Jason Ford

Fujitsu adds iris recognition to mobile phone security

News

Forgotten pin numbers and passwords will no longer hinder access to mobile phones thanks to iris recognition technology developed by Fujitsu.

The company has developed an iris authentication system and built it into a prototype smartphone, which is currently being exhibited and demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona.

Fujitsu has previously focused on developing authentication technologies for smartphones, tablets, and computers, including vein authentication for personal computers and fingerprint authentication for mobile phones.

The new biometric authentication system uses infrared light to acquire the pattern formed by the iris. That pattern is read by shining a custom compact, high-output infrared LED light on the eyes, then taking a picture of them with an infrared camera to acquire the pattern.

The result is a system claimed to reliably authenticate the detailed patterns of the iris in most everyday situations.

Fujitsu said that it selected Delta ID’s ActiveIRIS - a high-speed, high-reliability iris recognition engine – in order for the system to be used at a normal smartphone viewing distance, rather than within the 10cm range that most existing iris recognition systems require.

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