White Paper on the Biometrics Brand Bio-IDiom · biometrics has spread to a variety of fields as a reliable security technology to contribute to a safe and secure society. NEC Leads

White Paper on the Biometrics Brand

Bio-IDiom Contents

1. NEC’s Biometrics Brand Bio-IDiom

2. Social Value Creation and Future-oriented Worldview

3. Outcomes of Social Value Creation

4. Biometric Technology

January 23th, 2019

NEC Corporation

2 © NEC Corporation 2018

1. NEC’s Biometrics Brand Bio-IDiom

Rising Tide of Digital Transformation

By the year 2020, the world will have an increased

population of 7.7 billion according to some analytical

estimations*1. The population of Internet and mobile

phones users will also be much larger than it is

currently. It is said that there will be about 30 billion

Internet of Things (IoT) devices and multi-trillion

sensors spread all over the world*2.

The world is about to enter a different era, pushed

forward by the tide of digitization called the “Digital

transformation.” The utilization of big data and

artificial intelligence (AI) has been accelerated and

propelled by the flood of information coming from a

tremendous number of interaction points between

humans and sensors.

Progress of digital transformation

What this revolutionary movement brings about is

a society where humans, things, and matters in the

real world interact with each other at a significant

depth through digital technologies, which in turn can

contribute to realizing improved human lives and

effective business environments.

Changes caused by the wave of digitization

Note 1: UN estimation

2: 2017 White Paper on Information and

Communication in Japan, published by the

Ministry of Internal Affairs and

Communications of Japan

NEC embraced this technological movement early

on and worked on the development of technologies

that visualize a wide range of digital data collected

through IoT technologies and IT infrastructure,

technologies that help analyze a tremendous

amount of data that in no way can be processed by

humans, utilizing AI technology, and technologies

that suggest actions that are easy-to-understand for

humans and applicable to the real world. Taking

advantage of these technologies, the NEC provides

solutions that reflect profound knowledge and

wisdom by way of adding new value to humans,

things, and matters.

Emergence of a New Business Model Gives

Rise to a Game Change

The acceleration of sharing services is one of the

changes driven by the digital transformation.

Platform services such as “Private house rental” and

“ride-sharing services” prosper around the world

and contribute to the creation of effective and

sustainable societies with an active function to

connect humans, things, and matters in a significant

way through the network.

This movement is not limited to transactions

between individuals. In the business world, a new

type of business model has just started to appear

based on the horizontal division of labor. Companies

build a network with manufacturing service

companies around the world, select the one that

best fits their needs depending on product types,

scheduling, and other things, and outsource the

production to them instead of relying on a

conventional and hierarchically structured

production system. This trend will evolve further and

transition to a business model of horizontal

cooperation among companies where the companies

collaborate with each other even beyond the type of

industry.

The Internet has the ability to connect things that

nobody thought to bring together, and give birth to

extraordinary outcomes. New businesses that fully

utilize this ability of the Internet will prosper in the

underlying circumstances of a highly aged society,

the labor shortages occurring in advanced countries,

and the need to conserve limited natural resources.


Biometrics as an Essential Technology to

Live a Safe Life in a Digitized World

NEC has developed ICT solutions that fully utilize

the bundle of AI technologies. “NEC the WISE” is

the core of its technological framework in the IT

segment and has provided those solutions to

customers with a view to carry forward the digital

transformation.

NEC’s AI solution integrates the following

functions to dramatically enhance business

productivity, create new values, and contribute to

the realization of excellent work-life balance and a

sustainable society: “visualization” to transform

matters and information in the real-world into

digital data that can be processed by computers;

“analysis” to learn of any regularity or rules and

extract new values from the data; and “action” to

suggest the best suited actions based on the data

analysis.

Although many more chances of interaction are

created through the progress of affiliation between

matters in the real world and digitized

infrastructure so that our daily lives as well as the

way businesses operate becomes extremely

convenient, it is also true that the risk of

impersonation and cyber-attacks increase in our

personal and business lives. In such a critical

environment, biometrics grab people’s attention as

an effective solution against those risks.

Biometrics is a method of personal identification

that utilizes the unique characteristics every single

individual possesses. Those characteristics include

face, iris, finger prints, palm prints, and vein

patterns as static characteristics, and signatures

and voices as dynamic characteristics.

Unlike widely used personal identification methods

such as passwords, PINs, and IC cards and keys,

biometrics cannot be mislaid or lost nor is there any

risk of theft and forgery. The application of

biometrics has spread to a variety of fields as a

reliable security technology to contribute to a safe

and secure society.

