Patent ID: 8677139

Claim:
A method for authenticating a user in an authentication system, the authentication system having a central database that has stored therein unique biometric, unique personal biographic and universal identifier data of all the users, and at least one local biometric reader device is configured to access the database, wherein the following steps are performed: (i) reading, the user's live biometric data and his or her universal identifier via the local biometric reader device; (ii) transmitting, the user's universal identifier from the biometric reader device to a central database of the authentication system; (iii) transmitting, back potential matching biometric data from said central database to the local biometric reader device based on said universal identifier; (iv) performing, on the local device matching of the live biometric data collected at the local biometric device against the stored biometric data received back from the central database; (v) performing, service or transaction if the match result is above a predetermined threshold, otherwise denying service or declining transaction; (vi) notifying, user about the outcome of the matching process.