Patent ID: 8355992

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving biometric data corresponding to a consumer who has presented an age-restricted product for purchase at a point of sale location; generating, by use of a data processor, an age verification request including the biometric data corresponding to the consumer, the age verification request not including a consumer identifier other than the biometric data; augmenting the age verification request with additional information, the additional information including a product code associated with the age-restricted product presented for purchase by the consumer, the additional information including a point of sale location identifier or a merchant identifier; sending the age verification request with the additional information in real time to a remotely-located central computer via a data network, the central computer being in data communication with a plurality of distributed databases via the data network, at least one of the distributed databases being a government database from the group: a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database, an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) database, a military agency database, and a State government agency database; receiving a response message in real time from the remotely-located central computer via the data network, the response message including information indicative of the age of the consumer, which is used locally at the point of sale location for determining whether the consumer is of sufficient age to purchase the age-restricted product, the response message including information indicative of whether the consumer is of sufficient age to purchase the age-restricted product; denying purchase of the age-restricted product if the consumer is determined to not be of sufficient age to purchase the age-restricted product; and enabling an agent at the point of sale location to bypass automatic age verification if purchase of the age-restricted product is denied based on the response message, the enabling including receiving and verifying an override code entered by the agent at the point of sale location.