Authentication using a client device and a mobile device

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

• reading a visual pattern from a client device, the computerized circuitry and the client device being separate and distinct and in possession of the user;
• generating a token message based on the visual pattern;
• and
• providing the token message to the server equipment to authenticate the user to the server equipment;
• wherein the visual pattern is a bar code image;
• wherein the computerized circuitry includes a camera;
• and wherein reading the visual pattern includes:
• capturing, using the camera of the computerized circuitry, the bar code image which the client device (i) has received from the server equipment and (ii) renders on an electronic display, and
• extracting bar code data from the bar code image, the bar code data including a user identifier which uniquely identifies the user among a plurality of users and a session identifier which identifies the authentication session between the client device and the server equipment;
• wherein the method further includes, prior to reading the visual pattern from the client device, (i) receiving entry of the user identifier into the client device, (ii) the client device sending the user identifier to the server equipment, and (iii) receiving, from the server equipment, the bar code image, which includes the user identifier and the session identifier, by the client device;
• and
• wherein providing the token message to the server equipment includes, after the user identifier and the session identifier are is extracted from the bar code image, conveying the user identifier and the session identifier within the token message to the server equipment, to enable the server equipment to authenticate the user using the user identifier and the session identifier in the token message, the user thereby being authenticated to the server equipment.

A method of authenticating a user to server equipment, the method comprising:

• sending, from a client device, an authentication request to the server equipment, the authentication request initiating an authentication session between the client device and the server equipment and including a user identifier that uniquely identifies the user to the server equipment;
• receiving, by the client device and as part of the authentication session, a visual pattern from the server equipment, the visual pattern encoding authentication session data, the authentication session data including the user identifier sent from the client device and a session identifier identifying the authentication session between the client device and the server equipment;
• displaying the visual pattern on a display of the computing device;
• acquiring, by a mobile device separate from the computing device, an image of the visual pattern displayed by the computing device;
• generating, by the mobile device, a token message based on the authentication session data encoded in the visual pattern and extracted from the acquired image, the token message including the user identifier and the session identifier;
• and
• transmitting, by the mobile device, the token message to the server equipment, thereby enabling the server equipment to authenticate the user using the user identifier and the session identifier in the token message, the user thereby being authenticated to the server equipment.