Patent ID: 7702919

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for processing data comprising: (a) performing, in a computer, an enrollment process, comprising: receiving a first biometric data and a first personal key; processing the first biometric data combined with the first personal key through an irreversible cryptographic algorithm executed by the computer to form a first processed data comprised of the first biometric data and the first personal key in an irreversibly encrypted form; eliminating all storage or trace of the first biometric data and the first personal key in an unprocessed and unencrypted form after the first processed data has been formed and prior to any storage; and storing the first processed data in a repository for use in a subsequent authentication process; and (b) performing, in a computer, an authentication process, comprising: receiving a second biometric data and a second personal key; processing the second biometric data combined with the second personal key through the irreversible cryptographic algorithm executed by the computer to form a second processed data comprised of the second biometric data and the second personal key in an irreversibly encrypted form; eliminating all storage or trace of the second biometric data and the second personal key in an unprocessed and unencrypted form after the second processed data has been formed and prior to any comparison; comparing the second processed data to the first processed data previously stored in the repository, without accessing either the first or second processed data in an unprocessed and unencrypted form, in order to enable authentication of the second biometric data and the second personal key in a confidential manner; and generating a signal pertaining to the comparison of the second processed data to the first processed data for use in the authentication process.