At the heart of biometrics is the idea that their application and use should be kindergarten-simple for even the most technophobic of users. These two emerging types of data intake systems are not only straightforward and simple, but also exceptionally fast and accurate.
Hand geometry
By now, we’re all accustomed to electrical fingerprint recognition devices, whether done digitally or the old-fashioned way with ink. Another way, however, to authenticate personnel in a less intrusive way than fingerprinting is with hand geometry.
Authentication for hand geometry readers is done by placing a hand against a reader screen. Small pegs that separate each finger help users correctly orientate their hands for proper scanning. A camera then takes one or more pictures of the whole hand and compares the shadow casts to an original template along the parameters of width, thickness, length and finger curvature, turning these variables into a string of numbers. This unique code then works as one’s individual password.
Many businesses, schools and even theme parks use this science to log visitors. Because it’s not quite as precise as fingerprinting, hand scanning isn’t usually used in high-security facilities.
Because hands change slightly over time, hand scanning also isn’t 100 percent perfect. However, its relatively low reliability is one of its strengths: in low-security environments like amusement parks, many users are comforted that the biometric information taken isn’t exhaustively tied to their person. It’s authentication, not identification.
Handwriting assessment
Ok, you caught us. Handwriting analysis isn’t biometric in the most conservative sense, as it measures a practiced behavior rather than an intrinsic characteristic. However, the way one does his or her John Hancock is startlingly unique aside from just the specific intricacies of the way we scribble and loop.
Biometrics concerned with handwriting look beyond the way each letter is shaped (which can be reproduced with a moderate amount of practice). Emerging technology also analyzes the order in which certain writing tasks are completed, like if you draw your Os clockwise or counter-clockwise and whether you add the dots above your Is and Js during or after individual words are written out.
Even with a sample of another person’s handwriting right in front of you and all the practice time in the world, this level of replication is near impossible.
Compound this with other failsafe technologies, like being able to record pen angle, writing speed, page pressure and direction, and you have a nigh perfectly robust recognition system. The intake interface for this technology includes a touch screen and stylus, similar to the one at checkout counters for when credit cards are used.
To learn more about Pivot’s award-winning services for biometric product design and development, please contact us at 877-206-5001.