NEC Leads the World in Biometric

Technologies

When it comes to biometrics, people think of face

recognition and fingerprint recognition first. Yes,

NEC has these technologies, but there is much

more to biometrics. A variety of biometrics are

offered by the NEC, including:

・Face recognition

・Iris recognition

・Fingerprint and palm print recognition

・Finger vein recognition

・Voice recognition

・Ear acoustic authentication

NEC is proud that every single one of these

technologies boasts world-leading accuracy, which

makes NEC a global leader in the biometrics field.

Biometric technologies from NEC


1. NEC’s Biometrics Bio-IDiom

NEC’s Biometrics Bio-IDiom

Biometrics is a bundle of technologies that

functions as a door to deliver the benefits of

interaction between the real world and digital world

to society in the field of advanced digital

transformation. It helps build a strong

biometric-based security gate at the entrance to

the digital world by using unique biological

information. Every individual therefore has as a

“key” which can be combined with multiple

biometric technologies as needed. This gate blocks

the entry of impersonators and cyber-attacks and

creates an environment where the advantage of

digital processing can be enjoyed to the fullest

without anxiety.

NEC calls its biometric technologies Bio-IDiom

and makes continuous efforts to deliver a wide

range of solutions that utilize biometrics in every

corner of society as a gate that connects the real

world with the digital world. This is a coined term

that combines part of the word “biometrics” and the

word “idiom,” which refers to a group of multiple

words put together to convey a particular meaning.

NEC expresses the concept of its biometric

solutions through the use of this word, that is,

NEC’s biometrics gather different biometric

technologies of its own in an intelligent way so as to

serve as a safe, secure, efficient, and fair tool to

secure interactions that take place in society

through the superior performance of individual

technologies.

Bio-IDiom builds a secure environment where

the benefit of digital processing can be enjoyed to

its maximum capability without anxiety over the

identification of every individual.

Bio-IDiom, a secure gate to the digital world


2. Social Value Creation and Future-Oriented Worldview

Biometrics Creates Social Value through

Building a Safe, Secure, Efficient, and Fair

Society

The world will be more unified if people are

connected by mutual trust born out of instant

identity authentication regardless of who it is.

This is the world NEC aims to build through

Bio-IDiom. We strongly believe in the ability of

biometrics to maximize the dynamism of

interactions between humans, things, and matters

when it provides instant and accurate identification.

Biometrics started its history from fingerprint

recognition and has progressed ever since. Yet,

more progress is to come in the future. We expect

the further expansion of technologies and scenes

where biometrics plays a practical role, and foresee

the contribution of biometrics to the resolution of

social issues in various fields.

To date, NEC has mainly provided its biometric

technologies for security control such as criminal

investigation, face recognition for watch-lists, and

immigration control to contribute to the safety and

security of society.

NEC also provides solutions used in

administration systems to build an efficient and fair

society through the detection of fraud, the

prevention of impersonation with the aim of

fraudulently receiving welfare funds, and the

improvement of public services.

We will enhance the ability of solutions to predict

possible incidents and to analyze future trends at a

higher accuracy through the development of a

system that integrates AI technology into

biometrics and collects and processes an even

larger amount of digital data.

Social value creation through Biometrics


2. Social Value Creation and Future-Oriented Worldview

Biometrics Achieve Security by

“Not hand over,” “Not have,” “Not wait,” and

“Not forget”

Biometrics is an indispensable technology as a

security gate to the digital world in the upcoming era

where digitization will advance even further. We see

biometrics as a technology for security functions, and

also see this technology as having the creativity and

potential for the creation of new values.

What values will biometrics create for society with

the advancement of digital transformation? Here

are four values proposed by NEC:

・”Not hand over”

Building mutual trust and sharing

information/goods without providing a physical key

Think about an occasion where you request a

baby-sitting service on the web-site of a sharing

business service. You will allow a visitor, who knocks on

the door of your house and identifies him/herself as the

babysitter, to come into your house and take care of

your baby. How do you identify this visitor as the

baby-sitter you requested through the web-site? Or will

you hand the replicable house key to this person?

Biometrics makes it possible for you to identify

the visitor as the person you expected to be visited

by and allows you to have confidence in him/her.

There is no need to hand the house key to the

visitor since the face of the babysitter can be

registered in the system and used as a one-time

key.

