Patent ID: 7184580

Claim:
A method of recognizing damage to a biometric information source comprising the steps of: sensing biometric information from a biometric information source to provide sensed data; extracting features from the sensed data, the features indicative of identifiable content of the sensed data; analyzing the features to determine if some features, when grouped, are characteristic of damage to the biometric information source from which biometric information was sensed, wherein the damage is one of a cut, a scar resulting from a cut, a burn, and a scar resulting from a burn; when some of the features are characteristic of damage to the biometric information source, grouping data relating to the some features and to the indicated damage to form damage data indicative of characteristic features of the cut, burn, or scar; providing a template; extracting feature data relating to at least other features than the some features; registering the extracted feature data against data within the template to determine a likelihood of a match; and when a match is likely, performing one of identifying and authorizing the biometric information source, wherein the step of registering includes a step of registering the damage data against further data within the template to determine a likelihood of a damage match; and, wherein the step of performing one of identifying and authorizing the biometric information source is performed when a match and a damage match are both likely.