Patent ID: 8041956

Claim:
A method of biometric authentication comprising: capturing biometric data for at least one desired biometric type from an individual at a client system and communicating the captured biometric data to a server system; determining a first algorithm and a second algorithm different than the first algorithm with the server system, each algorithm for converting biometric data into authentication words, the first algorithm being operable to generate a first vocabulary of authentication words for one of the desired biometric types and the second algorithm being operable to generate a second vocabulary of authentication words for a different one of the desired biometric types, the first and second vocabularies being combinable into a fused vocabulary; converting the captured biometric data into authentication words in accordance with the determined algorithms; including the authentication words in a probe; comparing the probe against a gallery of identity records stored in the server system, wherein each of the identity records includes enrollment biometric words of an individual obtained during enrollment; identifying at least one of the identity records as a potential matching identity record when at least one authentication word included in the probe matches at least one of the enrollment biometric words included in the at least one identity record; generating a list of potential matching identity records; and ranking the potential matching identity records included in the list.