Methods for requesting and authenticating photographic image data

• US 10,360,668 B1
• Filed: 08/13/2018
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TruePic, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TruePic, Inc.
• Inventors: McGregor, Jeffrey, Stack, Craig, Lyons, Jason, Robben, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Potts, Ryan P
• Application Number:
  US16/101,833
• Time in Patent Office: 344 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/152 using file content signatures, e.g. hash values
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32283 Hashing

Abstract

A system and method include obtaining and authenticating image files from users, such as insured users, at the request of an entity, such as an insurance provider. The requesting entity may supply an electronic address of the user and a unique identifier. The system may transmit a link to the electronic address. When selected, the link causes an image authentication application to be installed on a user device. The application takes the images securely and separately from a native camera application. Each image authentication application may be customized for each requesting entity. An authentication server may identify the requesting entity that made the request and identify a corresponding image authentication application to be provided to the electronic address. The images from the image authentication application may be authenticated via reverse image search, time, geolocation, and/or other information. The authenticated images and/or related data may be provided to the requesting entity.

Claims

1. A system for authenticating electronic images generated at user devices, the system comprising:

an authentication server comprising one or more physical processors programmed by computer program instructions to;

receive, from a requesting entity, a request to obtain one or more electronic images to be authenticated, wherein the request includes an electronic address of a user remote from the requesting entity and the authentication server from which to obtain the one or more electronic images;

obtain a unique identifier associated with the request;

generate a link to an image authentication application to be downloaded, the link comprising the unique identifier and a network location from which to download the image authentication application;

transmit a message comprising the link to the electronic address of the user, wherein when selected via a user device of the user, the link causes the image authentication application to be downloaded to the user device;

receive an electronic image from the image authentication application, wherein the electronic image was generated at the user device via the image authentication application;

authenticate the electronic image; and

provide access to the electronic image and an indication of the authentication to the requesting entity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the image authentication application is one among multiple applications each customized for one of a set of multiple requesting entities, the set of requesting entities including at least the requesting entity, and wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

identify the requesting entity; and

identify the image authentication application to be downloaded from among the multiple applications based on the identification of the requesting entity.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein to authenticate the electronic image, the authentication server is further programmed to:

compare the electronic image to a database of electronic images to determine whether the electronic image matches any image from the database of electronic images, wherein no matches supports a conclusion that the electronic image is authentic.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein to compare the electronic image, the authentication server is further programmed to:

obtain a hash of the electronic image; and

compare the hash to respective hashes of each image from the database of electronic images.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the hash is received from the image authentication application or is generated by the authentication server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein to authenticate the electronic image, the authentication server is further programmed to:

obtain an expected location of the user;

obtain a location at which the image authentication application was opened at the user device;

determine a distance between the expected location and the location at which the image authentication application was opened at the user device; and

determine whether the electronic image is authentic based on the distance.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein to authenticate the electronic image, the authentication server is further programmed to:

obtain an expected location of the user;

obtain a location at which the electronic image was generated;

determine a distance between the expected location and the location at which the electronic image was generated; and

determine whether the electronic image is authentic based on the distance.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic image is received from the image authentication application at a first time, and wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

generate a first hash of the electronic image at the first time;

generate a first transaction comprising the first hash; and

transmit the first transaction to a blockchain network that writes the first transaction to a decentralized ledger.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

generate a second hash of the electronic image after authentication;

generate a second transaction comprising the second hash; and

transmit the second transaction to the blockchain network that writes the second transaction to the decentralized ledger.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

obtain the first hash and the second hash from the decentralized ledger;

compare the first hash and the second hash; and

determine that the electronic image has not been tampered with based on the comparison.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein responsive to an indication that the image authentication application is already installed on the user device, selection of the link via the user device causes a new session to be initiated associated with the unique identifier, wherein the received electronic image is generated during the new session and is associated with the unique identifier.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

generate the unique identifier associated with the request, wherein the unique identifier is used to track images and indications of authentication associated with the request.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the request relates to a first type of inspection and the unique identifier is associated with the first type of request, wherein the authentication server is further programmed to:

obtain parameters specific to the first type of request based on the unique identifier;

cause the parameters to be provided to the image authentication application installed on the user device, wherein the parameters cause instructions for taking specific images associated with the first type of request to be presented via the image authentication application.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the image authentication application is configured to access a camera of the user device, and wherein the electronic image is captured via the image authentication application using the camera of the user device.

