Invention: Covert iris scanner-gctid27878

[aziza]

Invention: Covert iris scanner

  * 16:27 05 February 2007
  * NewScientist.com news service
  * Barry Fox

Covert iris scanner

Sarnoff Labs in New Jersey, US, has been working on a clever homeland security system for the US government. It scans people's irises as they walk towards a checkpoint, without them even knowing it.

Current systems require a person to stand still and look directly into a single digital camera from close range. The new system will instead use an array of compact, high resolution cameras, all of which point in slightly different directions and focus at slightly different distances.

As a subject walks into range, a sensor triggers a powerful infrared strobe light. The strobing is synchronised with the camera exposures, illuminating pictures of a subject's face thirty times per second, to create a bank of different images.

At least one of these shots should provide a clear, high-definition image of the target's iris. Clarity could also be enhanced by combining two similar shots. Sarnoff reckons this could be done at a distance around 3 metres, and a database could be queried fast enough to sound the alarm if the subject warrants a closer check. Let's just hope the target is not wearing sunglasses.

link to the actual patent application http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060274919%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060274919&RS=DN/20060274919