Subject: Kodak Press Release

From: Michael P Urban <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 95 07:28:53 -800

Eastman Kodak Company

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Revolutionary Kodak Technology Encodes Face Images in Tiny, 400-Bit Data
Packets

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28, 1995--A picture is worth a thousand words, it's said,
yet a new technology from Eastman Kodak Company has cut that down to far less.

KODAK Image Verification System (KODAK IVS) technology encodes a human portrait
image in 400 bits of information. The technology will find extended use in
virtually all types of ID applications because it minimizes time, cost of data
storage and transmission. KODAK IVS has application in preventing fraudulent
use of credit cards, checks, government and corporate identification cards,
automobile licenses and telephone calling cards.

All the process requires is data stored on the four hundred bits of a credit
card stripe, or any other ID document that incorporates a magnetic stripe, a 2D
bar code or an inexpensive computer chip.

A digital picture in a credit-card stripe. Kodak Image Verificatoin System
technology encodes a human portrait image in 400 bits of information, small
enough to fit on a credit-card stripe, 2D bard code, or inexpensive computer
chip. A primary application will be to protect customer credit cards by
discreetly displaying an image of the card's owner on a point-of-sale terminal.

This is an important alternative to other identity verification systems such as
fingerprinting, retinal patterns, hand geometry and even personal
identification numbers, or PINs.

Creating a digital description of a human face in 400 bits and in a choice of
black-and- white or color is an extraordinary achievement. Digital images
generally require more data than fully-formatted word processing documents, and
yet four hundred bits units of fifty "letters" better known as bytes is about a
quarter of the data in this sentence.

Will Not Slow Processing

Now, for example, a retail sales clerk can easily verify a credit cardholder's
identity in a non-intrusive way, without disrupting sales. The technology can
be used with a retailers' point-of-sale and/or ID verification terminal
equipment since it requires only a screen and no extra sensors or keypad. And
because the technology requires no extensive computation at the sales terminal
and no transmission of large amounts of data to the card company, it will not
slow card processing.

Kodak is partnering with Citicorp, the largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard
credit cards in the U.S., and IBM, the leader in providing point-of-sale and
store solutions, to test and pioneer the implementation of KODAK IVS in the
bank card and retail environments. Kodak is also working with NetLink
Transaction Systems Corp., a Rochester, N.Y.-based designer of payment
terminals.

Proprietary Compression Algorithm

The KODAK IVS system is comprised of the compressed image of the person to be
identified, a decompression program which resides on a display terminal such as
a cash register or ID verification terminal, and the verification code.

The image is created with a proprietary compression algorithm which allows it
to be encoded in 400 bits of data. This image file size allows over 10 million
human faces to be stored on a standard CD-ROM disk.

The decompression program can be located in the resident memory of the POS
(verification) terminal or on a local processor. It decompresses the image data
encoded on the credit card stripe, chip or bar code and displays a cardholder's
image on the terminal monitor.

Dynamic Verification Process

The KODAK IVS verification code is a two or three byte piece of code which is
dynamically generated each time a transaction takes place. The code is attached
to other data e.g., sale amount and/or merchant identification number which is
normally sent to the data center when a card transaction is logged. This
additional verification information does not substantially increase the data
sent to the data center, and therefore will not substantially slow the
verification process.

When received by the data center, the verification code can be compared to a
matching code in the central database. If the card has been tampered with, the
central database is alerted.

KODAK IVS Addresses Key Fraud Prevention Issues

Fraud prevention techniques are currently based on the use of a PIN or on
static information, such as holograms or the cardholder's photograph. Each of
these techniques is flawed: They can be easily counteracted by theft or
duplication, or require disruption of the card transaction.

The KODAK IVS dynamic verification process addresses the weakness of these
fraud prevention techniques. It relies on information encoded on the card. The
encoded information is more difficult to duplicate than a hologram, and is
backed up by its built-in verification process. And identification of a
cardholder can be performed while the terminal is used for entering data
receipts. It will not disrupt the flow of the transaction or be noticeable to
the cardholder.

In addition to credit cards, KODAK IVS technology can prevent the fraudulent
use of checks, government and corporate identification cards, automobile
licenses and telephone calling cards.

The data format used by KODAK IVS technology conforms to current ISO standards
for magnetic stripe applications.

Check out the portrait images created by the Kodak IVS technology.

To download an image created by the KODAK IVS technology, dial Kodak World Wide
Web at http://www.kodak.com/info/idPortraits.shtml. For more information on
KODAK IVS technology or licensing agreements, call 800/939-1301. Customers can
learn about Kodak products on the World Wide Web at http://www.kodak.com or can
visit the Kodak forum on CompuServe (Go KODAK).

#

Kodak is a trademark.)

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