Obtaining a biometric image and handling damaged biometrics

1. An input system comprising:

a light source;

a microlens array arranged to receive light from the light source and generate a plurality of parallel, circular cross-section beamlets;

a lens arranged to receive light representative of the beamlets reflecting from a skin surface positioned proximal to, but not touching, the lens;

a photography subsystem arranged to receive input from the lens and generate, based on the input, an image, the image including a plurality of non-circular shapes formed as the beamlets illuminate the skin surface; and

an image signal processor arranged to:

receive, from the photography subsystem, the image and, based on the image, generate a three-dimensional digital representation of the skin surface, wherein the surface is a surface of a finger;

determine that the skin surface, from which the three-dimensional digital representation has been obtained, is a damaged skin surface; and

responsive to the determining the damaged skin surface, generate, at a temporary template biometric generating time, a temporary three-dimensional template biometric.

2. A mobile communication device comprising:

the input system of claim 1 ; and

a processor adapted to:

determine a degree of correspondence between the three-dimensional digital representation and the three-dimensional template biometric; and

responsive to the degree surpassing a threshold, granting access to a system.

3. A method of operating an input system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a microlens array, light from a light source;

generating, with the microlens array, a plurality of parallel, circular cross-section beamlets;

receiving, at a photography subsystem, input from a lens, the input representative of the beamlets reflecting from a skin surface positioned proximal to, but not touching, the lens;

generating, at the photography subsystem and based on the input, an image, the image including a plurality of non-circular shapes formed as the beamlets illuminate the skin surface;

receiving, at an image signal processor, the image; and

generating, at the image signal processor and based on the image, a three-dimensional candidate biometric that is a digital representation of the skin surface, wherein the skin surface is a surface of a finger;

determining that the skin surface, from which the three-dimensional candidate biometric has been obtained, is a damaged skin surface; and

responsive to the determining the damaged skin surface, generating, at a temporary template biometric generating time, a temporary three-dimensional template biometric.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the method further comprises:

determining a degree of correspondence between the three-dimensional candidate biometric and the three-dimensional template biometric;

determining that the degree of correspondence between the three-dimensional candidate biometric and the three-dimensional template biometric surpasses a threshold; and

responsive to the determining that the degree surpasses the threshold, granting access to a system.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

obtaining, at a further candidate biometric obtaining time, a further three-dimensional candidate biometric;

generating an aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric, the generating based on modeling a change expected to have occurred between the temporary three-dimensional template biometric generating time and the further candidate biometric obtaining time;

analyzing a degree of correspondence between the further three-dimensional candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric;

determining that the degree of correspondence between the further three-dimensional candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric surpasses a further threshold; and

responsive to the determining that the degree of correspondence between the further three-dimensional candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric surpasses the further threshold, granting access to a system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the analyzing the degree of correspondence between the further three-dimensional candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric comprises comparing a first plurality of reference points in the three-dimensional candidate biometric to a second plurality of reference points in the aged version of the temporary three-dimensional template biometric.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the generating the temporary three-dimensional template biometric comprises associating a plurality of damage reference points with the temporary three-dimensional template biometric and the generating the aged version of the temporary template biometric comprises generating a plurality of aged damage reference points in the aged version of the temporary template biometric.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the analyzing the degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric further comprises comparing a further plurality of reference points in the further candidate biometric to the plurality of aged damage reference points in the aged version of the temporary template biometric.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing:

computer-executable instructions that when performed by a processor in a photography subsystem, cause the processor in the photography subsystem to:

control a light source to illuminate a skin surface positioned proximal to, but not touching, the lens, the fingerprint with a plurality of parallel, circular cross-section beamlets generated by a microlens array;

receive input from a lens, the input representative of the beamlets reflecting from the skin surface;

generate, based on the input, an image, the image including a plurality of non-circular shapes formed as the beamlets illuminate the skin surface; and

computer-executable instructions that when performed by a processor in an image signal processor, cause the processor at the image signal processor to:

receive the image; and

generate, based on the image, a three-dimensional digital representation of the skin surface, wherein the skin surface is a surface of a finger;

determine that the skin surface, from which the three-dimensional digital representation has been obtained, is a damaged skin surface; and

generate, responsive to the determining and at a temporary template biometric generating time, a temporary three-dimensional template biometric.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the medium further contains computer-executable instructions that, when performed by a further processor, cause the further processor to:

determine a degree of correspondence between the three-dimensional digital representation and the temporary three-dimensional template biometric;

determine that the degree of correspondence between the three-dimensional digital representation and the temporary three-dimensional template biometric surpasses a threshold; and

responsive to the determining the degree surpasses the threshold, grant access to a system.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further containing computer-executable instructions that cause the further processor to:

obtain, at a further candidate biometric obtaining time, a further candidate biometric;

generate an aged version of the temporary template biometric, the generating based on modeling a change expected to have occurred between the temporary template biometric generating time and the further candidate biometric obtaining time;

analyze a degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric;

determine that the degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric surpasses a further threshold; and

responsive to the determining that the degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric surpasses the further threshold, grant access to a system.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein, to analyze the degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric, the processor further caused, by the executable instructions, to compare a first plurality of reference points in the candidate biometric to a second plurality of reference points in the aged version of the temporary template biometric.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12 wherein, to generate the temporary three-dimensional template biometric comprises associating a plurality of damage reference points with the temporary three-dimensional template biometric and the generating the aged version of the temporary template biometric, the processor further caused, by the executable instructions, to generate a plurality of aged damage reference points in the aged version of the temporary template biometric.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein, to analyze the degree of correspondence between the further candidate biometric and the aged version of the temporary template biometric, the processor further caused, by the executable instructions, to compare a further plurality of reference points in the further candidate biometric to the plurality of aged damage reference points in the aged version of the temporary template biometric.