Earlier last month, Seiko Epson launched a fingerprint ID device that is now challenged by a British company, Warwick Warp, which is financed by Oxford Early Investments (OEI) and gathers PhD students and academic staff with a sole purpose - to create the first prototype of a fingerprint identification technology.

"The firm said its "unique patented algorithms are designed to reduce error rates significantly by correcting the linear and elastic deformation caused by the uneven pressure of the finger on the imaging surface". The algorithms can also cope with "third-level feature models incorporating sweat pore extraction and shading and lighting variation"," reports Electronics Weekly.

Seiko Epson's paper-thin fingerprint sensor measures 0.2 millimeters in thickness and, when you press your finger against it, the sensor reads fingerprint patterns based on the faint electric current emanating from your fingertip confirming your access to that particular item.

Because it is an ultra thin sensor, it can be integrated into any item. Consequently, Epson recommends it for self-authenticating credit cards, in which a tiny on-card processor is used to compare the captured fingerprint data with the user's fingerprint data stored in an embedded memory.

Another innovative identification technology is the iris scanning, a procedure developed by xVista and the University of Sussex after a six year partnership.

A unique algorithm has been developed in order to capture and process iris data, and, in the same time, operate on low power computing devices such as a camera equipped mobile phone. "A standard, 256 Mb mobile phone memory card will be able to hold over 250,000 separate iris templates and from a database of 1,000,000 irises, it will take less than one second for it to verify an individual iris. Each human iris is unique," it is said on xVista web site.