Hitachi's reader and SDK for biometric vein identification now available

Hitachi has made its finger vein pattern reader available to the European market. The vendor has developed a special version of this technology which is used in Japan, for instance, to access automatic tellers. The product is also used for authentication and access control purposes for home and business PCs. Hitachi also supplies a software development kit for business PCs and integration with enterprise applications.

The vendor claims that recognition rates are good, while error rates are low. A light source on the scanner transmits infrared beams to the finger. The haemoglobin in the blood absorbs the light, and vein patterns become visible. A camera integrated in the scanner takes a picture of this “map”. The system extracts this pattern, which is unique for each person, and creates a template for later comparison, which, according to Hitachi, is done within a very short time.

Compared to conventional finger print recognition, vein recognition has the advantage that the required information cannot be gathered from any touched item, which significantly lowers the risk of potential manipulation and forgery. The vendor claims that contactless identification enjoys a high degree of user acceptance in Japan. Last year, Fujitsu has introduced a similar technology to the european market under the name of PalmSecure, based on vein pattern recognition of the palm. The heise Security article "Vein patterns as an alternative to finger prints" takes a closer look at the new vein recognition devices.

(mba)