Bioscrypt Inc. is a leading provider of advanced fingerprint technology with over 35,000 fingerprint readers currently installed. The company's solutions combine the convenience of touch with the high security of fingerprint-based biometrics for simple and secure access to facilities, equipment and information.

Under the Bioscrypt on Board™ brand, the company offers packaged products, OEM components and software licensing to leading security solution manufacturers and integrators worldwide for physical, wireless and network security applications. Among the many cutting-edge companies and partners using Bioscrypt technology are the U.S. Army, NASA, Continental Airlines, Intel, Atmel, HID Corporation, Honeywell and Northern Computers.

Bioscrypt's patented technology is interoperable with leading fingerprint sensors and is both platform and operating system independent. Bioscrypt is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol BYT.

Bioscrypt Inc. is a combination of two established companies: Mytec Technologies Inc. and Biometric Identification, Inc.

Employees at Bioscrypt Inc. represent many years of expertise in the fields of biometrics and security. Due to the strength of their team, the Company was a pioneer in the use of the biometrics for secure applications. Bioscrypt Inc. invented the concept of binding a user's credentials, such as a password or PIN, to a biometric, which was called Bioscrypt. The concept of binding a user's credentials to a biometric has been incorporated into industry standard application programming interfaces (API's) such as BioAPI and CDSA/HRS.

Bioscrypt's verification library, Bioscrypt Core, is a sophisticated, state-of-the-art algorithm for comparing fingerprint images. It is at the heart of all Bioscrypt product offerings and is also available for license.

Bioscrypt Core is proven technology. It is the engine behind the over 50,000 Bioscrypt physical access products that have been deployed to organizations such as NASA, E*Trade, and Continental Airlines. It is at the heart of over 100,000 Network Access stations, including Targus fingerprint capture devices. Additionally, Bioscrypt Core has been selected by various fingerprint sensor manufacturers such as Atmel, Authentec and Fidelica, and application developers such as Indivos and Sense Technologies.

The Bioscrypt Core algorithm was originally developed along with Areté Associates, a defence research company with over 25 years of experience in image processing, noise reduction, and pattern recognition associated with advanced sensor systems in use by the U.S. Department of Defence. The fundamental approach applied to developing this technology was to make the most accurate and complete comparison possible.

Bioscrypt Core has been specifically designed to be portable and has been successfully deployed on numerous operating systems and processing architectures. The library is available under Windows, Windows CE, and Linux, as well as for many popular Digital Signal Processors. The Bioscrypt team has extensive experience with both PC and embedded software development. Over the past six years Bioscrypt has developed products using Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, and Motorola DSPs.

Bioscrypt Core has three primary functions: Enroll, Verify, and Identify.

Enrollment is the process of registering a user. The Enroll function accepts a raw image delivered directly from a sensor. The image is processed, enhanced, and compressed to create a fingerprint template. The template is returned, along with image statistics reflecting the quality of the enrollment. Subsequent verifications and identifications compare live-scan images to previously enrolled templates.

Verification is performed in order to validate a user¹s identity. It consists of comparing a raw candidate image to a previously enrolled template. A score is returned indicating the similarity of the candidate and template. This score can be compared to a threshold to make a yes/no decision.

Identification consists of comparing a raw candidate image to a list of previously enrolled templates. Through a series of screening processes, the algorithm narrows the list of templates to a manageable size. Those templates surviving screening are compared to the candidate and verification scores are provided. A score exceeding a pre-set threshold indicates a positive identification.

Bioscrypt Core employs a pattern-based approach to fingerprint comparison. This comparison technique is performed in two fundamental blocks: Image Enhancement and Distortion Removal.

In each instance that a finger is applied to a fingerprint device, the ridge pattern exhibits a different degree of distortion. The key to accurate comparison of the ridge pattern is the ability to ascertain and then remove the relative distortion between the fingerprint template and the candidate fingerprint image.

In contrast to Bioscrypt's pattern-based approach, the vast majority of fingerprint matching techniques currently employed use a minutiae-based approach. Within this approach, the fingerprint is reduced to a short list of detail points (ridge endings, bifurcations, bridges, etc). Generally, all other information from the fingerprint is eliminated. For verification, the minutiae list from the candidate is compared to the list from the template and a decision is made based on the amount of overlap.

The accuracy of Bioscrypt Core has been evaluated by a variety of sensor manufacturers and other organisations. The results of these evaluations consistently show that Bioscrypt is the industry leader in algorithm accuracy.

One specific independent evaluation was FVC2002; The Second International Fingerprint Verification Competition. This competition attracted 31 entrants from around the world, including 20 algorithms from the biometrics industry and seven algorithms from academic institutions.

To demonstrate our versatility, Bioscrypt chose to submit two versions of Core to the competition – one focused on accuracy and the other on speed.

Combined, Bioscrypt’s two submissions won 19 of the 24 Gold Medals awarded and placed first and second in the official ranking.