・”Not have”

Receiving a service without ID

The expansion of biometric applications will allow

people to receive various social services without presenting official certificates or seals. Even when the possession of any device to prove your identity is lost due to, for example, a serious disaster, you will still be able to receive services such as withdrawing money from your bank account using

your unique characteristics as a way to identify yourself.

・”Not wait”

Instant identification lets people access a

service without waiting

When you go to busy places such as an airport,

stadium, concert, or a popular theme park, you will

no longer wait in line, but will swiftly pass the

entrance gate and enjoy your activities without

losing time thanks to biometrics. NEC’s biometric

solutions feature a balanced combination of

accuracy and usability, such as walk-through face

recognition systems, which is effective in these

places. It eliminates any sort of ticket and quickly

and accurately identifies and screens people

passing through the gate.

・”Not forget”

Identification that stays with people all the time and provides an easy and protected feeling

Biometrics uses the biological information

possessed by every individual as a key. There is no

need to determine an ID code or password, nor a

chance of losing such important information. It

minimizes the risk of lost or leaked information.

Changing biometrics from a special thing to an “ordinary thing in daily life.” Creating a world where people carry

biological information without a second thought and use it for identification without

the need for special IDs



Over 700 Systems Operate in Over 70

Countries

NEC started its research into biometric

technologies in the 1970s. Since then, NEC

has worked mainly on fingerprint and face

recognition and took the global initiative in

the development of biometric technologies.

The biometric-based recognition

technologies from NEC are used at the

security frontline in various countries

around the world, mainly for criminal

investigation, immigration control, and

citizen ID systems to support the safety and

security of society.

In this chapter, we will introduce some of the

representative examples among a wealth of

introduction results. As of today, more than 700

systems have been adopted as new introductions or

replacements in more than 70 countries.

USA: LA County Sheriff’s Department

MBIS system

To ensure the security of the town through the

early solution to crime to become complicated, NEC

provides a Multimodal Identification Biometric

Solution for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's

Department (LASD) in the world, the County of Los

Angeles, the third-largest police agency in the

United States, the Los Angeles Police Department,

and 45 additional police departments in the County

of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's and

participating law enforcement staff have

successfully processed thousands of transactions,

including searches of previously unsolved latent

fingerprints (those left at the scene of the crime)

against the newly migrated database. In the first

seven days of operation, the new NEC system

uncovered 107 hits (matches of open cases with

known offenders), including two cold case

homicides, all of which have the potential to lead to

suspect arrests and case closure.

NEC’s Multimodal Identification Biometric

Solution supports the safety and security of LA

country.

JFK International Airport in the U.S.A.

Adopts Facial Recognition System for

Immigration Clearance Examination The number of international tourists arriving at

airports around the world will double from 940

million in 2010 to 1.81 billion in 2030*.

With the increased number of users, airports will

need to "speed up processing,” "improve customer

service," and "ensure security” at the same time.

In order to respond to these challenges, NEC

delivered a face recognition system for immigration

clearance at JFK airport in the U.S.A. The system

compares the image data of the face photograph

transmitted from the IC passport at the automatic

immigration clearance gate with the face image of

the traveler photographed with the camera

installed at the gate in real time, and judges

whether the traveler is exactly the person identified

by the passport with high accuracy.

This system is the culmination of NEC's expertise

accumulated through the results and outcomes of

its ICT systems adopted by many airports in more

than 50 countries and regions. The realization of an

airport terminal in which travelers come and go

without having to wait or being forced to wait in line

is just around the corner.

Immigration control Criminal Investigation


Note: UNWTO Tourism Towards 2030


Street Surveillance System to Ensure

Safety and Enhance the Tourism Value of

Tigre City in Argentina

Many domestic as well as international travelers

gather in Tigre City. The population of this city is

tripled on weekends compared to that of weekdays,

and the city faces many problems such as traffic

jams and a worsening security situation. Building

safe and secure infrastructure throughout the city is

important for both citizens and visitors.

To cope with this situation, the city government

installed about 1,000 surveillance cameras in major

places such as terminal stations of railroads and

ship port facilities to build a town-wide monitoring

system. NEC’s role was to develop a system that

processes large amounts of image data collected by

the cameras and identifying various dangers lurking

in the city in real time.

First, we developed a system that was capable of

comparing the image data from the cameras with

the face photographs of criminals and missing

persons registered on the Watch List database to

identify such persons quickly.

In addition to biometrics-based identification,

NEC’s image processing technologies integrally

incorporated in the system exercise various

functions to reduce crime, such as detecting people

riding double on a motorcycle, which often results

in a snatch-and-run offence, no-helmet motorcycle

driving that may lead to a fatal accident, suspicious

behavior and vehicles, and the identification of car

registration plates for finding stolen cars.

