As supplied with Biometrics - Advanced Identity Verification
by Julian Ashbourn
Installation
It is recommended that you install the various utilities into the default directories, which on a Microsoft
Windows 95 / 98 platform will be C:\Program Files\JSoft\ followed by a folder of the application name. The
installation routine will automatically install all the relevant files onto your computer. For certain
applications it will also install the Borland Database Engine (BDE) files into a directory named C:\Program
Files\Borland\Common Files\BDE. Do not modify or delete any of these files as they are required by the
JSoft applications. If your computer already has a BDE installed (for example if you use dBase or
Paradox) then new aliases will be added to it automatically to accommodate the JSoft applications. If you
wish to remove any of the JSoft programs please do so using the Add/Remove Programs utility in the
Windows Control Panel. This will ensure that all the relevant files are cleanly removed from your
This is an application that may be used in a number of ways.
For example, you may decide to use BioTrack 3 purely as
an advanced personnel database which has the ability to
produce photo identity badges right from the main program,
as well as producing a number of related preformatted
reports from the integral report generator. However,
BioTrack 3 really comes into its own when you
connect it up to a suitable biometric reader. When thus
configured, it will act as a powerful database for
transactions captured from the reader. In addition, BioTrack
will automatically display the photograph and name of a
valid user in real time as they use the biometric device. In
fact, BioTrack 3 is not limited to use with biometric readers,
but may be used with existing access control devices, smart
card readers, keypads, in fact anything which can output an
RS232 ASCII character stream may be connected to
BioTrack 3. This is because of the programs unique ability
to allow you to parse an incoming serial data stream and
designate which portions of the stream comprise of the user
number, the reader number, result flag and other
information. If the device that you connect to BioTrack 3 is
itself a network master, then you will be able to collect
transaction information from any reader on the network. An
example of this would be when using a network of the ID3D
hand geometry biometric readers, with the last reader in the
chain configured as the network master and set to output an
RS232 stream (in this case the serial printer output) to
BioTrack. In such a setup, you will be able to generate
reports by reader as required. In fact, BioTrack 3 can
generate a wide number of pre formatted reports with just a
simple button click. These reports may be viewed on
screen,
saved to file for subsequent analysis, or printed out on your
standard Windows printer. In addition to these reports, there
is a separate live transaction window which can display
transactions in real time. Naturally, you have full control
over com port selection and also com port parameters such
as baud rate, parity and so on. There is even a
communications terminal which acts as a window on to your
PC’s communication ports so that you can see exactly what
data is arriving at the PC. There is in fact much more to
BioTrack 3 than can be covered here. The best way to
discover the full potential of the program is to set it up on
your PC and experiment from there. If you are going to use
it in conjunction with existing tokens such as chip cards or
traditional access control cards, then remember to use the
token number as the user number in the BioTrack 3
database. If the device you are connecting to allows you to
configure user numbers yourself, then of course it doesn’t
The JSoft Biometric Companion is a most useful utility for
those interested in biometrics and who want to conduct their
own research or perhaps run a pilot scheme. It is in fact a
multi faceted application that starts off with a document
management system. There are a selection of interesting
articles on biometrics already included in the document
database, but it doesn’t stop there! You may edit or notate
any of these existing documents, import additional
documents or indeed write your own papers or notes and
store them in the database. For example, if you attend
technical conferences or symposiums you may like to place
your document notes into the Biometric Companion. Each
document may be given a title and an authors name for
identification and, as the default file format is RTF (rich text
format) graphics may also be incorporated. This
functionality alone would make the Companion a most
useful utility, but there is much more! For example, it would
be useful to have somewhere to store details of various
product vendors that may be of interest to you, would it not?
Well, the Companion includes a fully featured vendor
database that allows you to do just that. You can even place
the vendors into categories such as those specialising in
fingerprint biometrics or voice verification for example. You
may edit this category list yourself and add as many
categories as you like. Would you like to see a quick list of
contact names and phone numbers? No problem, just click
on the List button and the Companion will display such a list,
sorted by category for easy reference. Do you have a
modem in your PC? If so, select the appropriate vendor
from the drop down list and click on the Call button and the
Companion will automatically dial the vendors number for
you. Want to print out a list of vendors names and
addresses? No problem, just ask the Companion. You can
also attach free form notes (as long as
you like) to each vendor record in the database. The
Biometric Companion has yet another useful module to help
you with your biometric project and that is the Project
Manager section. In this module you may identify and track
a number of projects. Each main project can be assigned a
number of tasks, each of which have a scheduled start date
and end date. You may add free form notes both to the main
project and also to each task. In addition, you may assign
personnel to each task and also schedule the number of
days you expect them to spend on it. Where do these
personnel details come from? The Personnel database of
course! This enables you to list all of your in house
personnel together with their department and contact
details. A single button click in this section will have the
Companion automatically calling either their office or mobile
phone automatically. Once you have experimented a little
JSoft Capture is a clever utility which will appeal especially
to those involved with product testing, hardware design and
development or indeed to maintenance and installation
engineers. Those who need to connect to a variety of
RS232 devices will appreciate that setting up a computer
each time for this can be a somewhat long winded
procedure, especially if the output specification of the device
in question is not well documented. Wouldn’t it be nice if
your computer
could remember every such device that you ever connected
to and store these settings for instant recall? Well, now it
can with the addition of JSoft capture which gives you
unprecedented control over your PC’s com ports. With JSoft
Capture you can store thousands of named individual
RS232 profiles with any combination of port number, baud
rate, parity settings, stop bits and other criteria, for instant
recall. You can imagine how much time this could save in
your development labs. But this is not all. With Capture, not
only can you store the com port configurations, but you can
store the data stream details of every device you connect to
with a named profile for subsequent recall. You want more?
