Patent ID: 8784314

Claim:
A medical imaging system comprising: a central processing unit; a data storage unit in communication with said central processing unit; a user control input unit in communication with said central processing unit; a display unit in communication with said central processing unit; imaging equipment in electrical communication with said central processing unit; and a biometric authorization unit in electrical communication with said central processing unit, wherein said biometric authorization unit is configured to receive a user input of a biometric identifier, wherein at least one of said central processing unit and said biometric authorization unit is configured to: extract biometric data from the biometric identifier, compare said biometric data with stored biometric data in said data storage unit, and enable imaging use of the medical imaging system based on the comparison; wherein at least one of said central processing unit and said biometric authorization unit is configured to: associate the stored biometric data with stored personal identification information comprising at least one of an operator name, address, and occupation, associate user preference information with the associated stored biometric data and stored personal identification information, store the associated stored biometric data, stored personal identification information, and user preference information in said data storage unit after an initial registration, and automatically adjust imaging equipment acquisition parameters of the imaging equipment based on the user preference information in response to biometric data input at the biometric authorization unit that matches stored biometric data, wherein the medical imaging system is one of an ultrasound, Computed Tomography (CT), X-ray, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), Electron Beam Tomography (EBT), Magnetic Resonance (MR), and image-guided surgery system, and wherein the biometric identifier is at least one of a fingerprint, handprint, voice, iris, retina, and facial thermogram.