US 9,319,221 B1Granted

Controlling access based on recognition of a user

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsNadim Awad, Jonathan White Keljo, Levon Dolbakian, Arnaud Marie Froment, Kenneth Paul Kiraly, Michael David Dumont, Srinivasan Sridharan

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Abstract

Approaches to enable a computing device, such as a phone or tablet computer, to compute a probability that the user currently using the device matches a profile of an authorized user and to set or change a security level of the computing device based on the computed probability. The security level can be one of many security levels each having a different scope of authorized access to data or functions of the computing device. The computing device may periodically re-compute the probability and change the security level whenever the probability crosses certain predefined thresholds.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A computing device, comprising:

a camera configured to capture image data;
at least one processor;
and
memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
determine first user inactivity data, based at least in part on inactivity of the computing device during a first period of time;
analyze first data, including at least first image data, the first user inactivity data, and first non-image data obtained at a first time, to compute a first probability that the first data matches a profile of an authorized user of the computing device;
operate the computing device under a first security level for controlling access to one or more functions or data on the computing device, the first security level selected based at least in part on the first probability;
determine second user inactivity data, based at least in part on inactivity of the computing device during a second period of time;
analyze second data, including at least second image data, the second user inactivity data, and second non-image data obtained at a second time, to compute a second probability that the second data matches the profile of the authorized user of the computing device;
determine that the second probability is higher than a defined threshold;
switch to operate the computing device under a second security level, the second security level granting the user access to more functions or data on the computing device than the first security level;
and
generate an event notification to one or more applications installed on the computing device, the event notification indicating the switch to the second security level.

10 more elements

A computer implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,
determining user inactivity data, based at least in part on inactivity of a computing device during a first period of time;
processing image data, the user inactivity data, and non-image data captured by one or more sensors of the computing device or obtained from one or more applications installed on the computing device, the image data and the non-image data associated with a user of the computing device;
computing a probability that the user matches an authorized user of the computing device based at least in part on the image data, the user inactivity data, and the non-image data captured by the one or more sensors;
selecting a security level from a plurality of different security levels for operating the computing device based at least in part on the probability that the user matches the authorized user, each security level associated with a different scope of authorized access to functions or data of the computing device;
and
operating the computing device using the selected security level to control access to the functions or data of the computing device.

4 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a computing system to:

determine user inactivity usage data, based at least in part on inactivity of the computing system during a first period of time;
process image data, the user inactivity usage data, and non-image data captured by one or more sensors of a computing device or obtained from one or more applications installed on the computing device, the image data and the non-image data associated with a user of the computing device;
compute a probability that the user matches an authorized user of the computing device based at least in part on the image data, the user inactivity usage data, and the non-image data captured by the one or more sensors;
select a security level from a plurality of different security levels for operating the computing device based at least in part on the probability that the user matches the authorized user, each security level associated with a different scope of authorized access to functions or data of the computing device;
and
operate the computing device using the selected security level to control access to the functions or data of the computing device.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.