Patent ID: 7558965

Claim:
A method of providing a verification status of a device, comprising: (a) identifying within a device a current verification status out of a plurality of verification statuses of the device as a function of a comparison of biometric verification data input into the device to biometric data prestored within the device and as a function of whether an indicator was output since verification data was last input into the device, wherein the plurality of verification statuses comprise: a first verification status indicating a lack of verification data since a resetting of the device; a second verification status indicating a match between input data and data prestored where no indicator has been output from the device since the match; a third verification status indicating a failed match; and a fourth verification status indicating a match where an indicator has been output since the match; and (b) independent of the verification status identified, transmitting an indicator of said identified verification status to an electronic apparatus external to the device, the indicator revealing said identified verification status without revealing either of the biometric verification data or the prestored biometric data.