Organism authenticating apparatus

• US 7,327,861 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2002
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bionics Co., Ltd. (LJ Hamily Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Bionics Co., Ltd. (LJ Hamily Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kaneda, Yusuke, Choshi, Kinya
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, BRIAN Q
• Application Number:
  US10/467,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20040071322A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,171 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382/124, 382/126, 382/127, 382/313, 382/314, 382/315, 382/125, 340/5.52, 340/5.53, 340/5.82, 340/5.83, 340/356, 358/496, 358/497, 358/486, 250/234
• US Class Current: 382/124
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1171 based on the shapes or appearances of their bodies or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/489 Blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6825 Hand
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6826 Finger
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6838 Clamps or clips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• 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 40/14 Vascular patterns

Abstract

The organism authenticating apparatus 71 of this invention comprises a means that fixes the position of a hand or a finger of a hand, an infrared ray radiating means 97 that radiates infrared rays, an infrared ray image input means 91 that is placed at the opposite side of said hand or said finger of a hand with regard to said infrared ray radiating means, an organism recognizing means that recognizes that the organism is live, a processing means that processes data that are inputted by said infrared ray image input means so that it collates them with image data that are registered in advance and an output means that outputs the result of processing carried out by said processing means. By using this invention, it becomes possible to obtain a clear blood vessel pattern image by a compact size apparatus by using an infrared ray source and by capturing the passed-through infrared ray image of the organism, and it becomes possible by using an organism recognizing means to prevent false authentication.

Claims

1. An organism authenticating apparatus for recognizing a blood vessel pattern of a finger of a hand by using infrared rays passed through the finger, working in a horizontal direction with the finger pressed against a vertical plane of a U-shaped finger guide composed in a gap of the authentication apparatus, and comprising:

a positioner to fix a position of the finger;

an infrared ray radiator to radiate infrared rays;

an infrared ray image input to input an image of a blood vessel pattern of the finger, said infrared ray image input being placed at an opposite side of said finger with regard to said infrared ray radiator;

an organism recognizer to recognize that the organism is live;

a processor that processes data that are inputted by said infrared ray image input so that it collates inputted data with image data that are registered in advance; and

an output to output the result of processing carried out by said processor,

wherein said infrared ray radiator and said infrared ray image input are structured so that a line connecting said infrared ray radiator and said infrared ray image input is horizontally flat and the finger is placed between the input and the radiator,

wherein said organism recognizer measures at least one of a temperature, a resistance, or an impedance at a specified frequency of the finger to be recognized in order to recognize the organism by using electrodes or a temperature sensitive element that are attached to said positioner that fixes the position of the finger of the hand,

wherein said processor controls commencement of operation of said infrared ray radiator and said infrared ray image input according to the measurement result measured by said organism recognizer, and

wherein said infrared ray radiator comprises a plural number of infrared LEDs that are placed in line and are driven by a current at a saturated level such that a luminosity of the LEDs is maximum, and a shielding means that is provided with a predetermined gap width between a camera and the finger to be recognized in order to cut unnecessary rays except infrared rays.

2. The organism authenticating apparatus claimed in claim 1 wherein said organism authenticating apparatus contains a reader that reads registered image data that is stored in an information recording medium;

and

said processor collates image data that are inputted by said infrared ray image input and processed by said processor with image data that are read by said reader.

3. The organism authenticating apparatus claimed in claim 1, wherein said organism authenticating apparatus contains a reader that reads registered image data that is stored in an information recording medium;

and

wherein said processor collates image data that are inputted by said infrared ray image input and that are processed by said processor to image data that are read by said reading means.