Use Case of Palm Vein Authentication

Abstract

Palm vein authentication is a vein feature authentication technology that uses palm veins as the biometric feature. Palm vein patterns are normally captured using near-infrared light via either the reflection or the transmission methods. In the reflection method, near-infrared rays are emitted towards the palm to be identified and the reflected light is captured for authentication. Because veins are beneath human skin, it is difficult for someone else to copy or steal them, so the palm vein is more secure compared to some other biometric features. Moreover, because palm vein patterns are diverse and complex, they give sufficient information to identify one individual among a large population. As a result, palm vein authentication is secure and highly accurate. As a contactless type of biometric identification, it is suitable for use in applications that require a high level of hygiene or for use in public applications. Several banks in Japan have been using palm vein authentication for ATM security since July 2004. In addition, palm veins have been used in a variety of applications such as door security systems, login management systems for PCs, financial services, payment services and patient identification systems in hospitals. This chapter introduces the technical outline of palm vein authentication and its use cases.