Patent ID: 6940391
Filing Date: 2005-09-06
Classification: G07C

Abstract:
1. A vehicle key system for verifying identity of fingerprint information about a user's fingerprint and for controlling pieces of equipment in a vehicle according to a verification result, said system comprising: a transmitter including a fingerprint information capturing means for capturing fingerprint information from a user's fingerprint, an identifier storage means for storing an identifier specific to said transmitter, and a transmitting means for transmitting both the fingerprint information and the system-specific identifier; and a receiver disposed in the vehicle, including a receiving means for receiving the fingerprint information and the identifier transmitted from said transmitting means of said transmitter, a verification means for verifying the received fingerprint information against a list of pieces of previously stored fingerprint information, and for verifying the received identifier against a previously stored identifier, said verification means including feature verification means for verifying the features extracted from the fingerprint information received from said transmitter against features of an authorized user stored by said receiver; an identifier verification means for verifying the specific identifier received from said transmitter and the specific identifier stored by said receiver, and comprehensively determining means for determining whether or not a user manipulating said transmitter is an authorized user and whether or not the manipulation is directed toward the vehicle corresponding to said transmitter; and a control means for controlling said pieces of equipment in the vehicle according to verification results from said verification means.