As a result, the security situation of Tigre City

was significantly improved. For example, car theft

was reduced by about 80%. Additionally, tourism

revenue has tripled as a secondary effect of this

solution. We proved that building a safe and secure

environment brought a lot of good things to the city.

Multi-Biometric System Manages 1.3

Billion IDs for People in India

In India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, it

has been a long-felt challenge to build a system

that identifies every single citizen equally so that

everyone can receive equitable social services.

NEC provides a Unique ID system that combines

multiple forms of biometrics to cope with this

situation. We developed a biometrics-based Unique

ID system which does not require document

controls and the submission of citizens’ ID numbers.

Instead, the system utilizes a highly accurate

multi-modal form of identification which combines

fingerprint recognition with face and iris

recognition.

The system prevents dual registration and

impersonation which used to occur for food rations,

job placement services, and tax payments.

Furthermore, we support the delivery of fair public

services and financial services to every citizen

through significantly simplified procedures.

Facial Recognition System to Support the

Safe Issuance of MyNumber Cards NEC developed a facial recognition solution that

will be used at the windows of 1,743 local public

bodies across Japan in response to the start of the

MyNumber card issuance scheduled in January

2016.

This solution ensures safe delivery of the cards by

preventing impersonation using face recognition

that compares the facial image of a card recipient

photographed by a camera at the counter with the

facial image registered to the MyNumber card.

Monitoring of streets and towns Prevention of impersonation

Public service improvement

Prevention of impersonation prevention


Identification Solution for Local Public

Bodies Utilizing Hybrid Finger

Identification and Face Recognition Here, we introduce an identification solution

system used by many local governments such as

Kadoma City, Matsudo City, Koshu City, and Hirono

Township.

In this system, personal identification is

completed instantly and accurately by hybrid finger

identification and facial recognition. A visitor puts

their fingers on the device and sits in front of the

screen to receive a service. The operation is that

simple. This simplicity ensures that the system

contributes to the improvement of work

productivity, not to mention service delivery to

citizens. IC cards were previously used for

identification. Now tasks to issue and control such

cards have been eliminated, accompanied by the

reduction of the risk of losing the cards.

We received many inquiries about this solution

with the start of the use of MyNumber cards.

Arrival of VIP Guests Is Notified by Facial

Recognition System at Lemon Tree Hotels

in India

Biometrics is effective for criminal investigations,

security, and the protection of information.

However, there are other places where biometrics

can be useful. Biometrics can be properly tuned to

fit to various purposes. The improvement of

customer services is one of those purposes.

Lemon Tree Hotels, a major hotel chain in India,

utilizes a facial recognition system to determine the

arrival of VIP guests.

The system is designed to recognize VIP guests

as well as suspicious persons in real time. Through

this system, even an employee with little work

experience at the hotel can recognize VIP guests

and provide a service fit to the taste of each guest.

It is a very effective solution especially in India

where the job change rate in the service industry is

high.

At Universal Studios Japan™, Facial

Recognition Welcomes Annual Pass

Holders

NEC's facial recognition system does its job in the

entertainment industry. The system we delivered to

Universal Studios Japan™ automates the reception

of annual pass holders.

All the pass holder has to do on arrival is to hold

the pass over the reader and look straight at the

identification monitor screen which takes only a

second or so. The system identifies the guest and

allows him/her to enter the park. It alleviates

congestion at entrance gates and enables smooth

entry.

In addition, the printing of a face photograph to

be attached to the surface of the card is no longer

necessary because of the introduction of facial

recognition. The system contributes to the

significant reduction of costs and necessary lead

time for the issuance of the card. Thanks to the

ability of biometrics, it also contributes to the

prevention of lost passes or use by other persons.

For annual pass holders, the system provides an

experience of “VIP treatment” whenever they come

by, letting them get through the gate only by

showing their faces.

Facial recognition system welcomes an

annual pass holder at the entrance gate NEC is an official marketing partner of Universal Studios JapanTM. TM & ©

Universal Studios. All rights reserved. CR18-○○○○

市民サービス向上


Face recognition for watch-lists




3. Outcomes of Social Value Creation Activities

Utilization of Facial Recognition for

Concert Ticket Issuance

We are experiencing widespread misconduct in

concert ticket sales, especially on tickets that are

difficult to obtain. Those who commit misconduct

obtain hot tickets and try to resell them at a price

far exceeding the regular price.

