Fingerprint Scanner

[Doctor Dan]

I have been asked to develop an application which uses the persons
fingerprint as his record identifier. Intsble design I am not sure how to
code this correctly. Also in the application, once the person's fingerprint
is scanned and accepted I want to make the program continue on with having to
hit the enter key. Can anyone share some ideas on this? I am sure there are
lots of people doing this.

 

[Klatuu]

Do you mean a document reference number or some other reference number that
identifies the scan? If you want to use the Actual scan image, Access
doesn't handle binary data that well.

Some questions (assumning you mean a reference identifier of some kind)
How are you connected to the Scanner?
Does it save the image as a file?
If so, do you have a way to know where the file is being saved?
Can the scanner pass the identifier or the image's path and file to Access?
If so, how are you doing that?
Is there other information entered about the person?
Is it entered before or after the scan?

Is this statement correct?
"I want to make the program continue on with having to hit the enter key"
or did you mean to say "without"?

 

[Fred]

This might be the wrong forum, as the Access portion of this would be
straightforward. The real crux of this is what gets stored & compared for
the fingerprints nad how such is done.

Most of the systems that use it in lieu f passwords etc. don't store an
image of the fingerprint. They extract, store and compare attributes of
them..

 

[Klatuu]

Fred,
You would know more of the technology than I. I assume it would be some
sort of digital representation, but I don't know if it would be an image or
some sort of vectory graphics, or what, but my original point is that that
data could not really be used as a primary key, I don't think. I also know
that Access is not a good choice if you need to store large binary data. SQL
Server would be a better engine for that.

 

[Fred]

Hello Dave,


Just to clarify, I wasn't commenting on your response.

I'm not in that business either, I just know a little about it, being in a
related field (Machine Vision, which includes automated image processing)

There are systems that store the entire fingerprint (e.g. police, FBI etc).

And there are the everyday systems (password replacers etc.) that (have to)
make a point of being able to say that they DON'T store the fingerprint (not
in any format), they just extract and store just enough attributes of the
fingerprint to be able to determine if it's the same fingerprint the next
time the system sees it.

A part of their motivation is the PR advantage to help overcome objections
of people who don't want their fingerprints scanned and stored...so they can
say they aren't storing the actual fingerprints.

It didn't work on me. The last time someone (Meijers) told me they needed
that, I left $350 worth of groceries at a checkout counter for them to put
away and bought them elsewhere.

Sincerely,


Fred

 

[Klatuu]

I didn't think you were, Fred. I was happy you jumped in.
I haven't had anyone except my bank want a fingerprint yet. I'm with you.
They have more info than the need already.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I have been asked to develop an application which uses the persons
fingerprint as his record identifier.

You will need to use an API call as defined by the fingerprint scanner
manufacturer. I'd start with them.

BTW if I was an employee and your employer insisted on fingerprints
I'd quit. <smile>

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

You will need to use an API call as defined by the fingerprint scanner
manufacturer. I'd start with them.

BTW if I was an employee and your employer insisted on fingerprints
I'd quit. <smile>

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

I did some work on this a couple of years back. As you say, Tony, you have
to start with the vendor of the scanner, as the methods used to store the
fingerprint or the representation of the fingerprint will differ from one
vendor to another. As Fred says elsewhere in this thread, they don't
necessarily store the fingerprint itself. The one we used stored a
representation of the fingerprint using a one-way hashing algorithm, and the
vendor assured us that it was not possible to re-create the image of the
fingerprint from the stored data. To work with the data in Access, I had to
use a byte array.

We eventually shelved the project for two reasons. One, the scanners were
too slow for our purposes, and two, despite the fact that actual fingerprint
images were not stored, potential customers were still uncomfortable with
the idea of scanning fingerprints.