And you thought scanning your ID card to access your office was high-tech. Well, looks like the future will involve scanning our faces instead.

A company called FaceBase has applied for a patent on biometric face-screening technology, which it will offer at the Ocean Tomo Spring 2008 Live IP Auction next month in San Francisco.

In a statement, FaceBase's CEO John Payne foresees the technology used for drivers' licenses, mortgage applications and passports.

You'd think plenty of opportunities exist for face scanning in IT -- from building access and benefits applications to an alternative for keying in passwords.