Measures have been taken against such ticket

scalping such as introducing the verification of

identification. However, some find a way around

these measures. This makes it possible for

purchasers to enter the concert venue through

borrowing and lending or the forgery of

identification documents. Thus, such misconduct

continues to occur and a new measure is

demanded.

NEC’s facial recognition-based identification

system has been adopted to solve this problem.

The face photo image of a purchaser must be

registered at the time of purchase. The system

photographs the face of a visitor at the entrance to

the concert venue and compares it with the

registered face photo image to verify whether it is

the original purchaser and denies entry if not. By

doing so, fraudulent ticket resales can be

prevented.

The system also contributes to smoothly guiding

visitors into the concert venue. It eliminates the

verification of photo IDs and reduces the time

necessary for all visitors to complete their entry

into the venue by up to 50% compared to a visual

face check by staff. We expect that this system will

be adopted by a wider range of events in the future

as it is capable of handling tens of thousands to

hundreds of thousands of people.

Walkthrough Facial Recognition System,

a Next-Gen Technology that Lets People

Pass by a Camera

In 2016, NEC conducted a demonstration

experiment of a next generation facial recognition

system with 1,000 employees of group companies

at its headquarters.

The "Walkthrough face recognition system" was

tested in this experiment. Face photo images of

participating employees were registered in a

database prior to the test. The feature of the

system was to photograph a person passing

through the gate without forcing him/her to stop in

front of the camera, and to compare the captured

photo image with those registered in the database

and to quickly identify any participants.

This system was introduced at the "Tokyo 2020

JAPAN HOUSE," which was opened during the Rio

de Janeiro 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Many companies have now introduced this system

for office/facility entry and exit control.

Next generation facial recognition

continuously works as people walk through a

gate without stopping




Facial Recognition-Based Payment

Authorization Eliminates Cash and Cards

NEC continuously works on the development of

payment authorization services using facial

recognition.

In 2016, we began a demonstration experiment

of the payment authorization system at shops

inside the NEC Group head office buildings and the

operation of the same system at the employee

cafeterias of Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Ltd. The

system identifies the customer by comparing the

photo image captured by the camera installed near

the POS register with the photo images of the

employees registered in the database prior to the

start of the operation, and authorizes the payment.

Through the actual use of the system, the

effectiveness of cashless and card-less payment

was evaluated.

NEC strives to develop our original payment

authorization system, which has rock-solid

accuracy in personal identification as well as

easy-to-use features, through continuous

verification and improvement of the system taking

account of operating conditions, identification

performance, and processing volume at different

types of stores and to deliver high quality systems

to customers.

Demonstration experiment at a shop in the

head office building

Impersonation prevention



NEC as a Pioneer in Biometrics, Boasting

More than 40 Years of R&D Efforts

NEC is the pioneer company of biometrics. It

started research and development of biometric

technologies ahead of other companies and R&D

institutes in the world and steadily continued its

effort, including the start of R&D on fingerprint

recognition in 1971 and facial recognition in 1989.

It has therefore always been a world-leading

company in this technical field. These technologies

with world-class accuracy have already been

incorporated in systems and adopted by many

organizations and bodies, mainly by police and

airports, all over the world, and are utilized to

create various social values mainly in safety and

security fields.

Looking ahead, NEC strives to realize multi-modal

identification that combines multiple identification

technologies and to provide higher values to society

in response to a wider range of needs and market

voice calls for even higher accuracy.

History of NEC’s efforts on biometrics


NEC’s Fingerprint and Facial Recognition

Are Proven to Have the World’s Leading

Accuracy Rate

Evaluations by third party bodies have proven

that NEC’s fingerprint recognition and facial

recognition technologies have the world’s leading

accuracy rate.

Our fingerprint recognition technology won first

place at the benchmark contest of fingerprint

recognition technology, held by the US government,

eight times in thirteen years from 2004*1. Its

superior accuracy has been continuously

demonstrated.

As for facial recognition technology, NEC won first

place in the Face Recognition Vender Test, a

benchmark contest for still images hosted by the

National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST), three times in a row. Furthermore, we won

first place with an overwhelming margin in high

accuracy in the Face In Video Evaluation (FIVE), a

benchmark contest to evaluate the accuracy of

video image recognition in 2017*2.

The best condition for facial recognition is when

the person to be identified stands in front of the

camera and looks straight at it with fully opened

eyes just like taking a photo for a photo ID.

However, such a condition is not necessarily

promised when it comes to the real environments in

which facial recognition is used.

