What is claimed is:
1. A method for identity verification comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of travel data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of travel data; and
(c) determining if the user is a given individual based the results of step (a) and step (b).
2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of travel data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of travel data.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
(d) comparing at least one third spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of alias data against a stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of alias data, wherein step (c) further comprises determining if the user is a given individual based on step (d).
5. The method of claim 4, wherein step (d) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of alias data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending out an alert if the user is determined not to be a given individual in step (c).
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising informing the user to proceed to a boarding area, if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising informing the user to board if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is implemented in a computer system.
12. A machine readable medium storing instructions that, if executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to perform a set of operations comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of travel data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of travel data; and
(c) determining if the user is a given individual based the results of step (a) and step (b).
13. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
14. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of travel data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of travel data.
15. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of operations further comprises the step of:
(d) comparing at least one third spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of alias data against a stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of alias data, wherein step (c) further comprises determining if the user is a given individual based on step (d).
16. The machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein step (d) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of alias data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
17. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of instructions further comprises sending out an alert if the user is determined not to be a given individual in step (c).
18. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of instructions further comprises informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
19. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of instructions further comprises informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
20. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of instructions further comprises informing the user to proceed to a boarding area, if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
21. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said set of instructions further comprises informing the user to board if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
22. A computer system implementing a method for identity verification comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of travel data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of travel data; and
(c) determining if the user is a given individual based the results of step (a) and step (b).
23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
24. The computer system of claim 22, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of travel data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of travel data.
25. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises the step of:
(d) comparing at least one third spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of alias data against a stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of alias data, wherein step (c) further comprises determining if the user is a given individual based on step (d).
26. The computer system of claim 25, wherein step (d) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of alias data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
27. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises sending out an alert if the user is determined not to be a given individual in step (c).
28. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
29. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises informing the user to proceed with the user’s travel plans if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
30. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises informing the user to proceed to a boarding area, if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
31. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said method further comprises informing the user to board if the user is determined to be a given individual in step (c).
32. A method for controlling the use of an object comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of object identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of object identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said object based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
33. The method of claim 32, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
34. The method of claim 32, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of object identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
35. The method of claim 32, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
36. The method of claim 32, wherein said object comprises an electronic device.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein said object comprises a portable electronic device.
38. The method of claim 36, wherein said object comprises a hand held electronic device.
39. The method of claim 32, wherein said object comprises a vehicle.
40. The method of claim 32, wherein said object comprises a test.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein said test comprises a test printed on paper.
42. The method of claim 40, wherein said test comprises an electronic test.
43. A machine readable medium storing instructions that, if executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to perform a set of operations comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of object identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of object identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said object based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
44. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
45. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of object identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
46. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
47. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein said object comprises an electronic device.
48. The machine readable medium of claim 47, wherein said object comprises a portable electronic device.
49. The machine readable medium of claim 47, wherein said object comprises a hand held electronic device.
50. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein said object comprises a vehicle.
51. The machine readable medium of claim 43, wherein said object comprises a test.
52. The machine readable medium of claim 51, wherein said test comprises a test printed on paper.
53. The machine readable medium of claim 51, wherein said test comprises an electronic test.
54. A computer system implementing a method for controlling access to an object comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of object identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of object identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said object based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
55. The computer system of claim 54, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
56. The computer system of claim 54, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of object identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
57. The computer system of claim 54, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
58. The computer system of claim 54, wherein said object comprises an electronic device.
59. The computer system of claim 58, wherein said object comprises a portable electronic device.
60. The computer system of claim 58, wherein said object comprises a hand held electronic device.
61. The computer system of claim 54, wherein said object comprises a vehicle.
62. The computer system of claim 54, wherein said object comprises a test.
63. The computer system of claim 62, wherein said test comprises a test printed on paper.
64. The computer system of claim 62, wherein said test comprises an electronic test.
65. A method for controlling the use of a service comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of service identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of service identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said service based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
66. The method of claim 65, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
67. The method of claim 65, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of service identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
68. The method of claim 65, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
69. The method of claim 65, wherein said service comprises at least one medical service.
70. The method of claim 65, wherein said method is implemented in a computer system.
71. A machine readable medium storing instructions that, if executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to perform a set of operations comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of service identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of service identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said service based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
72. The machine readable medium of claim 71, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
73. The machine readable medium of claim 71, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of service identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
74. The machine readable medium of claim 71, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
75. The machine readable medium of claim 71, wherein said service comprises at least one medical service.
76. A computer system implementing a method for controlling access to a portable electronic device comprising the steps of:
(a) comparing at least one first spoken voice print of a user speaking at least one piece of personal data against a first stored voice print of the user speaking said at least one piece of personal data;
(b) comparing at least one second spoken voice print of the user speaking at least one piece of service identification data against a second stored voice print of the user speaking said piece of service identification data; and
(c) determining if the user is allowed to use said service based on the results of steps (a) and (b).
