About The Iris Recognition
The Iris Recognition is one of the 「biometrics authentication」technologies which
identify the person by using 「iris」of eyes.
The Iris Recognition is one of the 「biometrics authentication」technologies which
identify the person by using 「iris」of eyes.
At first, the 「iris」 is the 「donut shaped membrane」in the eye. Normally 「color of eyes」means this「color of iris」.
The iris consists of muscle which adjust the opening of the pupil, and has the function to adjust the 「amount of light」coming in to the inside of the eyeball from outside.
The iris has pattern and the 「iris pattern」differs by each person like a fingerprint. Although the iris is a part of body, there is almost no genetic influence, so no two irises are identical even in the same person or the twins.
Also the iris, differing from face, fingerprint, has a big feature that it will not 「aging change 」in the rest of life from about 2 years after birth.
Utilizing these features, the biometrics technology of 「The Iris Recognition」to identify person using the 「iris」was developed.
「The Iris Recognition」is one of「biometrics authentications」like fingerprint authentication, face authentication.
「Biometrics authentication」is the technology to use a part of body to identify the person and it is not required to carry nor memory anything like the「possession authentication」of the key, IC card and the「intellectual authentication」of ID/password.
「Biometrics authentications」help not only to make our living more convenient but also to decrease loss, theft, and forgery, so they are safe and secure security systems.
Next, we introduce major 「biometrics authentication technologies」.
There are 4 popular practical used「biometrics authentication technology」
The fingerprint authentication
The vein authentication
The face authentication
The Iris RecognitionBrief descriptions about each.
The fingerprint authentication uses human 「fingerprint」 to identify person.
It is used on the smartphones like iPhone and Samsung Galaxy, and this is the closest biometrics authentication technology.
The vein authentication uses the vein patterns of 「palm」「finger」to identify person.
The vein patterns are normally invisible so it's difficult to forgery, and has a feature of having less influence by injury and aging change.
The face authentication uses 「face features」like the frame of the face, the interval between the eyes. Recent topic was that 「iPhone X」installed the face authentication.
The face authentication needs only to take picture of the face and not requires interfaces to the sensor/etc., so it enables to identify person with natural UX.
The Iris Recognition uses human 「iris」to identify person.
The Iris Recognition is installed in a few smartphones and it is the next generation identification technology which is not familiar yet in Japan, but with the merits of high accuracy comparing with other biometrics authentications and less resistance than the face authentication it is the advanced technology with high needs of practical use.
「The Iris Recognition」can make 「FAR」value lowest theoretically which shows the high level of security. In other words, it is said that the Iris Recognition is 「the most secured biometrics authentication」.
In the biometrics authentications mentioned earlier, 「the Iris Recognition」and 「the vein authentication」have strength of no aging change, and 「the Iris Recognition」and 「the face authentication」have advantage of touchless.
In case of focusing on the price and installation cost, 「the fingerprint authentication」is adopted a lot.
it is said that 「the Iris Recognition」fits to the case of long term use and touchless advantage use scene.
| Authentication type | Touchless type | Feature values | Accuracy | Aging changes | Installation cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRR (False Rejection Rate) |
FAR (False Acceptance Rate) |
|||||
| The fingerprint authentication | Touch type | Minutia | 〜0.1% | 〜0.1% | △ | middle |
| The vein authentication | Touch type | Blood vessel pattern of the vein |
0.01% | 1/1 million | ◎ | High |
| The face authentication | Touchless type | The outlines of the face and the placement of parts |
0.1%〜 | 0.01%〜 | △ | middle |
| The Iris Recognition | Touchless type | Iris pattern of the eye | 0.1% | 1/1.2 millions | ◎ | High |
※These are the reference only. The embedded situation is differ by usage environment.
In Japan domestic 「The Iris Recognition」is installed in only a few products and not familiar yet, but how is it in other countries?
First, in our neighborhood country「China」,the great congestion problem at the「people migration of the world's largest scale」became a subject of discussion at airports, streets, and railways in the spring festival (the lunar new year) season. To solve this problem it is said that by installing 「the Iris Recognition」in the traffic infrastructures beginning with the railways in 2018, its speedily operation and high level efficiency brought dramatic improvements.
Originally, as the utilization rate of the mobile electronic payment like 「WeChat pay」「Alipay」is 98.3% the electronic payment infrastructure is established and bank ATM can be used by 「the Iris Recognition」, the 「cash-less/card-less society」is recommended in China so it may have been a natural course of things for China government and people to use 「biometrics authentication/Iris Recognition」for the solution of the great congestion of traffic infrastructure.
In 「India」where they have the second largest population next to China, there is the 「Aadhaar」system similar to the 「Individual Number (My Number)*」system in Japan, most of people out of 1.3 billions acquired 「biometrics authentication ID」linked to the bio-information like the fingerprint and the iris.
This is not only for the identification of person, it also prevents crime due to no need of carrying cash, enables to pay welfare supply to qualified people without fail who do not have the registration of birth and enables to prevent dishonest receipts. They successfully established their unique biometrics authentication base to solve own problems.
Furthermore, in Singapore the IC passport installed with the iris image and used for the immigration control, in UAE owning Dubai 「The Iris Recognition system」was installed in 2001 to all border examination/immigration control and they successfully implemented as the safe and no terrorism country while being the Middle East.
As you seen, if you look around the world it is clear that the 「The Iris Recognition」is used as the solution for various problems at each country.
* Individual Number (My Number) is the system to improve administrative efficiency and enhance public convenience by notifying every resident who has the resident record of his/her own individual number.
「The Iris Recognition」is not familiar yet in Japan if you compare with other countries.
Probably the biggest reason for this is that there is no precedent of service using 「The Iris Recognition system」except a few hardware products.
The research and development of「The Iris Recognition technology」requires specialty and high technology development capability and also requires wide spread development areas like 「specific camera module」to capture the image of iris, the research of「The Iris Recognition engine」, and the development of「control application」.
On the other hand, clear business model is not established due to the difficulties of defining the utilization scenes and the expected returns on business, so「The Iris Recognition」researched in past in Japan was disappeared before reaching to the goal.
In such circumstance around 「The Iris Recognition technology」, we have executed high level technology development and solved various issues by using 「Panasonic patent technology」and research results, and we are continuously developing the software 「SDK 」for practical use.
We aspire to make the installation of「The Iris Recognition」closer as the solution of problems owned by various businesses and put more convenient and safe security with technology power into practice.