For example, images sent from cameras on

streets often miss parts of faces or capture an

angled view. It is essential to achieve a high

accuracy in "non-cooperative authentication” that

is, recognizing the face of a pedestrian who is not

aware of being accurately photographed.

In the 2017 contest, we were able to demonstrate

the accuracy in this “identification without

awareness.” NEC’s facial recognition technology is

highly capable of the recognition of motion pictures,

and exercises its accurate performance even in

tough conditions for identification. Due to this

feature, it is used around the world as an

identification solution that has proven to be

"practically effective" in various scenes in society.

*1 FpVTE 2003 (Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation)

Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation 2004

ELFT 2007 (Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies)

PFT 2009 (NIST Proprietary Fingerprint Template Testing)

FpVTE 2012

PFT II 2013

MINEX 2016 (Minutiae Interoperbility EXchange Test)

MINEX III 2016

*2 MBGC 2009 (Multiple Biometric Grand Challenge）

MBE 2010 (Multiple Biometrics Evaluation)

FRVT 2013 (Face Recognition Vendor Test)

FIVE 2017 (Face In Video Evaluation)



Selecting the Technology with the Best

Fit or Intelligently Combining Multiple

Technologies

As we already explained in Section 1 regarding

NEC’s Biometric Brand Bio-IDiom, multiple

biometric technologies with world-class

performance are available at NEC.

Each individual identification technology is

referred to as modal (or mode, modality, etc.), and

has advantageous features such as ease of input,

accuracy, and acceptability to users. That is why it

is important to select optimal modals and use them

properly to deal with the problem at hand (see the

figure below).

Among them, the modalities that NEC focuses on

are those shown in the blue area in the figure.

These modalities combine convenience and

accuracy in a highly balanced manner.

Based on this design principle, we select and

combine identification technologies suited to the

needs of customers and society.

NEC biometric technology map


Multiple Modals Underlie the Strength of

NEC’s Identification Solutions

Here, we must acknowledge the fact that each

modality has "ambiguity" because identification

targets are living bodies. For example, some

modals may experience difficulties in the

recognition of the target under continuous change

in body and health conditions and in environmental

conditions; some modals may not be fit for use due

to unavoidable reasons such as illness.

Although we can fight against "impersonation"

and "malicious attacks" by using biometrics, the

possession of superior technologies alone cannot

secure the long-lasting security of a society when

considering the conceivable situation of endless

technology battles, such as what we see between

hackers and security vendors.

Acknowledging such issues, NEC designs

identification solutions of remarkably advanced

accuracy that intelligently combine different types

of biometric technologies to meet customers’ needs,

taking advantage of having developed multiple

biometric technologies, and provides them to

customers. For example, we offer multi-modal

identification (multi-factor identification)

technologies that combine facial recognition and

iris recognition, or finger vein recognition and voice

recognition. Herein lies the big advantage of NEC.

The system has already been in use in real world

environments. In India, our biometric solution was

adopted and integrated in the unique ID system

and achieved an extremely high accuracy rate by

combining fingerprint recognition with face and iris

recognition. This technology contributes to the

well-being of citizens in India (see page 8).

Furthermore, it is also possible to provide new

values that have never existed by combining

multiple identification technologies. For example, in

the near future, you will be able to purchase goods

and pay for it on the Internet and even process

financial transactions through rapidly spreading

smart speakers.

You should be able to utilize such useful tools with

a sense of security if you establish security fortified

by the combination of multiple technologies, such

as voice, face, and iris recognition.

NEC believes that our multi-modal identification

systems play a major role in building a solid

foundation for the advancement of innovative

products and services and adds new value to

society.

Multi-modal identification technology that integrates multiple identification technologies



NEC’s Biometric Bio-IDiom

Features of Individual Modalities

As explained in the section above, each

identification technology (modality) has different

characteristics. Therefore, it is important to

understand each characteristic well and to use

them properly. In this section, we explain the

features of each modality.

Facial recognition

This technology detects faces in various images

and analyzes features of the faces to identify people.

NEC established a brand called “NeoFace” for its

facial recognition-based solutions, which boast the

world’s leading accuracy rate*1, and markets them

for use by various types of users around the world.

Note 1: See note 2 on page 13

History of the development of facial

recognition technology in NEC

■Features ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

・Natural identification without making people

uneasy

A face is a physical characteristic that is used on a

daily basis to recognize others. Therefore, it is

natural and advantageous to use this

characteristic for personal identification as it will

not result in an uneasy feeling or have a

psychological impact on users.

