Biometrics-related patents adding up for Idemia, granted to StereoVision Imaging

France’s national intellectual property body, INPI, has recognized Idemia as one of the country’s most innovative companies for the 63 patents related to biometrics, digital identity and other security-related technologies in 2019.

Idemia is ranked 30th on the Institute’s 2020 list, and the company’s technology is backed by nearly 1,500 active patents, according to the announcement.

In 2019, Idemia invested €200 million (US$242.2 million) in research and development, with 2,000 dedicated staff, many of whom are in Osny, Le Defense, Meyreuil and Pessac, France.

“At a time when the pandemic means our contactless solutions have never before been so needed, we’re determined innovation will be our core strength and we reaffirm all our R&D medium and long-term goals,” states Idemia VP of R&D Jean-Christophe Fondeur. “We will continue to massively invest in R&D including digital, the Cloud, cybersecurity, AI and innovative sensors, striving to develop solutions making citizens’ lives safer.”

StereoVision commercializing remote sensing and biometrics as new patents granted

StereoVision Imaging has been granted four new patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and a continuation from the European Patent Office, all related to the company’s portfolio of biometric and object recognition and remote sensing technologies. The company is also launching a new commercialization campaign.

The company says the patents are the result of more than $100 million in research and development investment over the past ten years, and bring SVI’s portfolio to 61 patents worldwide, with 46 pending, across 24 patent families.

“These new patents both continue and broaden the protection of our technology portfolio focused on detecting and measuring moving objects in real world situations,” comments SVI president Gregory Steinthal. “These latest patents include changes that greatly expand the scope of the protections compared to the original related patents. They place SVI in an exceptionally secure position as we commercialize our IP portfolio of over 100 patents and patents pending, which includes potentially partnering with those who are infringing.”

Steinthal says the company’s patent for a dual chirp FMCW LiDAR system is the first in the space. The company was also granted patents for video stream improvements, eye tracking, and ‘determining ranges to a target behind a transparent surface,’ and its European patent for ‘fusion of FMCW LiDAR with video’ was extended.

The company recently received a second order from the U.S. Army for its biometric binoculars.

Apple patent filing suggests face-and-body recognition for photos

A patent application from Apple published by the USPTO suggests the company may be working on a capability for its photo app to recognize people who are turned away from the camera, or who its facial recognition cannot identify.

The filing for ‘recognizing people by combining face and body cues’ states that failures of face biometrics in photo-organizing applications can be overcome by ‘clustering’ face and body characteristics captured from a set of images from a certain place and time, which Apple refers to as a ‘moment.’

“Each cluster may be considered as relating to a particular individual,” the inventors write. “Through the use of the combined body vector, the individuals may be recognizable, even in images where their faces are occluded, e.g., based on the use of the body data.”

The characteristics may not be weighted evenly, and the patent application mentions various types of implementations.

Article Topics

Apple  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  IDEMIA  |  patents  |  research and development  |  StereoVision