# US 10,482,325 B2 · User authentication method and electronic device supporting the same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,482,325 B2 - Document ID: US10482325B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/180,691 - Filed: 2016-06-13 - Published: 2016-12-15 - Granted: 2019-11-19 - Earliest claimed: 2015-06-15 - Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Dae-kwang Jung; Jun-ho Koh; Byeong-hoon Kwak; Sung-chan Kim; Chang-han Kim; Hyun-jung Kim; In-hak Na; Kang-jin Yoon; Yong-chan Lee - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10482325B2 ## CPC - G06V 40/197: {Matching; Classification} - G06V 30/248: {involving plural approaches, e.g. verification by template match; Resolving confusion among similar patterns, e.g. "O" versus "Q" (G06V30/242 takes precedence)} - G06V 40/193: {Preprocessing; Feature extraction} - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING ## Abstract A user authentication method for an electronic device is provided. The user authentication method includes detecting a content execution event, confirming an authentication level of content related to the detected content execution event, acquiring an appearance image through a camera unit, extracting valid regions related to an iris of a user from the acquired appearance image, and performing an authentication on the user by comparing iris authentication reference information related to a confirmed authentication level with the extracted valid regions. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A user authentication method for an electronic device, the method comprising: detecting a content execution event; confirming an authentication level of content requiring iris authentication among a plurality of authentication methods, based on the detected content execution event; acquiring an appearance image through a camera unit; extracting valid regions related to an iris of a user from the acquired appearance image; re-acquiring the appearance image when the valid regions do not include preset certain iris regions of the user; and performing authentication of the user by comparing iris authentication reference information related to the confirmed authentication level with the extracted valid regions. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The user authentication method of claim 1, wherein the iris authentication reference information includes at least one of an area of the iris and a certain region of the iris. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The user authentication method of claim 2, wherein the area of the iris is a first threshold value for at least one of an area of and a number of valid regions corresponding to an iris region among a plurality of divided regions in an iris template to be generated based on the iris region. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The user authentication method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to re-acquire the appearance image by comparing an iris region in the appearance image with the iris authentication reference information. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The user authentication method of claim 4, wherein the determining whether to re-acquire the appearance image comprises: detecting the iris region and a boundary of an eye of the user which are included in the appearance image; dividing the detected iris region into a plurality of regions and generating an iris template corresponding to the plurality of divided regions; and determining whether to re-acquire the appearance image by comparing at least one of an area of and a number of the extracted valid regions corresponding to the iris region among the plurality of divided regions included in the iris template with a threshold value for the iris region. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The user authentication method of claim 1, further comprising setting a first threshold value for a degree of similarity between iris information generated from an iris image in the iris region and pre-registered iris information according to the confirmed authentication level. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The user authentication method of claim 1, further comprising checking situation information of the electronic device, wherein the confirming of the authentication level comprises confirming if a preset authentication level corresponds to the situation information. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The user authentication method of claim 7, wherein the situation information includes at least one of a location of the electronic device, a location of the user of the electronic device, a number of people around the electronic device, an identity of the people around the electronic device, background information of the electronic device, a user movement history of the electronic device, a moving speed of the electronic device, a re-authentication interval after previous authentication, a type of the electronic device, an internal configuration of the electronic device, ambient illumination of the electronic device, a moving distance of the electronic device, and information as to whether a user who tries the user authentication corresponds to a user registered in the electronic device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The user authentication method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the authentication of the user comprises: requesting a server to provide content for iris authentication; and receiving the requested content for iris authentication from the server. ### Claim 10 An electronic device comprising: a camera unit configured to acquire an appearance image; and a processor configured to: detect a content execution event and confirm an authentication level of content requiring iris authentication among a plurality of authentication methods, based on the detected content execution event, extract valid regions related to an iris of a user from the appearance image acquired by the camera unit, re-acquire the appearance image when the valid regions do not include preset certain regions of the user's iris, and perform authentication of the user. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the iris authentication reference information includes at least one of an area of the iris and a certain region of the iris. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the area of the iris is a first threshold value for at least one of an area of and a number of valid regions corresponding to an iris region among a plurality of divided regions in an iris template to be generated based on the iris region. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to re-acquire the appearance image by comparing an iris region in the appearance image with the iris authentication reference information. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to: detect the iris region and a boundary of an eye of the user which are included in the appearance image, divide the detected iris region into a plurality of regions, generate an iris template corresponding to the plurality of divided regions, and determine whether to re-acquire the appearance image by comparing at least one of an area of and a number of the extracted valid regions corresponding to the iris region among the plurality of divided regions in the iris template with a third threshold value for the iris region. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to set a first threshold value for a degree of similarity between iris information generated from an iris image in the iris region and pre-registered iris information according to the confirmed authentication level. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to check situation information of the electronic device and confirm if a preset authentication level corresponds to the situation information. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the situation information includes at least one of a location of the electronic device, a location of the user of the electronic device, a number of people around the electronic device, an identity of the people around the electronic device, background information of the electronic device, a user movement history of the electronic device, a moving speed of the electronic device, a re-authentication interval after previous authentication, a type of the electronic device, an internal configuration of the electronic device, ambient illumination of the electronic device, a moving distance of the electronic device, and information as to whether a user who tries the user authentication corresponds to a user registered in the electronic device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 12) The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to request a server to provide content for iris authentication and receive the requested content for iris authentication from the server. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) A non-transitory computer processor readable storage medium including instructions, executable by a computer processor, stored thereon to perform the method of claim 1.