Personal authentication method and device

• US 20020152034A1
• Filed: 04/11/2002
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kondo, Kenji, Uomori, Kenya
• Granted Patent: US 7,623,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/14 With a sequence of inputs of different identification information
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A personal authentication method capable of selecting types of biological information used for authentication flexibly depending on the user and the environment is provided. During registration, a plurality of types of biological information are acquired from the user, feature information is extracted from the acquired biological information, and authentication precision is estimated for each combination of pieces of feature information. During authentication, at least one type of biological information is acquired from the user, feature information is extracted from the acquired biological information, authentication is performed by comparing the acquired feature information with the feature information extracted from the biological information during registration, and operation of the user is controlled according to the authentication precision.

Claims

1. A personal authentication method using biological information, the method using a biological feature database storing feature information of a plurality of types of biological features and information on the relationship between the combination of biological features used for authentication and authentication precision, for persons including at least a person to be authenticated, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring feature information of at least one type of biological feature among the plurality of types for the person to be authenticated;

performing authentication using the acquired feature information and the feature information of the corresponding biological feature stored in the biological feature database; and

determining authentication precision for the authentication based on a combination of biological features related to the acquired feature information by referring to the biological feature database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining an authentication level for the authentication based on the determined authentication precision.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the authentication level is an entrance-permitted room, an upper amount limit in electronic commerce, or a usable command or site.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of notifying the person to be authenticated of the determined authentication level.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of controlling operation of the person to be authenticated according to the determined authentication level.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether or not the determined authentication precision exceeds a threshold required for the purpose of the authentication when the person to be authenticated is identified as the identical person as a result of the authentication,

wherein if the authentication precision fails to exceed the threshold, the authentication of the person to be authenticated is rejected.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of allowing the person to be authenticated to select a biological feature used.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of notifying the person to be authenticated of information on the relationship between the combination of biological features used for authentication and the authentication level.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of determining whether or not the determined authentication precision exceeds a threshold required for the purpose of the authentication when the person to be authenticated is identified as the identical person as a result of the authentication,

wherein if the authentication precision fails to exceed the threshold, the person to be authenticated is asked to re-select a biological feature.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a combination of biological features having high authentication precision is preset as a password, and

the method further comprises the step of determining whether or not the combination of biological features selected by the person to be authenticated matches with the combination used as the password.

11. A personal authentication method using biological information, comprising the steps of:

acquiring feature information of a plurality of types of biological features for a user;

registering the acquired feature information as information for authenticating the user; and

estimating authentication precision for each combination of biological features used for authentication based on the acquired feature information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of notifying the user of a combination of biological features having high estimated authentication precision as a password.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the authentication precision is estimated using a distribution of authentication distances between identical persons and a distribution of authentication distances between different persons.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein once the person to be authenticated is identified as the identical person as a result of the authentication, an authentication level for the authentication is determined based on the determined authentication precision.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein operation of the person to be authenticated is controlled according to the determined authentication level.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the authentication level is an entrance-permitted room, an upper amount limit in electronic commerce, or a usable command or site.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the authentication level is an entrance-permitted room, an upper amount limit at electronic commerce, or a usable command or site.

14. A personal authentication device using biological information, the device using a biological feature database storing feature information of a plurality of types of biological features and information on the relationship between the combination of biological features used for authentication and authentication precision, for persons including at least a person to be authenticated, the device comprising:

means for acquiring feature information of at least one type of biological feature among the plurality of types for the person to be authenticated;

means for performing authentication using the acquired feature information and the feature information of the corresponding biological feature stored in the biological feature database; and

means for determining authentication precision for the authentication based on a combination of biological features related to the acquired feature information by referring to the biological feature database.

17. A personal authentication device, comprising:

an input section permitting entry of information of a plurality of types of biological features;

a selection input section permitting a user to select biological features of which information is to be entered via the input section; and

a display section for displaying an authentication level of the authentication determined according to the combination of the biological features selected via the selection input section.

19. A personal authentication device, comprising:

an input section permitting entry of information of a plurality of types of biological features; and

a display section for displaying information on the relationship between the combination of biological features of which information can be entered via the input section and the authentication level.

21. A personal authentication method using biological information, wherein during registration, the method comprises the steps of:

acquiring information of a plurality of types of biological features from a user;

extracting feature information from the acquired information; and

estimating authentication precision for each combination of biological features related to the acquired information, and

wherein during authentication, the method comprises the steps of;

acquiring information of at least one type of biological feature among the plurality of types from the user;

extracting feature information from the acquired information;

performing authentication using the extracted feature information and the feature information extracted during registration for the corresponding biological feature; and

controlling operation of the user according to the authentication precision estimated during registration for a combination of biological features related to the acquired information.