Patent ID: 7039223

Claim:
A method of authenticating the identity of an individual employing a preselected sequence of linear partial fingerprint signatures comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a reference set of linear partial fingerprint signatures and storing an electronic representation of the reference set in a comparison means, said reference set derived from two or more scans taken across predetermined paths on an individual's fingerprint; (b) generating a candidate set of linear partial fingerprint signatures and applying an electronic representation of the candidate set to a comparison means, said candidate set derived from at least two scans taken across corresponding predetermined paths on that individual's fingerprint, the particular two of said at least two scans and the sequence of their application to said comparison means being selected so as to serve as a personal code; and (c) providing a comparison means for comparing said reference and candidate sets and for providing an affirmative response for a successful comparison and a negative response for an unsuccessful comparison; wherein said reference set is derived from four bidirectional scans.