・Contactless, no forced actions

A system with excellent convenience can be

realized since facial recognition does not require

users to do anything special such as pressing

their finger on a scanner.

・Excellent effect to prevent misconduct

Unlike other characteristics used in biometrics,

people naturally see the face of others without

any particular reason. Therefore, a double-check

effect of biometric identification and supervisors’

visual checks can be expected. In addition, an

excellent effect to prevent misconduct can be

expected since the facial image used for

identification can be kept in a record and stored

as a "face image log." This can be highly effective

to suppress fraud.

・No special device required

There is no need to prepare special hardware

since the system is designed to exercise its

performance with photo images captured by an

ordinary web camera. Existing facial photos can

also be used as images to be registered in the

database.


Iris recognition

The iris is the doughnut-shaped part of the eye

that spreads around the pupil in the center and has

a unique muscle pattern. Iris recognition is a

technology that identifies people by analyzing the

characteristics of this muscle pattern using near

infrared LED lighting and a camera.

As mentioned above, the iris has a pattern that is

unique to each individual. It is said that this pattern

is formed before two to three years of age and

never changes once it has been formed. It is

covered by the cornea and is not easily damaged,

which is another reason why the iris is suitable for

biometrics.

Iris of the human eye

■Features

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ・Highly accurate and high-speed technology

Iris recognition has outstanding accuracy among

Bio-IDiom's technologies, all of which boast the

world's leading identification accuracy. When an

appropriate environment is provided, it can be a

very effective modality because of its high

identification speed.

・Wide scope of applicability

Iris recognition can be used as long as eyes are

exposed to the camera. For example, users do

not have to take off masks or gloves. However, it

may not be able to perform its function when

users are wearing colored contact lenses.

・Contactless

A system with excellent convenience can be

realized since iris recognition does not require

users to do anything special such as pressing

their finger on a scanner.

・Powerful in dark places, weak under strong

external light

Iris recognition provides satisfactory

performance even in a dark place since it uses

near-infrared LED lighting and a camera. However,

it may not be able to perform its expected

function under strong external light. Iris

recognition is a technology that is best suited for

indoor application.



Fingerprint recognition,

Palm print recognition

Fingerprint recognition and palm print recognition

have the longest history among NEC's biometrics.

In 1971, NEC began its research on these

technologies ahead of other companies and has

been a global leader in R&D activities ever since.

The accuracy of these identification technologies

has gained high acclaim from the industry around

the world. Our fingerprint recognition technology

won first place at the benchmark contest of

fingerprint recognition technology, held by the US

government, eight times in thirteen years from

2004*.

The Automated Fingerprint Identification System

(AFIS), which was put into practice for criminal

investigations and has achieved a successful

performance (a world first), has become popularly

known as the standard name for this kind of system

around the world.

Fingerprints and palm prints are characteristics of

humans that never change and are never the same

among billions of people. As a result, they are

popularly utilized for various purposes such as

criminal investigations, immigration control, and

Unique ID systems as a dependable and accurate

personal identification method.

*Note: See the note 1 in page 13

■Features ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

・NEC’s technologies achieve high accuracy

and high speed

NEC achieves highly accurate and high-speed

identification taking advantage of its original

recognition technology which has a

"feature-relation approach." This approach also

contributes to achieving high security and privacy

protection since it extracts characteristic data,

which it can in no way reproduce the original

fingerprint from, and instead stores an image of

the entire fingerprint.

NEC’s original recognition technology and its

“features-relation approach”

・ Rich experience in actual environments

around the world

At NEC, a variety of knowledge has been

accumulated through its rich experiences in

systems operated around the world and is readily

available to respond to different issues. NEC

provides flexible solutions based on this

knowledge.

・ Data can be shared between different

systems

Data can be shared between different systems

since there are internationally unified standards

for fingerprint images, palm print images, and

data formats for fingerprint feature points data

formats. It also makes it easy to replace an

existing system with a new one.

・A dedicated device is required

A dedicated scanning device must be used.


Finger vein recognition

This is a technology that can detect a vein inside

a finger and analyzes its characteristics to identify a

person. It is used for financial institutions (ATMs,

for example) and PC log-in security as a technology

that is difficult to steal or forge.

NEC uses this technology in the world's first*

multi-modal identification technology, "Hybrid

finger identification," together with fingerprint

recognition. The advantage of this technology is

that the poor performance of fingerprint recognition

with a dry or wet finger can be complemented by

finger vein recognition. Additionally, unstable blood

flow does not cause any adverse effect to the

performance of fingerprint recognition. Each

technology complements each other so as to

achieve highly accurate personal identification.

