Payment system using customer's fingerprints

A fingerprint scanner unit for use by a purchaser at a point of sale within a merchant's physical location, comprising in combination:

• a housing;
• a sensor mounted on the housing adapted to receive a purchaser's finger and to generate a plurality of electrical signals representative of a purchaser's fingerprint;
• a data processing unit disposed within the housing and coupled to the sensor for receiving the plurality of electrical signals and to generate digital data corresponding to the user's fingerprint;
• a battery disposed within the housing for providing electrical power to the data processing unit;
• a wireless communication module disposed within the housing and coupled to the data processing unit for receiving the digital data corresponding to the user's fingerprint, the wireless communication module being adapted to pair with a second wireless communication module associated with a merchant point of sale terminal located at the merchant's physical location to securely exchange data between the fingerprint scanner unit and the merchant point of sale terminal.