Patent Document ID: 4724542
Application ID: 06821564
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of automatically adapting reference signatures without human intervention to changing writing styles of a signer in a signature verification system, comprising the steps of: (a) creating a second set of reference signatures which contain current sample signatures indicating current signing characteristics; (b) comparing a sample signature to each signature in a first set of reference signatures; (c) accepting the sample signature if it would be accepted as a valid signature when compared with any of the signatures in the first set of reference signatures; (d) comparing a sample signature in each signature in the second set of reference signature if the sample signature would not have been accepted as valid when compared with any of the signatures in the first set of reference signatures and which is close to one of the signatures in the first set of reference signatures, the sample signature being accepted as a valid signatures, if it is accepted when compared to any of the signatures in the second set of reference signatures; (e) changing the reference signatures in the first and the second set of reference signatures, wherein the changing of the first set of reference signatures comprises the steps of: (i) selecting a first reference signature from the second set of reference signatures, the selected signature being the signature which would cause the initially rejected signature to be accepted as a valid signature and which receives the highest score in the second set of reference signatures when the selected first reference signature is compared with the initially rejected signature; (ii) selecting a second reference signature from the set of signatures currently available, the second reference signature being the signature which best compliments the selected first reference signature; (iii) replacing the first set of reference signatures with the selected first and second reference signatures; and wherein the changing of the second set of reference signatures comprises the step of: replacing the second set of reference signatures after changing the first set of reference signatures with the most recent signatures from the set of signatures currently available, excluding any signature included in the changed first set of reference signatures.