Biometrics Comes to the Keyboard

When you stop and think about it, the AKC098 keyboard from Access makes a lot of sense -- it puts fingerprint recognition at your fingertips, right on the computer keyboard.

Of course, what would be really cool is if the fingerprint recognition was actually built into the individual alpha-numeric keys. But that's probably asking too much in terms of complexity and cost. Instead the AKC098 has a built-in "U.are.U" fingerprint reader module manufactured by DigitalPersona. The Windows-compatible keyboard has a USB interface and users can be enrolled so that any of their eight fingers and two thumbs can be used for log-on. The fingerprint data is stored as a binary number string, not as an image, so user identity is not put at risk.

The keyboard can be supplied with an optional integral magnetic swipe reader. It has a 36-key QWERTY block with a space bar and a matrix area of 46 freely-programmable key switches. Most commonly used functions can be programmed into the keys and made available with a single keystroke. Custom made key tops layouts can be supplied to match a users point-of-sale software requirements. The AKC098 stores its layout permanently in non-volatile memory. A USB glide-point touch pad mouse can also fitted as a customer specified option.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 11:52 AM  Permalink