Patent ID: 8049597

Claim:
A method for acquiring biometric measurements of an individual using a portable communications device having an integral biometric sensor comprising an energy emitter and an energy sensor, the method comprising: measuring a plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of an individual using the biometric sensor by, transmitting one or more energy signals into the individual using the energy emitter, receiving one or more energy signals responsive to the transmitting using the energy sensor, and determining a plurality of measurements of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual using the received energy signals; deriving a biometric marker from one or more of the plurality of measurements; transmitting the biometric marker and one or more of the measurements of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual to a receiver using the portable communication device; identifying information describing the individual using the transmitted biometric marker; and performing a monitoring function using the transmitted measurements, by comparing the transmitted measurements to one or more thresholds defined in an individual profile, and transmitting an alert to the portable communications device when one or more of the transmitted measurements diverge from the one or more thresholds.