Recognizing iris texture by phase demodulation

A method for rapid visual recognition of personal identity is described, based on the failure of a statistical test of independence. The most unique phenotypic feature visible in a person´s face is the detailed texture of each eye´s iris: an estimate of its statistical complexity in a sample of the human population reveals variation corresponding to several hundred independent degrees-of-freedom. Morphogenetic randomness in the texture expressed phenotypically in the iris trabecular meshwork ensures that a test of statistical independence on two coded patterns originating from different eyes is passed almost certainly, whereas the same test is failed almost certainly when the compared codes originate from the same eye