US 2014/0007227 A1Published application

Mobile information terminal and gripping-feature authentication method

AssigneeNtt Docomo, Inc.

InventorsYasuo Morinaga, Masakatsu Tsukamoto, Manabu Ota, Takeshi Higuchi

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Abstract

A mobile information terminal including a gripping-feature sample acquisition unit to acquire a gripping-feature sample, one or more environmental sensors outputting an environmental signal, a terminal status detector to acquire the environmental signal and detect a terminal status, a template selection unit to select a user authentication template fitting the detected terminal status, a user authentication unit collating the acquired gripping-feature sample with the selected user authentication template and outputting a user authentication result, a user authenticity level monitor that outputs a sensor power source OFF signal when the user authenticity level exceeds a threshold value and outputs a sensor power source ON signal when the user authenticity level falls below the threshold value, and a power source control unit halting energization to a sensor when acquiring the sensor power source OFF signal, and energizing a sensor when acquiring the sensor power source ON signal.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A mobile information terminal that acquires a gripping-feature sample when the mobile information terminal is gripped, so as to perform user authentication, comprising:

a gripping-feature sample acquisition unit configured to acquire a gripping-feature sample;
an environmental sensor group that includes one or more sensors that acquire environmental information on an environment to which the mobile information terminal belongs and output an environmental signal;
a terminal status detection unit configured to acquire the environmental signal and detect one or more combinations of terminal statuses of the mobile information terminal as environmental states;
a template storage unit configured to store a user authentication template that fits to each of the environmental states;
a template selection unit configured to acquire the environmental state that is detected, so as to select a user authentication template that fits to the corresponding environmental state;
a user authentication unit that performs user authentication by collating the gripping-feature sample that is acquired with the user authentication template that is selected, and outputs a corresponding user authentication result;
a user authenticity level monitoring unit that acquires the user authentication result, outputs a sensor power source OFF signal when a user authenticity level, which varies in accordance with the user authentication result, varies to exceed a threshold value that is predetermined to correspond to each sensor, and outputs a sensor power source ON signal when the user authenticity level varies to fall below the threshold value;
and
a power source control unit that halts energization to a sensor that corresponds to the threshold value when the power source control unit acquires the sensor power source OFF signal, and energizes a sensor that corresponds to the threshold value when power source control unit acquires the sensor power source ON signal.

6 more elements

A gripping-feature authentication method in which user authentication is performed by acquiring a gripping-feature sample when a mobile information terminal is gripped, comprising:

a gripping-feature sample acquisition step in which a gripping-feature sample is acquired;
a terminal status detection step in which an environmental signal is acquired from an environmental sensor group, the environmental sensor group including one or more sensors that acquire environmental information to which the mobile information terminal belongs and output an environmental signal, and one or more combinations of terminal statuses of the mobile information terminal are detect as environmental states;
a template selection step in which the environmental state that is detected is acquired and a user authentication template that fits to the environmental state is selected from user authentication templates that are stored in a template storage unit;
a user authentication step in which user authentication is performed by collating the gripping-feature sample that is acquired with the user authentication template that is selected and a corresponding user authentication result is outputted;
a user authenticity level monitoring step in which the user authentication result is acquired, a sensor power source OFF signal is outputted when a user authenticity level, which varies in accordance with the user authentication result, varies to exceed a threshold value that is predetermined to correspond to each sensor, and a sensor power source ON signal is outputted when the user authenticity level varies to fall below the threshold value;
and
a power source control step in which energization to a sensor that corresponds to the threshold value is halted when the sensor power source OFF signal is acquired, and a sensor that corresponds to the threshold value is energized when the sensor power source ON signal is acquired.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/004,298Filed 27 Jan 2012
Priority: JP 201105380611 Mar 2011
Published: 2 Jan 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

G06F 21/31
Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals: user authentication
G06F 1/3206
Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode: monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power…
G06F 1/3231
Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality: monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
G06F 1/3287
Power saving characterised by the action undertaken: by switching off individual functional units in the computer system

Family

US 9,032,511 B2Related patent
US 2014/0007227 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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