Voice recognition The only biometric technology which does not measure the visual features of the human body. In voice recognition the sound vibrations of a person is measured and compared to an existing sample. The person to be identified is usually required to pronounce a designated password or phrase which facilitates the verification process. Voice recognition can be used on the phone, but has the weakness of technology is its susceptibility to interference by background noise.

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Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence is concerned with the simulation of human thinking and emotions in information technology. AI develops "intelligent systems" capable, for example, of learning and logical deduction. AI systems are used for creatively handling large amounts of data (as in data mining), as well as in natural speech processing and image recognition. AI is also used as to support decision taking in highly complex environments. Yahoo AI sites: http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Computer_Science/Artificial_Intelligence/ MIT AI lab: http://www.ai.mit.edu/ http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Computer_Science... http://www.ai.mit.edu/

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Charles Babbage b. December 26, 1791, London, England d. October 18, 1871, London, England English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. The idea of mechanically calculating mathematical tables first came to Babbage in 1812 or 1813. Later he made a small calculator that could perform certain mathematical computations to eight decimals. During the mid-1830s Babbage developed plans for the so-called analytical engine, the forerunner of the modern digital computer. In this device he envisioned the capability of performing any arithmetical operation on the basis of instructions from punched cards, a memory unit in which to store numbers, sequential control, and most of the other basic elements of the present-day computer.

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Invention According to the WIPO an invention is a "... novel idea which permits in practice the solution of a specific problem in the field of technology." Concerning its protection by law the idea "... must be new in the sense that is has not already been published or publicly used; it must be non-obvious in the sense that it would not have occurred to any specialist in the particular industrial field, had such a specialist been asked to find a solution to the particular problem; and it must be capable of industrial application in the sense that it can be industrially manufactured or used." Protection can be obtained through a patent (granted by a government office) and typically is limited to 20 years.

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