OK! Having stored the com port parameters and device
parameters, Capture now allows you to connect up and start
logging transactions from the connected device. You just
parse the data stream in order to match pertinent data
blocks with the Capture database fields and the program will
automatically write each transaction as a database record
for you. You can view this on a live transaction screen if you
wish, or just let Capture do the work for you in the
background and then print a report afterwards. How do you
know what the data stream looks like if you don’t have the
manufacturers specifications? Easy, you just connect up to
Captures integral terminal window and watch it come in to
your PC. If you are getting more data output than can be
easily seen on one screen, you can additionally capture the
output to a text file and analyse it from there. Having used
JSoft Capture you will not want to be without it if you are in
any way involved with RS232 devices. As with the other
One of the perennial problems with biometric devices and
systems is to reconcile the manufacturers quoted
performance specifications with those experienced under
real world operating conditions. The User Psychology Index
is an interesting utility which allows you to more accurately
predict device performance under real world conditions. It
achieves this by taking the manufacturers quoted equal
error rate as a starting point and then applying a series of
weightings according to selections you make under various
real time environmental and operational headings. Whilst
this may sound a little complicated, it is in fact a delightfully
easy program to use as it is presented in the format of a
wizard which guides the user through each phase. All you
need to do is select the appropriate parameter from a drop
down list on each page of the dialogue and the User
Psychology Index will attend to the behind the scenes work
for you. At the end of the process, simply click on the
calculate button and a new equal error rate will be
calculated for you based upon the settings you have made.
You may then print this out for a hard copy record with a
single button click. This facilitates the creation of a number
of ‘what if’ scenarios with different combinations of settings
in the various dialogue tabs. Correct use of the User
Psychology Index will also prove invaluable when designing
a biometric system, as the user can predict the affect of
different environmental conditions and user attitudes upon
the base performance figure as quoted by the manufacturer.
Although the User Psychology Index is a simple concept,
there has in fact been a great deal of work applied to the
weightings which are constructed automatically by the
application. These are based upon more than a decade of
direct experience across a variety of biometric systems and
methodologies. Whilst no program can absolutely
accurately predict the performance you will encounter within
your particular biometric system, the User Psychology Index
will probably produce a far more realistic figure than is
suggested by the device manufacturer.
Whilst this utility was originally conceived and produced for
the application developer community, it will probably prove
just as useful in many everyday office related scenarios.
The Programmers Notepad is a small footprint text editor
that you can easily leave running concurrently with other
programs and use to view or edit text files accordingly.
However, the Programmers Notepad has some unusual
functionality in this respect. Firstly, the File Finder module
allows you to select files in the left hand pane of a window
whilst viewing their contents in the right hand pane. This
allows you to quickly verify the contents of the file before
loading it into the Notepad. You will also find that the
Notepad can open and save files in a variety of different
formats including plain text, rich text, Microsoft Word and
various other file formats. In addition, the Notepad can even
open and play .avi video files in the same window, making it
a most useful utility for studying demonstration or training
material of this format. Those who prefer a different
presentation when working with text can also change the
background page colour to any colour available on their
system and contrast the text colour accordingly. Whilst the
Programmers Notepad has greatly enhanced functionality
compared with other text editors, it is nevertheless
extremely easy to use and will prove invaluable in many
everyday situations.
The BioAPI is a generic API (Application Programming
Interface) for biometrics which allows developers to easily
port different manufacturers BioAPI compliant devices to
their particular software via the use of common function
calls and routines. The BioAPI specification was drawn up
by the BioAPI Consortium and version 1.00 was published
in March 2000. The full and most current version of the
specification may be downloaded from the BioAPI web site
on http://www.bioapi.org.
As the (version 1.00) specification document is 114 pages in
length, it was considered that an online version may be a
little more convenient for developers who wish to quickly
reference certain elements or sections within the
specification. The BioAPI Helper enables developers to do
just this by placing the various elements into a database and
allowing them to be accessed logically via an intuitive
desktop interface. This also enables developers to make
their own annotations or add code examples for future
reference. They may also print out individual elements
directly from the application - this can be a very useful aid to
discussion within the development team and leaves your
original printed copy of the specification unscathed!
However, the BioAPI Helper is useful for non developers
also, as it enables quick reference to the pertinent parts of
the BioAPI specification without having to carry the whole
document around. When future versions of the BioAPI are
announced, you may easily edit the details straight in the
BioAPI Helper utility.
The various utilities described in this document are provided
as an accessory to the book Biometrics - Advanced Identity
Verification, published by Springer-Verlag. We sincerely
hope that you will find them useful in your evaluation and
exploration of biometric technology and associated devices.
If you have any queries in relation to the operation of any of
these applications, or would like to make any observations
about the book, please send an email to
jsoft@jsoft.freeserve.co.uk
Julian Ashbourn
August 2000