Sony ID system scans finger veins

Sony has used a CMOS sensor to capture light inside the finger veins

Sony has developed a user identification technology that scans veins in the finger to allow access to mobile devices and personal computers.

The idea of scanning veins originated in a 1992 thesis written at Hokkaido University in Japan. Sony rival Hitachi developed a USB Finger Vein Biometric Scanner in 2007 and is expecting to release a product soon.

The benefit of finger vein technology, according to both vendors, is that it is more accurate than other biometric scanning systems because veins are unique and do not change over the years.

Technologies of this kind are now in greater demand because of the increase in networked services, and the huge amount of personal information being carried on portable devices.

Sony said that it plans to promote its Mofiria vein scanning technology for use in mobile devices, gateway security systems and solution services. The device can be mounted on phones and PCs, and should be available at some point this year.

Mofiria will use a "unique method" for detecting finger veins, using a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor to capture light inside the finger veins, Sony explained.

CMOS is an integrated circuit commonly used in image sensors and integrated transceivers for many types of communication.

Sony claimed that the algorithm will be fast and easy to use. "The vein pattern is quickly and accurately extracted from the captured finger vein image without a fixed finger position, as the position of a placed finger is automatically and simultaneously corrected," the company said.