User Enrollment

Written by James Childers | 06 May 2010

Enrolling Users in the iGuard System

Enrollment of Fingerprint

Fingerprint enrollment is to register a fingerprint template for later recognition. A good enrollment is crucial for all reliable fingerprint recognition systems, including the iGuard.

iGuard takes advantage of the advanced DFX (Difficult Fingerprint Extraction) technology (originally developed by Bell Labs USA), which works accurately with most people's fingerprint images. iGuard can achieve an exceptionally low falserejection-rate of less than 1 %.

However, as individuals, our hands have different levels of moisture. In some cases, iGuard may have difficulty in recognizing specific users' fingerprint images, most commonly, people with dry skin. The problem is more noticeable during the enrollment process since the sensor requires a more accurate and higher quality fingerprint image than the normal verification process. The easiest way to get
around this problem is to apply a small amount of moisturizing lotion on our fingers during the enrollment process. This step is only required in the enrollment stage, and will not be needed in daily verification process.

In the case of poor fingerprint quality or dry finger, iGuard will ask you if you want to lower the matching security. A low security level will bring more convenience to the user but with a minor sacrifice of security. We recommend to choose low security only for time attendance application.

Each person must register two fingers: one as the primary and the other one as the secondary. In case that the primary finger is not suitable for verification such as when the finger is hurt, the person can use his/her secondary finger for the authentication process.

During the process, each fingerprint image is captured three times for minutiae analysis and extraction. If the quality of any one of the three images is not good enough, you will be asked to re-capture the three images again.

It is suggested to use your two thumbs as your primary and secondary fingers. It is because your thumbs are usually bigger and can cover the scanner area better.

During the enrollment process, you must position the center of your fingerprint of your thumb to the center of the fingerprint sensor. The center of the fingerprint contains the most minutia points from which the fingerprint sensor can extract.  A good fingerprint image captured during the enrollment process can significantly reduce the false-reject rate during later verification.

The following steps show you how to register the user's fingerprint template:

Enabling Automatch

This feature enables the device to identify a person without requiring the user to first enter his/her user ID, and must be turn on via the Internet browser, as described in the next section. All that needs to be done is to present your enrolled finger to the sensor and wait for it to match your fingerprint template with stored templates. Once a match is made, the door opens and the system will then return to the standby mode.

The maximum number of users allowed to access the iGuard using automatch is recommended to be limited to 30 users. This is due to the fact that the iGuard would require some time to process the fingerprint and then search for it across ALL the database stored on your iGuard. It is therefore recommended that the automatch feature is left for top management and the rest of staff can use ID plus Fingerprint for access. Also, user with poor fingerprint quality shall not use automatch.

Enrollment with Smart Card (for Models with Smart Card reader)

The user has to be created prior to use this function either the fingerprint is enrolled or the password is added.  After the enrollment procedure, the user ID and the fingerprint template is stored in the internal memory.

Please note that only one (the primary ) fingerprint template is stored on the smart card.

The following steps illustrate how to write the user information to a Smart Card:

Please note that the above procedure will overwrite all the existing informationstored in the Smart Card.

Registering an existing Smart Card

The first time a user accesses a remote unit in a remote branch with this smartcard, the user must register the Card to this unit.  In addition, after registering the system administrator must also assign the departments the user belongs to, to grant the user the access rights required.  After that, the user can use his/her card to access the remote unit same as the one in his/her own branch.  The registration procedure reads the user information from the Smart Card, and stores the information in the Smart Card Memory of the internal user database.

The procedure is done via the Function 0 in the Setup menu, and is illustrated in the following steps:

Verification with Fingerprint

The device uses the enrolled fingerprint information to identify the person.  The verification process is very straightforward, and is illustrated in the following steps:

Note: there is another feature called Auto-Match, which allows the user to access the device without the need to enter his/her ID first.

Verification with Automatch

The automatch feature allows users to get authorized without inputting their user ID. This feature allows top management to enter the premises without having to enter their ID, enable them quicker access and giving them high convenience.

Verification with Smart Card

The procedure for authenticating using smart card is simple and straightforward, and it is illustrated in the following steps:

Verification with Password

Suspending Resuming User

You can temporary suspend a user ID. This is useful if you want to temporary stop a user from getting into your business premises, and you may want to resume his access right later on. This is done via the function “Inactive ID" in the function menu, and it is illustrated in the following steps: