Individual identification apparatus

Claim 1

An individual identification apparatus, which comprises: (a) a transparent measuring table, on which four fingers of a hand of an individual person to be an object of identification are placed in juxtaposition; (b) a guide member mounted on said measuring table to restrict the position of the hand on it and establish finger lengths; (c) a light source for irradiating light onto said measuring table; (d) a two-dimensional photo-electric conversion device to receive light irradiated from said light source and passed through said measuring table, and to generate electrical signals of an intensity to be determined by an intensity of the light at every light receiving point on the two-dimensional plane; (e) means for outputting electrical signals generated at every light receiving point of said two-dimensional photoelectric conversion device as the video electrical signals by scanning said two-dimensional plane at a predetermined scanning speed; (f) a comparator for quantizing intensity of the video electrical signal from said output means into a level of intensity of the transmitting light at the portion where the hand and the guide member are not placed on said measuring table and a level of intensity of the transmitting light at the portion where both are placed; and (g) an information processing unit for receiving said quantized intensity of the video electric signal from said comparator for establishing a base line perpendicular to said guide member on said hand, and for determining therefrom the distance between said base line and the tips of said four fingers and the three differences between the distances of adjacent fingers and for identifying an individual person as the object of the identification on the basis of said three differences.