comparison and generates said verification signal using no more than 400 mW of peak power.

5. A device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit completes said comparison and generates said verification signal within 7 seconds of when said biometric sensor senses said biometric trait.

6. A device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit stores said biometric data representing a biometric trait of an enrolled person using no more than 1 K bytes of data.

7. A device according to claim 6, wherein said processing unit stores said biometric data representing a biometric trait of an enrolled person using no more than 256 bytes of data.

8. A device according to claim 1, further including one or more batteries that comprise the sole source of power for the device.

9. A device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit includes non-volatile memory for storing said biometric data representing said biometric trait.

10. A device according to claim 1, further including a wireless interface for connecting the device with the unit.

11. A device according to claim 1, further including a wires interface for connecting the device with the unit.

12. A device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit performs said comparison with false acceptance rate of less than 0.5% and a false rejection rate of less than about 5%.

13. A device according to claim 1, further including an external unit connected to said processing unit, said external unit being operable independently of said sensor and processing unit upon receipt of said verification signal indicating said user is said enrolled person.

14. A device according to claim 13, wherein said external unit is remote from said sensor and processing unit.

15. A device according to claim 13, wherein said external unit is physically proximate said sensor and processing unit.

16. A device according to claim 1, further wherein said processing unit modifies said image to account for variations in said output signal from an absolute value arising from at least one of (a) manufacturing variations and (b) expansion and contraction arising from changes in pressure and environmental factors.