Patent ID: 7111174

Claim:
A method for providing access to a secure entity or service by M designated persons having only limited access privileges, comprising: storing biometric data in dependence upon a biometric characteristic of each of the M designated persons; capturing biometric information representative of a biometric characteristic of each of N persons and providing biometric data in dependence thereupon, with 1<N<M being a subset of a plurality of predetermined subsets of the M designated persons, wherein at least two of the predetermined subsets of the plurality of predetermined subsets of the M designated persons have different access privileges, once authenticated, to the secure entity or service; comparing the captured biometric data of each of the N persons of the subset with the stored biometric data to produce N comparison results; and, if the N comparison results are indicative of the N persons of the subset each being one of the M designated persons and thereby forming the subset of the N persons, determining the access privileges to the secure entity or service in dependence upon the subset of the N persons.