Biometric customer identification

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US Patent 6554705 - Passive biometric customer identification and tracking system


The digital or video camera 20' acquires an image of the person's face and sends that signal to the host processor 29. The acquired image may be digitized or processed, as suggested in Lambert U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,522 to isolate the person's face from any background images. The host processor 29 at 38 compares the acquired digital image of the person's face to the facial identification data entries 28a-d stored in the FID library 26. As suggested in FIG. 2, if the acquired image substantially corresponds to a stored image entry, the identified player's account file, shown as account file 30a, is placed into an open condition to receive the parameter of play from the gaming device 34 being played by the player. A signal 40 is transmitted from the device 34 indicative of the desired parameter of play. As illustrated in FIG. 2, this desired parameter of play may be the wagers made by the player at the device 34. In a known manner, each time the player makes a wager at the device 34, a data signal is generated indicative of the amount of the wager. Thus, as a player inputs coins or tokens into the device 34 to play, signals 40 are issued to the host processor 29. The host processor 29 at 42 allocates the parameter of play, e.g. wagers or portions thereof or points related to the amounts wagered (hereinafter referred to as points), to the opened data file 30a which has been opened for the identified player. In this fashion, data corresponding to the player's accrued points can be assigned to the identified players account file 30a.