Fingerprints pay for lunch, track what kids are eating
22 January, 2008
category: Biometrics, Education, Financial, Government
Students at Juan Diego High School, Draper, Utah, can pay for their lunch by placing a finger on a scanner, and parents can also see what their children are having for the mid-day meal as well. The biometric payment system is from Altoona, Pa.-based FSS Inc.
To begin, parents went online and entered payment information to fund the account. Students were enrolled in the fingerprint system a couple of weeks before the new payments system was rolled out in the cafeteria.
Now when a student is going through the cafeteria line they place a finger on a scanner and their picture pop up on the cashier’s display. The cashier enters what the student is having for lunch and the money is deducted from the account. The school deployed the system to speed up cafeteria lines, according to a letter on the Juan Diego High School Web site. School officials also wanted to enable parents to go online and then see what their child is having for lunch.
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