Patent ID: 7370208

Claim:
A method of controlling access of an individual to a service, device or location in order to restrict access to members of a particular age category, comprising: machine-sensing at least one predetermined biometric characteristic of the individual; analyzing the biometric characteristic to determine whether the individual belongs to said particular age category; and automatically controlling access of the individual to said particular service, device or location, based on whether the individual belongs to said particular age category, wherein analyzing said machine-sensed biometric characteristic comprises assessing a degree of ossification of an examined bone of the individual to determine a bone age of the individual, wherein said assessing comprises assessing said degree of ossification of the bone by assessing whether a bone growth-plate is present in the examined bone, wherein said examined bone is selected from the group consisting of: a phalanx of a finger, a bone in a wrist, and a bone in a hand of the individual, and wherein said machine-sensing comprises examining a joint of said examined bone to determine whether the growth-plate is present on one side of the joint.