Contactless hybrid finger scanner

Note: performance comparison with other

companies’ information by NEC at the time of the

release of this technology in 2011

■Features ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

・High accuracy and high speed recognition

technology

This technology provides highly accurate

identification which is equivalent to iris

recognition.

・Low risk of forgery

This is a modality with a low risk of forgery

because it uses the pattern of a finger vein, which

is invisible from the outside.

・Contactless

Unlike fingerprint recognition, finger vein

recognition does not require fingers to come into

contact with a scanner when performing

identification. It is a safer and more secure

technology because biological information does

not remain on the surface of the scanner, not to

mention the sanitary benefit it provides.

・Dedicated device is required

A dedicated scanning device must be used to

perform finger vein recognition.



Voice recognition

This is a technology that picks up voices using a

microphone, analyzes their characteristics, and

identifies people accordingly.

Until recently, it was not put into practical use

mainly due to poor performance in accuracy. The

situation has now been improved. It can provide

satisfactory identification performance with

changes in voice conditions if the change is within

the degree caused by a mild cold. In 2016, NEC

earned a top-ranking evaluation at the benchmark

evaluation SRE (Speaker Recognition Evaluation)

hosted by NIST*1.

We expect that this technology will be used in

smart speakers and call centers because

identification can be performed remotely via voice.

Comparing live voice with reference voice

data in the database

Note 1: National Institute of Standards and

Technology of U.S.A.

■Features ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

・Easy and simple operation

All the user has to do is speak into a microphone.

The system does everything else and performs

the identification. There is no need to be familiar

with the operation of a keyboard or smartphone.

・Contactless and can be performed remotely

This identification technology can be used even

through a phone line because it does not require a

contact and can be performed remotely.


This identification system can be performed while

moving or working. Wearing sunglasses or gloves

do not affect identification performance.

・No special device required

There is no need to prepare special hardware

since the technology is designed to exercise its

performance with voice data captured by a

smartphone or tablet.

・Language does not matter

This technology can be used by anyone no matter

what language he/she speaks because it analyzes

speech, not language.

・Robust to environmental changes

Its robustness to the variation of conditions such

as lighting, angle, and the position of the

measuring devices is another advantage of this

technology.


Ear acoustic authentication

Ear acoustic authentication is NEC’s original

biometric technology that utilizes the shape of a

person’s ear hole. The shape of the ear hole is

unique to every individual. NEC developed this

technology in collaboration with Nagaoka University

of Technology. It analyzes the echo of sound using a

hearable device (microphone-integrated

earphone).

Many applications can be devised using the

hearable device and this biometric technology, such

as controlling a gate according to the result of

identification, sending useful information to

identified persons in real time, and triggering the

operation of networked equipment according to

uttered words. NEC expects to develop many

practical applications of this technology.

In addition, the hearable device is equipped with

a nine-axis motion sensor which is capable of

detecting a person’s position in a building and the

direction of movement. NEC plans to add a vital

sensor in the future so that the location and motion

of persons who wear the hearable sensor can be

monitored in real time by combining the outputs of

ear acoustic authentication, the nine-axis motion

sensor, and the vital sensor. More specifically, ear

acoustic authentication determines who it is, the

nine-axis motion sensor determines where each

individual is, and the vital sensor determines what

conditions they are in. Having these types of

information available can improve work efficiency in

a factory or a hospital, and workers can be

safeguarded from hazardous risks.

Operation mechanism of ear acoustic

authentication

■Features |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ・High accuracy and high speed authentication

Highly accurate and stable authentication can be

done instantly (within one second).

・Contactless, no forced actions

Authentication can be performed whenever

necessary without users having to do anything

special or feeling as if they are being observed.


This identification can be performed while moving

or working. Wearing sunglasses or gloves do not

hinder the identification performance.

・Low risk of forgery

Forgery of the shape of the ear hole is almost

impossible because it is invisible from the outside.

Even if the hearable device is stolen, the

confidentiality of the communication can be

secured because only the person who cleared the

authentication can hear the communication.

・High affinity with the real world

The hearable device is a wearable device worn in

the ear. It does not interrupt vision, block a

screen, or the like. As a result, it has a high

affinity with the real world and never interferes

with the communication and work of people.

Documents

White Paper on the Biometrics Brand Bio-IDiom · biometrics has spread to a variety of fields as a reliable security technology to contribute to a safe and secure society. NEC Leads