Enhanced Biometric Authentication
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsBrian M. Novack, Daniel L. Madsen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Enhanced biometric authentication is achieved by combining a user's inherent biometric data with the user's knowledge of a secret glyph. In one embodiment, a touchpad is provided on which the user may use a finger to indicate a plurality of strokes that form a distinct glyph. Image stabilization may be used to extract a readable fingerprint from the strokes, and the glyph and finger print are matched to a stored profile. The glyph may be one or more alphanumeric characters that represent a password. The user can then enter the password on the touch pad with his finger. If the fingerprint and password both match, the user is authenticated.
Claims20
An enhanced biometric authentication device comprising:
- an input sensor configured to receive a composite input from a user, the composite input sample comprising a biometric component and a mechanical component;
- a biometric processing engine communicatively coupled to the input sensor and configured to receive the biometric component and generate a biometric characterization from the biometric component;
- a mechanics processing engine communicatively coupled to the input sensor and configured to receive the mechanical component and generate a mechanical characterization from the mechanical component;
- and
- an authentication engine, the authentication engine configured to:
- receive the biometric characterization from the biometric processing engine;
- receive the mechanical characterization from the biometric processing engine;
- compare the biometric characterization and the mechanical characterization to an authentication template;
- and
- authenticate the user based on the comparison.
A method of authenticating a user, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a composite input from the user;
- processing the input to identify a biometric component and a mechanical component;
- processing the biometric component to create a biometric characterization of the biometric component;
- processing the mechanical component to create a mechanical characterization of the mechanical component;
- and
- determining that the user is authentic by comparing the biometric characterization and mechanical characterization to a previously stored authentication template including a biometric component and a mechanical component.
A method of providing enhanced security for a system, the method comprising the steps of:
- creating an authentication template for a known user by:
- receiving a first composite input from the known user, the first composite input sample comprising a biometric component and a mechanical component;
- characterizing the biometric component of the first composite input sample;
- characterizing the mechanical component of the first composite input sample;
- storing the characterized biometric component and mechanical component in an authentication template;
- authenticating an unknown user by:
- receiving a second composite input sample from the unknown user, the second composite input sample comprising a biometric component and a mechanical component;
- characterizing the biometric component;
- characterizing the mechanical component;
- comparing the characterized biometric component and mechanical component to the authentication template;
- and
- associating the unknown user with the known user if the characterized biometric component and characterized mechanical component match respective characterized biometric and mechanical components of the authentication template within a tolerance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.