Techniques for securely unlocking a touch screen user device

A method comprising:

• at an interface unit of a user device, detecting a sequence of interaction instances initiated by a user, wherein each interaction instance comprises one or more points of activation with respect to the interface unit;
• and
• comparing the sequence of interaction instances initiated by the user to stored information to determine whether the sequence of interaction instances matches the stored information.

One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

• detect a sequence of contact instances initiated by a user on a surface of a interface unit of a user device, wherein each contact instance comprises one or more points of contact between the user and the surface of the interface unit;
• and
• compare the sequence of contact instances initiated by the user to stored information to determine whether the sequence of contact instances matches the stored information.

One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

• detect a sequence of interaction instances initiated by a user, wherein each interaction instance comprises one or more points of activation with respect to an interface unit of a user device;
• and
• compare the sequence of interaction instances initiated by the user to stored information to determine whether the sequence of interaction instances matches the stored information.