Authentication using gesture passwords

A smart device, comprising:

• a touch screen;
• memory;
• and
• control circuitry coupled to the touch screen and the memory, the memory storing instructions which, when carried out by the control circuitry, cause the control circuitry to:
• display a password prompt on the touch screen, the password prompt including a motion video of touch screen gestures to prompt a user of the smart device to enter a gesture password,
• receive a trial gesture password entered by the user via the touch screen, the trial gesture password including a user-entered sequence of touch screen gestures, and
• perform multiple gesture password confirmation operations to verify that the user is able to re-enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen over time to authenticate the user to the smart device;
• wherein the control circuitry, when displaying the password prompt on the touch screen of the smart device, is constructed and arranged to:
• generate a random gesture password which includes a random sequence of touch screen gestures, and
• output the random gesture password on the touch screen, the random gesture password including the random sequence of touch screen gestures to enable the user to securely use the random sequence of touch screen gestures as the trial gesture password;
• wherein the control circuitry, when performing the multiple gesture password confirmation operations, is constructed and arranged to:
• re-prompt the user to enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen,
• in response to re-prompting the user to enter the trial gesture password, acquire user input as the user attempts to re-enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen in response to re-prompting, and
• based on the user input, assess ability of the user to re-enter the trial gesture password;
• wherein the control circuitry, when assessing the ability of the user to re-enter the gesture password, is constructed and arranged to:
• detect a graduation event in which the user satisfies a set of gesture password entrance criteria, and
• convert the trial gesture password into an actual gesture password of the user in response to detection of the graduation event.

A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium which stores a set of instructions to provide user authentication, the set of instructions, when carried out by computerized circuitry, causing the computerized circuitry to perform a method of:

• displaying a password prompt on a touch screen of a smart device, the password prompt including a motion video of touch screen gestures to prompt a user of the smart device to enter a gesture password;
• receiving a trial gesture password entered by the user via the touch screen, the trial gesture password including a user-entered sequence of touch screen gestures;
• and
• performing multiple gesture password confirmation operations to verify that the user is able to re-enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen over time to authenticate the user to the smart device;
• wherein displaying the password prompt on the touch screen of the smart device includes:
• generating a random gesture password which includes a random sequence of touch screen gestures, and
• outputting the random gesture password on the touch screen, the random gesture password including the random sequence of touch screen gestures to enable the user to securely use the random sequence of touch screen gestures as the trial gesture password;
• wherein performing the multiple gesture password confirmation operations includes:
• re-prompting the user to enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen,
• in response to re-prompting the user to enter the trial gesture password, acquiring user input as the user attempts to re-enter the trial gesture password via the touch screen in response to re-prompting, and
• based on the user input, assessing ability of the user to re-enter the trial gesture password;
• wherein assessing the ability of the user to re-enter the gesture password includes:
• detecting a graduation event in which the user satisfies a set of gesture password entrance criteria, and
• converting the trial gesture password into an actual gesture password of the user in response to detection of the graduation event.