The History Of The Palm Vein Technology

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract —The document is about contactless palm vein authentication technology which identifies a person by using palm vein sensors and palm vein authentication access control device. Palm vein authentication uses vascular pattern of humans for identification and recognition purposes. The infrared rays emitted from the sensor are used to recognize and store the vascular pattern of human’s palm.

Keywords— contactless, sensors, infrared radiation, vascular pattern, authentication,

INTRODUCTION

In the ubiquitous network society, where individuals can easily access their information anytime and anywhere, people are also faced with the risk that others can easily access the same information anytime and anywhere. Because of this risk, personal identification technology, which can distinguish between registered legitimate users and imposters, is now generating interest. Currently, passwords, Personal Identification Numbers or identification cards are used for personal identification. However, cards can be stolen, and passwords and numbers can be guessed or forgotten. To solve these problems, biometric authentication technology, which identifies people by their unique biological information, is attracting attention.

This paper is about contactless palm vein authentication technology which uses blood vessel patterns as a personal identifying factor. The vein information is hard to duplicate since veins are internal to the human body. The palm vein authentication technology offers a high level of accuracy, and delivers the following results: a false rejection rate (FRR) of 0.01%, and a false acceptance rate (FAR) of 0.00008% or lower.FRR is the instance of a security system which fails to verify or identify an authorized person. FAR is the instance of a security system which identifies an unauthorized person.

palm vein authentication technology

Palm vein authentication uses the vascular patterns of an individual’s palm as personal identification data.

It works by comparing the vascular pattern of veins in the palm(which appear as blue lines) of a person being authenticated with a pattern being stored in database. Vascular patterns are unique to each individual-even identical twins have different vascular patterns. As vascular patterns store inside the body they cannot be stolen by means of voice recordings, fingerprints or photography, thereby making this method of biometric authentication more secure than others.

1. PRINCIPLE OF PALM VEIN AUTHENTICATION

Hemoglobin in the blood is oxygenated in the lungs and-+ carries oxygen to the tissues of the body through the arteries. After it releases its oxygen to the tissues, the deoxidized hemoglobin returns to the heart through the veins. These two types of hemoglobin have different rates of absorbency. Deoxidized hemoglobin absorbs light at a wavelength of about 760 nm in the near-infrared region. When the palm is illuminated with near infrared light, unlike the image seen by the human eye [Figure 1(a)], the deoxidized hemoglobin in the palm veins absorbs this light, thereby reducing the reflection rate and causing the veins to appear as a black pattern [Figure 1(b)]. In vein authentication based on this principle, the region used for authentication is photographed with near-infrared light, and the vein pattern is extracted by image processing [Figure 1(c)] and registered. The vein pattern of the person being authenticated is then verified against the preregistered pattern.

Fig 1(a) Fig 1(b) Fig 1(c)

Visible ray Infrared ray Extracted vein

Image image pattern

2. IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTACTLESS PALM VEIN TECHNOLOGY

The contactless palm vein authentication technology consists of image sensing and software technology. The palm vein sensor (Fig.2) captures an infrared ray image of the user’s palm. The lighting of the infrared ray is controlled depending on the illumination around the sensor, and the sensor is able to capture the palm image regardless of the position and movement of the palm. The software then matches the translated vein pattern with the registered pattern, while measuring the position and orientation of the palm by a pattern matching method. Implementation of a contactless identification system enables applications in public places or in environments where hygiene standards are required, such as in medical applications. In addition, sufficient consideration was given to individuals who are reluctant to come into direct contact with publicly used devices.

Fig 2

Contactless palm vein sensor

3. ADVANTAGES OF USING THE PALM

In addition to the palm, vein authentication can be done using the vascular pattern on the back of the hand or a finger. However, the palm vein pattern is the most complex and covers the widest area. Because the palm has no hair, it is easier to photograph its vascular pattern. The palm also has no significant variations in skin color compared with fingers or the back of the hand, where the color can darken in certain areas.

4.1 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOR FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS

Financial damage caused by fraudulent withdrawals of money using identity spoofing with fake bankcards has been rapidly increasing in recent years, and this has emerged as a significant social problem. As a result, there has been a rapid increase in the number of lawsuits filed by victims of identity theft against financial institutions for their failure to control information used for personal identification. The "Act for the Protection of Personal Information" came into effect in Japan on May 1, 2005, and in response, financial institutions have been focusing on biometric authentication together with IC (smart) cards as a way to reinforce the security of personal identification. Vein authentication can provide two types of systems for financial solutions, depending on where the registered vein patterns are stored. In one method, the vein patterns are stored on the server of a client-server system. The advantage of this system is that it provides an integrated capability for managing vein patterns and comparison processing. In the other type, a user’s vein pattern is stored on an IC card, which is beneficial because users can control access to their own vein pattern. Suruga Bank uses the server type for their financial solutions, and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi uses the IC card system.

Fujitsu plans to develop another type of ATM (Fig.6) for use at convenience stores in Japan, embedding the palm vein authentication sensor in the ATM.

Fig 3

ATM with palm vein pattern authentication sensor unit

In 2006, Fujitsu reduced the Palm Secure sensor to 1/4 of its current size for its next generation product. By using a smaller sensor on existing ATMs (Figure 3), there will be room on the operating panel for a sensor for FeliCa mobiles, a 10-key pad that meets the DES (Data Encryption Standard), as well as an electronic calculator and other devices. The downsized sensor can also be mounted on ATMs in convenience stores (Figure 4).

Fig 4

ATM with small palm vein authentication sensor unit

4.2 ACCESS CONTROL DEVICE USING PALM VEIN AUTHENTICATION

The palm vein pattern sensor is also used for access control units. The "palm vein authentication access control device" (Fig.5) is comprised of the palm vein pattern sensor, a keypad and a small display. This device controls access to rooms or buildings that are for restricted personnel. The device consists of two parts: the palm vein sensor, plus the control unit that executes the authentication processing and sends the unlock instruction. A simple configuration system can be achieved by connecting this device to the electric lock control board or electric locks provided by the manufacturer.

Fig 5

Palm vein access control unit

OTHER PRODUCT APLLICATIONS

Because of the importance of personal identification, we can expect to see the development of new products for various applications, such as:

(i)Management in healthcare

• Access control to medication dispensing

• Identification of doctors and nurses when accessing protected health records

• Patient identification management

(ii)Operator authentication

• Settlement by credit card

• Obtaining various certificates using the Basic Resident Register Card

(iii)Owner authentication

• Retrieval of checked luggage

• Driver authentication

(iv) Attendance authentication

• Checking attendance in schools

• Clocking in and out of the workplace.

5. CONCLUSION

This paper introduces palm vein authentication. This technology is highly secure because it uses information contained within the body and is also highly accurate because the pattern of veins in the palm is complex and unique to each individual. Moreover, its contactless feature gives it a hygienic advantage over other biometric authentication technologies. This paper also describes some examples of financial solutions and product applications for the general market that have been developed based on this technology. Many of our customers have favorably evaluated this technology and have experienced no psychological resistance to using it. This has encouraged us to start development of new products for various applications, beginning with financial solutions and followed by access control units and login units.