A person's hand/palm and finger are unique however not as unique as their fingerprints or irises, for this reason, businesses and schools like to use hand scanner and finger reader biometrics technology, to authenticate but not identify its users.

Authentication is a one-to-one comparison; it compares your characteristic with your stored information. Identification, on the other hand, is a one-to-many comparison. In this way, some people may find it less intrusive.

Hand scanner and finger reader recognition systems measure and analyze the overall structure, shape and proportions of the hand, e.g. length, width and thickness of hand, fingers and joints; characteristics of the skin surface such as creases and ridges.

The hand and finger scanner/reader devices still maintain accuracy even when hands are dirty, which are good in construction areas; and also have the ability to work under extreme temperatures ranging from negative 30 to 150 degrees F. To use a hand scanner, you simply place your hand on a flat surface, aligning your fingers against several pegs to ensure an accurate reading. Then, a camera takes one or more pictures of your hand and the shadow it casts.

The scanner uses this information to determine the length, width, thickness and curvature of your hand or finger, knuckle shape, distance between joints and bone structure and translucency. It translates that information into a numerical template.

BENEFITS:

• It is easy to use and non-intrusive
• A small amount of data is required to identify the users so more templates can be easily stored in one stand alone device
• low failure to enrol rates.