Patent ID: 6929180

Claim:
A personal identification device comprising: sampling means for sampling a dermatoglyph over a predetermined standard range containing a number of minutiae necessary to uniquely identify an individual; extracting means for extracting minutiae from the dermatoglyphs sampled by said sampling means; memory means for recording minutiae information extracted by said extracting means for a registrant whose dermatoglyph has been previously sampled and registered by said sampling means; and determining means for determining whether or not the dermatoglyph of said registrant is the same as the dermatoglyph of an unidentified subject by comparing minutiae information extracted by said extracting means from the dermatoglyph of the unidentified subject sampled by said sampling means and the minutiae information recorded by said memory means; wherein said unidentified subject is identified as being the same individual as said registrant when the dermatoglyph of said registrant and the dermatoglyph of said unidentified subject are found to be the same by said determining means; wherein said sampling means comprises: image taking means for acquiring an image of dermatoglyph; and fixing means for fixing the position of said standard range fo the dermatoglyph in an image acquiring area of said image acquiring means; and wherein said fixing means comprises an ex-dermatoglyphic member for pulling the skin outside said standard range of the dermatoglyph, thereby exposing the flatly extended dermatoglyph more clearly to said image taking means.