Goodix CEO wants fingerprint recognition anywhere on the touch screen

In a recent interview with EE Times China journalist Alice Sun, Goodix founder and CEO David Zhang discussed fingerprint identification innovations and the company’s plans for the future.

Last month, Goodix picked up two Consumer Electronics Show technology innovation awards, one for its Invisible Touch Fingerprint Sensor (IFS) used in more than ten Chinese mobile phones.

In the interview, Zhang explained that the future advantage of IFS is that fingerprint recognition will be possible with various fingers anywhere on the screen for the highest level of security.

“Of course, in the first stage, fingerprint identification will be done at the bottom of the screen instead of the special capacitance area,” he added. “Its advantage is a simpler ID process.”

Zhang went on to explain the challenge of IFS with the integration of hardware and software. IFS software requirements are higher because of the thick glass cover, so a different type of algorithm is used.

“Fingerprint chip production isn’t expensive,” he says. “The main investment is in software. Traditionally, algorithms for fingerprint sensors have been large, and small sensor algorithms are not so easy.”

Zhang says the most important function for fingerprinting on a handset is mobile payments.

“There is a conflict between financial institutions and mobile phone makers,” he explains. “The handset makers want a good user experience, and the financial institutions want security. There needs to be some balance between false acceptance rate (FAR) and false rejection rate (FRR) indicators, which are like a seesaw game, one lifting at the expense of the other.”

Zhang also mentioned that Goodix is currently testing a force touch chip and it’s likely to be announced in the first quarter of next year.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  capacitive touchscreen  |  fingerprint identification  |  fingerprint sensors  |  fingerprint technology  |  mobile payment  |  security