15. A method for authenticating electronic images generated at user devices, the method being implemented by an authentication server having one or more physical processors programmed by to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the authentication server from a requesting entity, a request to obtain one or more electronic images to be authenticated, wherein the request includes an electronic address of a user remote from the requesting entity and the authentication server from which to obtain the one or more electronic images;

obtaining, by the authentication server, a unique identifier associated with the request;

generating, by the authentication server, a link to an image authentication application to be downloaded, the link comprising the unique identifier and a network location from which to download the image authentication application;

transmitting, by the authentication server, a message comprising the link to the electronic address of the user, wherein when selected via a user device of the user, the link causes the image authentication application to be downloaded to the user device;

receiving, by the authentication server, an electronic image from the image authentication application, wherein the electronic image was generated at the user device via the image authentication application;

authenticating, by the authentication server, the electronic image; and

providing, by the authentication server, access to the electronic image and an indication of the authentication to the requesting entity.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the image authentication application is one among multiple applications each customized for one of a set of multiple requesting entities, the set of requesting entities including at least the requesting entity, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the authentication server, the requesting entity; and

identifying, by the authentication server, the image authentication application to be downloaded from among the multiple applications based on the identification of the requesting entity.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein authenticating the electronic image comprises:

comparing, by the authentication server, the electronic image to a database of electronic images to determine whether the electronic image matches any image from the database of electronic images, wherein no matches supports a conclusion that the electronic image is authentic.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein comparing the electronic image comprises:

obtaining, by the authentication server, a hash of the electronic image; and

comparing, by the authentication server, the hash to respective hashes of each image from the database of electronic images.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the hash is received from the image authentication application or is generated by the authentication server.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein authenticating the electronic image comprises:

obtaining, by the authentication server, an expected location of the user;

obtaining, by the authentication server, a location at which the image authentication application was opened at the user device;

determining, by the authentication server, a distance between the expected location and the location at which the image authentication application was opened at the user device; and

determining, by the authentication server, whether the electronic image is authentic based on the distance.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein authenticating the electronic image comprises:

obtaining, by the authentication server, an expected location of the user;

obtaining, by the authentication server, a location at which the electronic image was generated;

determining, by the authentication server, a distance between the expected location and the location at which the electronic image was generated; and

determining, by the authentication server, whether the electronic image is authentic based on the distance.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic image is received from the image authentication application at a first time, the method further comprising:

generating, by the authentication server, a first hash of the electronic image at the first time;

generating, by the authentication server, a first transaction comprising the first hash; and

transmitting, by the authentication server, the first transaction to a blockchain network that writes the first transaction to a decentralized ledger.

23. The method of claim 22, the method further comprising:

generating, by the authentication server, a second hash of the electronic image after authentication;

generating, by the authentication server, second transaction comprising the second hash; and

transmitting, by the authentication server, the second transaction to the blockchain network that writes the second transaction to the decentralized ledger.

24. The method of claim 23, the method further comprising:

obtaining, by the authentication server, the first hash and the second hash from the decentralized ledger;

comparing, by the authentication server, the first hash and the second hash; and

determining, by the authentication server, that the electronic image has not been tampered with based on the comparison.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein responsive to an indication that the image authentication application is already installed on the user device, selection of the link via the user device causes a new session to be initiated associated with the unique identifier, wherein the received electronic image is generated during the new session and is associated with the unique identifier.

26. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:

generating, by the authentication server, the unique identifier associated with the request, wherein the unique identifier is used to track images and indications of authentication associated with the request.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the request relates to a first type of inspection and the unique identifier is associated with the first type of request, the method further comprising:

obtaining, by the authentication server, parameters specific to the first type of request based on the unique identifier;

causing, by the authentication server, the parameters to be provided to the image authentication application installed on the user device, wherein the parameters cause instructions for taking specific images associated with the first type of request to be presented via the image authentication application.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the image authentication application is configured to access a camera of the user device, and wherein the electronic image is captured via the image authentication application using the camera of the user device.