Hitachi releases vein recognition biometric
Retinal scans, facial recognition, and fingerprints get more press, but finger vein pattern recognition is quietly gaining ground: In Japan, 80 percent of financial institutions had adopted finger vein biometrics by the end of March 2007
Yes, retinal scans, facial recognition, and the old reliable — fingerprints — receive more attention, but there are alternative types of biometrics. Identifying an individual by the way he or she walks (their gait) or the rhythm they make when they type and others have each been tried as potential biometrics. Japanese company Hitachi this month will release a finger vein identity authentication device. Hitachi is also making a software development kit available to integrate the unit into existing security set-ups.
The product is based on PC log-in technology which has been on sale in Japan since October 2006. The technology is also as a validation device for bank ATMs: according to Hitachi, some 80 percent of the financial institutions in Japan had adopted finger vein biometrics by the end of March 2007. Other applications such as opening car doors may also be possible. The technology uses the vein patterns in users’ fingers to manage their computer login process. A single chip design means the unit can be small and cheap.
User biometrics are captured, and subsequently verified, using a contact-less technique. Light penetrates through the finger using a light-transmission technique to allow the detection of the structure of the vein pattern. This vein pattern is image-processed using a special algorithm, resulting in digital data that can be stored in a relevant data repository.
Hitachi says vein authentication offers higher accuracy rates than fingerprint recognition, with the additional benefit that finger vein patterns are thought to be impossible to forge. Finger print recognition technology, on the other hand, has proved susceptible to attack.
