to as access for certain personnel based upon epidermal topographical patterns and access information access information includes a list of access control areas and times during which an individual is permitted to access an area for example an individual may be permitted access to controlled area 34 x 34 during the second shift as such the access information would include the permitted area s and the permitted time s for that individual since the access information is under the employer 39 s control the permitted area s and time s of access can be changed easily without the need for the issuance of a new identification card to the individual or getting updated access information to security personnel for manual verification the host 20 has a data base 60 for storing the individual 39 s epidermal topographical patterns and access information the host 20 is connected to an input unit 70 such as a keyboard and an output unit 80 such as a liquid crystal display each terminal 10 is placed at a location where access control is desired this system enables access management for different personnel at different locations and times of day or different days of the week or calendar days etc fig2 is a diagram of a first embodiment of a terminal of the.