77. The computer system of claim 76, wherein step (a) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of personal data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of personal data.
78. The computer system of claim 76, wherein step (b) comprises comparing first spoken voice prints of at least two pieces of service identification data against respective stored voice prints of the user speaking each of said pieces of alias data.
79. The computer system of claim 76, wherein said personal data comprises at least one portion of the user’s name.
80. The computer system of claim 76, wherein said service comprises at least one medical service.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method to detect, characterize and classify a particle comprising:
controlling a light source and an ultrasound transducer to irradiate the particle with light and an ultrasound pulse;
determining a feature associated with the particle by processing ultrasound data resulting from the particle being irradiated; and
comparing the feature to a reference to determine at least one property of the particle.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the feature comprises a power spectrum of the particle.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the feature comprises one or more of an amplitude and an intensity of a pressure wave received by the ultrasound transducer.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a light-based analysis technique to assist in determining the feature of the particle.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the light-based analysis technique comprises one or more of photoacoustics, fluorescence, light scattering, spatially localized light scattering, light transmission and absorbance.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound transducer is configured to measure one or more of a photoacoustic wave and a pressure wave resulting from irradiation of the particle by the light and the ultrasound pulse.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the ultrasound data comprises data received from the ultrasound transducer when the ultrasound transducer is measuring the one or more of a photoacoustic wave and a pressure wave.
8. The method of claim 2, wherein the reference comprises one or more of a control power spectrum and a theoretical model power spectrum.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the theoretical model power spectrum is based on one or more of an ultrasound scattering model, photoacoustic generation model or a finite element model.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound data comprises data resulting from detecting one or more of a photoacoustic pulse and an ultrasound pulse.
11. The method of claim 2, wherein the ultrasound data is processed to determine characteristics in a range of about 100 MHz to about 1000 MHz of the power spectrum.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound pulse is in a range of about 100 MHz to about 1000 MHz.
13. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the feature comprises applying a Fast Fourier Transform (FTT) to the ultrasound data.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound data is received from at least one transducer which in turn measures a received ultrasound pulse from the particle and converts the received ultrasound pulse to the ultrasound data.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one transducer comprises one or more of the ultrasound transducer and a further ultrasound transducer.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound data is indicative of one or more of an ultrasound wave and a scattered ultrasound wave produced when the particle is irradiated.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the light source and the ultrasound transducer to irradiate the particle comprises alternately irradiating the particle with one of the light and the ultrasound pulse and then the other of the light and the ultrasound pulse.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the particle comprises one or more of a solid particle, a solid spherical particle, a liquid particle, a liquid spherical particle and a gas particle.
19. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one property comprises one or more of a size, an orientation, a morphology and a composition of the particle.
20. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one property comprises one or more of a type, a count and a state of the particle.
21. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a laser.
22. A computing device to detect, characterize and classify a particle, comprising:
a processing unit and a memory device, the processing unit enabled to:
receive the input data and control a light source and an ultrasound transducer to irradiate the particle with light and an ultrasound pulse based on the input data,
determine a feature associated with the particle by processing ultrasound data resulting from the particle being irradiated, and
compare the feature to a reference stored at the memory device to determine at least one property of the particle.
23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the feature comprises a power spectrum of the particle.
24. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the feature comprises one or more of an amplitude and an intensity of a pressure wave received by the ultrasound transducer.
25. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the ultrasound transducer is configured to measure one or more of a photoacoustic wave and a pressure wave resulting from irradiation of the particle by the light and the ultrasound pulse.
26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the ultrasound data comprises data received from the ultrasound transducer when the ultrasound transducer is measuring the one or more of a photacoustic wave and a pressure wave.
27. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the ultrasound pulse is in a range of about 100 MHz to about 1000 MHz.
28. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the determination of the feature comprises applying a Fast Fourier Transform (FTT) to the ultrasound data.
29. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the ultrasound data is received from at least one transducer which in turn measures a received ultrasound pulse from the particle and converts the received ultrasound pulse to the ultrasound data.
30. The computing device of claim 29, wherein the at least one transducer comprises one or more of the ultrasound transducer and a further ultrasound transducer.
31. The computing device of claim 22, wherein control of the light source and the ultrasound transducer to irradiate the particle comprises alternately irradiating the particle with one of the light and the ultrasound pulse and then the other of the light and the ultrasound pulse.
32. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the light source comprises a laser.