Method and apparatus for providing authentication between a sending unit and a recipient based on challenge usage data

A device for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

• one or more processing devices;
• and
• memory containing executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:
• generate a challenge for user authentication, having a challenge data element from a stored pool of challenge data elements, the challenge being based on rule data and stored usage data associated with at least some of the challenge data elements in a stored pool of challenge data elements;
• and
• send the generated challenge for use in an authentication of a user to a sender.

A device for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

• one or more processing devices;
• and
• memory containing executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:
• generate a challenge for user authentication, having challenge data elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, the challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,
• generate the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements, and first rule data, and
• generate the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data.

A device for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

• one or more processing devices;
• and
• memory containing executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:
• generate a challenge for user authentication, having data challenge elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, the challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,
• generate the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements, and first rule data wherein the first rule data causes selection of at least one least-used challenge data element to be part of the first portion, and
• generate the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data wherein the second rule data causes selection of at least one more-used challenge data element to be selected for the second portion.

A method for providing authentication between a sender and a user comprising:

• selecting, from a stored pool of data elements, data elements corresponding to information on an authentication article as part of sender authentication information and corresponding location information, the sender authentication information and corresponding location information being selected based on rule data and stored usage data associated with at least some of the data elements in the stored pool of data elements;
• sending the selected sender authentication information and corresponding location information for use in an authentication of a sender by a user;
• generating a challenge for user authentication, having a challenge data element from the stored pool of data elements on the article, the challenge being based on rule data and stored usage data associated with at least some of the data elements in the stored pool of data elements on the article;
• and
• sending the generated challenge for use in an authentication of a user to the sender.