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Oki mobilises iris scanner software

Whole new meaning to eye phone...

Oki has been eyeballing the mobile phone market and witnessed an opportunity for increased security. As a result, it has developed an iris recognition software that may help ensure undesirables are prevented access from our most cherished communications devices.

Although technical details are still somewhat scarce, the Japanese electronics firm's software prototype is based on its belief that because most mobiles now have built-in cameras, why not harness them to clamp down security on our most beloved communications devices even further. Oki also believes the software could prove useful for PDAs.

Oki_iris
You eyeballing me mister..?!

Oki's software package is based on an iris recognition algorithm that it claims fits around your mobile’s camera, without it using up great swathes of your phone’s processing capacity. The software itself requires around 200KB of your phone’s memory, with around a further 200KB memory when in operation.

The software does require a mobile with a camera ability of at least 1-megapixel, and takes around 0.5s to authenticate an iris, but Oki claims faster checks would be possible with a beefier CPU.

Oki_iris2
Whole new meaning to eye phone...

The software is compatible with Windows Mobile 2003, XP and Symbian operating systems, the latter of which is commonplace on Nokia handsets including the N70. However, Oki claims it that future compatibility with Linux and Brew may be possible.

Oki expects to begin shipping the software later this month, though availability and pricing is yet to be announced. Watch this space.

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