Sony Mofiria Finger-Vein Biometric System Announced

Sony have announced a new method of biometric security, that relies on the patterns of veins inside a user's finger rather than their fingerprints.  Dubbed 'mofiria', the system relies on the veins scattering infrared light, which are then recognized by a small CMOS sensor.  Since mofiria can compensate for differently-placed fingers, that means fewer frustrating repositioning swipes as often demanded by traditional fingerprint scanners.

Sony are quoting authentication accuracy of less than 0.1-percent for the FRR (False Rejection Rate) and less than 0.0001-percent for the FAR (False Acceptance Rate).  Meanwhile mofiria has applications not only in laptops but in mobile devices, as it has relatively low processing demands.  Identification takes only around 0.015 sec using a PC processor, and around 0.25 sec when using a mobile phone CPU.

The company intends to promote mofiria as suitable for use in mobile devices, gateway security systems and solution services.  We should see the first products using it in 2009 or early 2010.