Francie Diep
NBC TechNewsDaily
No two people look at the world in the same way — literally. When looking at a picture, different people will move their eyes among points of interest in different sequences, researchers have found. Even if two people trace the same paths, the exact way they move their eyes differs. That’s why Oleg Komogortsev, a computer scientist at Texas State University-San Marcos, is looking to create a system that can identify people by the way they flicker their eyes while looking at a computer screen.
“We are seeing there are enough differences so we can talk about this as a biometric,” Komogortsev told TechNewsDaily. A biometric is a measurement of something on the body — fingerprints, for instance — used to identify people. Computer scientists all over the world are studying biometrics for crime solving, for border security, and just as a high-tech way to sign into smartphones, tablets and other devices.
Komogortsev’s research is in its earliest stages and needs years of work before it might show up at airports, high-security workplaces or even home computers. However, he thinks eye movements could be part of the next generation of a more established biometric, iris scans, which are already used in some airports and private companies, and in a countrywide ID effort in India.