AuthID patents credit card-like routing for biometric identity authentication

AuthID.ai  has been notified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that it is issuing the patent for securely linking multiple biometric attributes of an individual to an account number for user identification by communicating the number via existing payment transaction networks.

‘Systems and Methods Using a Primary Account Number’ (Patent No. 11182777) will be issued on 23 November. It creates a Primary Account Number (PAN) for authenticating a user’s identity by securely linking biometric attributes. This PAN can be used without the release of any sensitive data on the individual. The PAN is the most common way of processing credit card and other payments, and the PAN created in this process via biometric authentication would be sent via the same networks already used for electronic payments between banks and merchants, authID explains.

“This brings us one step closer to actualizing our vision of ‘payments by face,’ in which every enterprise can use cloud-based biometrics to offer its customers a more convenient, frictionless, and secure transaction experience,” says Tom Thimot, CEO of authID.

The approach avoids the need to share any identity attributes with the merchant, which could make the data vulnerable to attackers, by storing it in an encrypted database. For a transaction, a processor uses the PAN to securely conduct identity verification or authentication against that database.

An individual would authorize these biometric checks at points of sale, accessing medical records, for physical site access or even using public transport, according to authID.

AuthID recently released its Q3 financials, holding steady at $500,000 for the quarter, coming to $1.7 million for the first nine months of the fiscal year. The company reported progress in product development but net losses increased from $1.9 million in Q3 2020 to $5.2 million for the same period in 2021.

Article Topics

authentication  |  authID  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  data sharing  |  identity verification  |  patents  |  research and development  |  secure transactions