Access Granted; Siemens Fingerprint ID Transfers from Mouse Pads, Cell Phones to Automobiles
17 October 2000
Access Granted; Siemens Fingerprint ID Transfers from Mouse Pads, Cell Phones to Automobiles
DETROIT, Oct. 17 Fingerprints have given criminologists an
unequivocal means of identifying a person for decades. Today, the same whirls
and swirls that make each human fingertip unique can authorize a computer
user, permit cellular phone calls and recognize a vehicle's operator.
Human touch leaves an identifiable imprint, as demonstrated this week on a
vehicle in the Siemens Automotive exhibit during the Convergence Conference on
automotive electronics. The human imprint is unmatched by machine-to-machine
interfaces.
"Computer-generated codes -- no matter how elaborately designed -- can be
replicated. A fingerprint, however, is a unique signature that is only
replicated when the person touches something," says Patrick Banas, Siemens
Automotive's director of Body Electronics, North America.
Consider how many times a typical computer user touches a keypad --
probably hundreds if not thousands of times every hour. The data generated
and retrieved is frequently sensitive information, which is the primary reason
why computer access requires a password. The days of using pet names, middle
names and maiden names for log-on admission are passe with a fingertip
identification sensor.
Siemens engineers recently designed a sensor-equipped computer mouse that
recognizes the user via his or her fingerprint -- actually the digital
representation of specific fingertip characteristics known as minutiae.
"Whenever anyone wants to use the computer, the system compares the
fingerprint with the stored values: a match grants access; a non-match denies
access," says Banas.
Cellular phones enable communication on the go -- virtually anywhere,
anytime. In the wrong hands, a cellular phone user essentially dials up
costly airtime billings. Like the computer mouse-equipped identification
sensor, cellular phones equipped with a special sensor protect against misuse
by using fingerprint recognition to switch on the phone as well as confirm
dialed numbers. A cellular phone fashioned with operator identification
hardware contains a fingertip sensor, memory and a processor with computing
power capable of running fingerprint recognition algorithms.
"As many as 60 fingerprints can be stored by the new unit and private
telephone books can be individually assigned to various callers as can the
call units used," says Banas.
While the aforementioned telecommunication and computer industry
fingerprint identification examples are available in Europe, the next
application stop for biometrics technology -- the practice of applying
mathematical and statistical theory to biology -- is the automotive industry.
Siemens Automotive engineers expect fingerprint recognition for engine
ignition to reach the production-ready stage within two years.
"With the touch of a person's live fingertip to a center console mounted
switch, a high-performance computer identification system authorizes and
completes the engine ignition sequence in a matter of milliseconds. The
process is much faster than pushing a key in the ignition lock, then turning
that key to start the engine," says Banas.
The engine start identification process utilizes 65,000 electrodes to
measure within one hundredth of a millimeter the distance between the sensor
and the skin surface. By lightly touching the capacitive sensor, a digitized
fingerprint image is created with a resolution of 20 dots per millimeter
(513 dpi). Image processing software then searches and stores as many as 24
telltale fingerprint characteristics. The system-stored fingerprint and the
live fingerprint touching the sensor are algorithm-compared by a digital
signal processor. Only if both fingerprint sets match does a silicon chip
release a signal to activate authorization and engine start functions. About
the size of a penny, the 160 square millimeter silicon chip contains a sensing
field, analog-digital converter, sequencing control, clock generator and
parallel interface.
Fingerprint recognition technology also initiates personalization of the
vehicle's accessories.
"Following the ignition sequence, the automatic transmission receives a
command for gearshift functions that have been tailored to the driving style
of the fingerprint-authorized driver. The system even employs a shifting
strategy to address outside environmental conditions as well as adjusting
mirror, climate control, radio selections, steering column tilt and seating
positions to settings pre-determined by the driver," says Banas.
Employing fingerprint sensing to authorize and start vehicle functions
provides an anti-theft shield byproduct in addition to a fast and convenient
method for readying a vehicle for driving. Fingertip sensors -- produced from
the same Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology used for
conventional memory chips -- is just one of many technologies with origins in
Siemens' research development activities.
"We rank as the worldwide leader in money invested in advancing
electronics research and development work, and that is a major reason why
revolutionary technologies like fingerprint sensor recognition begin as a
'what if' concept and evolve into a 'here and now' reality," says Banas.