Apparatus and method for biometric identification using silhouette and displacement images of a portion of a person's hand

Apparatus as claimed in claims, wherein said first illumination means further comprises

• a first mirror supported in a prearranged orientation above said platen, and wherein
• said circular array of light sources is mounted in a prearranged
• location generally adjacent said platen and oriented to direct output light beams emitted therefrom onto said
• first mirror to be reflected onto said platen;
• and wherein said second illumination means further comprises a second mirror supported in a prearranged orientation above said platen and generally adjacent said first mirror for directing said structured light pattern onto said platen.

In biometric measuring apparatus for recognizing a person's identity based on measurements of the person's hand, the combination comprising:

• support means on which at least a portion of the hand of a person including at least a pair of fingers may be placed;
• image capture means for viewing said support means from a prearranged image viewing direction and for capturing and storing an image of a hand portion placed thereon;
• first illumination means for illuminating said support means and a hand portion placed thereon to present to said image capture means a silhouette image of said hand portion;
• second illumination means for illuminating said support means and a hand portion placed thereon to present to said image capture means a displacement image of said hand portion which can be correlated with said silhouette image to provide measurement data on finger height characteristics;
• image acquisition means coupled to said image capture means, said first illumination means and said second illumination means for operating said image capture means and said first illumination means during a silhoutte image capture period to acquire and store said sihouette image of said hand portion to produce a stored silhouette image, and for operating said image capture means and said second illumination means during a displacement image capture period to acquire and store said displacement image of said hand portion to produce a stored displacement image.

In a method for recognizing a person's identity based on measurements performed on the person's hand the steps of:

• a. disposing a support means on which at least a portion of a person's hand including at least one finger may be presented;
• b. illuminating said support means and said portion of a person's hand presented thereon with a substantially uniform flood of light to produce a silhouette image of said hand portion;
• c. capturing and storing silhoutte image data representing said silhouette image to produce stored silhouette image data;
• d. illuminating said support means and said portion of a person's hand presented thereon with a light source which produces a displacement image of said hand portion which displacement image can be correlated with said silhouette image to produce measurement data on finger height characteristics;
• e. capturing and storing displacement image data representing said displacement image to produce stored displacement image data;
• and
• f. analyzing said stored silhouette image data and said stored displacement image data to produce hand feature data.

Biometric measuring apparatus for recognizing a person's identity based on measurements performed on the person's hand, said apparatus comprising:

• means for producing a silhoutte image of at least a portion of a person's hand;
• means for producing a displacement image of the same hand portion;
• means for analyzing said silhouette image and said displacement image to produce hand feature data;
• means for comparing hand feature data obtained during a hand bid cycle with hand feature data obtained during a previous hand enrollment cycle to determine if the person's hand was previously enrolled,

In a method for recognizing a person's identity based on measurements of performed on the person's hand, the steps of:

• a. capturing a silhoutte image of at least a portion of a person's hand;
• b. capturing a displacement image of said portion of a person's hand;
• c. analyzing said silhouette image and said displacement image to produce hand feature data;
• and
• d. comparing hand feature data obtained during a hand bid cycle with hand feature data obtained during a previous hand enrollment cycle to determine if the person's hand was previously enrolled.