US 9,870,457 B2 · HERMA—heartbeat microwave authentication

Abstract

Systems and methods for identifying and/or authenticating individuals utilizing microwave sensing modules are disclosed. A HEaRtbeat Microwave Authentication (HERMA) system can enable the active identification and/or authentication of a user by analyzing reflected RF signals that contain a person's unique characteristics related to their heartbeats. An illumination signal is transmitted towards a person where a reflected signal captures the motion of the skin and tissue (i.e. displacement) due to the person's heartbeats. The HERMA system can utilize existing transmitters in a mobile device (e.g. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellphone signals) as the illumination source with at least one external receive antenna. The received reflected signals can be pre-processed and analyzed to identify and/or authenticate a user.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A microwave sensor module for authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, comprising:

at least one transmitter configured to transmit a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal;
at least one receiver configured to receive a reflected microwave signal from a person that contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
a processor;
a memory containing an authentication application, wherein the authentication application configures the processor to:
receive a portion of the transmitted RF signal using the at least one receiver, wherein the received portion of the transmitted RF signal is utilized as a reference for coherent detection;
extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
compare the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile;
and
authenticate the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile.

6 more elements

A microwave sensor module for authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, comprising:

at least one transmitter configured to transmit a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal;
at least one receiver configured to receive a reflected microwave signal from a person that contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
a processor;
a memory containing an authentication application, wherein the authentication application configures the processor to:
extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
compare the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile;
and
authenticate the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile;
wherein the authentication application further configures the processor to extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal by:
extracting raw data from the reflected signal by constructing an I/Q radar returns matrix and I/Q time series waveforms;
bandpass filtering the I/Q time series waveforms to remove effects due to respiration and to isolate heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms;
translating and rotating the heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms to lie along the Q-axis, where a scaled imaginary part yields heartbeat displacement waveforms;
segmenting the heartbeat displacement waveforms into non-overlapping data windows (DW) of a fixed duration;
and
removing anomalous DW from the data set, where anomalous DW include any DW whose root mean square or maximum absolute value is outside of a specified interval.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

HERMA—heartbeat microwave authentication

Life of this patent

HERMA—heartbeat microwave authentication

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24