A new innovation uses a biometric scan of the owner's ear or parts of the hand to unlock a smartphone without the need for an expensive fingerprint sensor.
Yahoo Labs' Bodyprint utilises the device's existing touchscreen and so doesn't need an extra fingerprint sensor as found in the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6. The images taken by the touch-screen are of lower resolution, but still work effectively, Yahoo Labs said.
"In our evaluation with 12 participants, Bodyprint classified body parts with 99.98 per cent accuracy and identified users with 99.52 per cent accuracy," the team said in a blog post.
As well as ears, the systems works with fists, knuckles, fingers and palms and creates a low-resolution image unique to each user. In future it could be used not only to unlock phones but also to lock or unlock files and replace PIN code entries.
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