Method and apparatus for enhanced transaction card compression employing

Abstract

A method of encoding and decoding a transaction card with a block of image data digitally representing the features of a digital portrait of an authorized transaction card user is disclosed along with apparatus for performing the method. The encoding method partitions the digital portrait of the transaction card user into feature blocks. Each feature block is compared against a library of like feature blocks to determine the best match with a pair of library feature blocks. The library's feature blocks are derived from a plurality of portraits taken from the general population. Each library feature block is represented (addressed for access) by a code-vector in a codebook. The two code-vectors corresponding to the two closest matching features blocks from the library of like feature blocks are recorded onto a transaction card along with an interstitial pointer which indicates a weight to be allocated to each of the two code-vectors to form a better match for at least one of the library feature blocks to the user's feature blocks. All of the code-vectors and the interstitial pointers corresponding to the user's feature blocks are recorded as a sequence of sub-data blocks within an image data block on the transaction card. A method and associated apparatus for reading out the image data block and recreating a representation of the portrait of the transaction card user at a financial transaction site for identification purposes are also disclosed.