Electronic identification key with portable application programs and identified by biometrics authentication

• US 20050210271A1
• Filed: 05/18/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aimgene Technology Company Limited, Egis Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lightuning Tech Incorporated
• Inventors: Chiu, Li-Kuo, Chou, Bruce C.S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,447,911 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards

Abstract

An electronic identification key to be connected to a terminal system to execute at least one specific operation. The electronic identification key includes a housing, a standard interface connector, a chip-type fingerprint sensor, an embedded AP (Application Program) memory module and a control microprocessor. The control microprocessor automatically uploads an initializing program and a fingerprint application program to the terminal system. The fingerprint sensor reads a user'"'"'s fingerprint and then scanned fingerprint data and reference fingerprint data stored in the electronic key are transferred to the terminal system for comparison. When the comparison passes, the execution of the at least one specific operation, such as the remote certification, control of terminal system function, personal record retrieve operation, data protection operation, or remote file access operation, is allowed.

Claims

1. An electronic identification key to be connected to a terminal system to execute at least one specific operation, the electronic identification key comprising:

a housing;

a standard interface connector disposed on the housing and to be connected to the terminal system;

a fingerprint sensor, which is disposed on the housing, for sensing a fingerprint of a user;

an AP (Application Program) memory module, which is disposed in the housing, for storing a plurality of application programs and a set of reference fingerprint data; and

a control microprocessor disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the standard interface connector, the fingerprint sensor and the AP memory module, wherein;

the control microprocessor communicates with the terminal system by handshakes so as to upload an initializing program suitable for the terminal system to the terminal system, and the terminal system automatically runs the initializing program and then displays an application program menu on a user interface such that the user can make a selection;

the control microprocessor enables the terminal system to automatically run one fingerprint application program, which is suitable for the terminal system, among the application programs according to the selection made by the user on the application program menu;

the control microprocessor controls the fingerprint sensor to read the fingerprint of the user to obtain scanned fingerprint data, which is transferred to the terminal system according to the fingerprint application program executing in the terminal system;

the control microprocessor further transfers the set of reference fingerprint data to the terminal system; and

the terminal system processes the scanned fingerprint data, judges whether the scanned fingerprint data and the set of reference fingerprint data substantially match with each other, and executes the at least one specific operation if yes, wherein at least one application program among the plurality of application programs and corresponding to the at least one specific operation is transferred to the terminal system for installation and execution.

2. The electronic identification key according to claim 1, wherein the at least one specific operation is selected from at least one of the group consisting of:

a remote certification operation, in which the terminal system selectively transfers the scanned fingerprint data to a remote server, communicating with the terminal system according to a result that the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data, and the remote server judges whether or not the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with a set of advanced fingerprint data stored in the remote server, and outputs an authentication-pass result to the terminal system;

a control of terminal system function for partially or completely disabling or enabling an electrical device in the terminal system selectively according to the result that the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data;

a personal record retrieve operation for selectively retrieving a personal record stored in the AP memory module according to the result that the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data;

a data protection operation for selectively protecting electric data stored in the AP memory module according to the result that the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data; and

a remote file access operation for selectively accessing a remote file for a remote file account corresponding to the set of reference fingerprint data through the terminal system and a network according to the result that the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data, and the accessed remote file is stored in the AP memory module.

3. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the electrical device is a keyboard, a mouse, a hard disk drive or an optical disk drive.

4. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the set of reference fingerprint data comprises reference fingerprint data records corresponding to a plurality of authorized users.

5. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the standard interface connector is a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a PCMCIA interface, or an IEEE 1394 interface.

6. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the fingerprint sensor is an area-type fingerprint sensor or a sweep-type fingerprint sensor.

7. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the initializing program is stored in the AP memory module or a ROM of the control microprocessor.

8. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the AP memory module is a one-time programmable (OTP) memory, a NOR memory, or a NAND memory.

9. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the AP memory module has a plurality of blocks for separately storing the plurality of application programs and the set of reference fingerprint data.

10. The electronic identification key according to claim 2, wherein the AP memory module further stores a set of personal identification data.

11. The electronic identification key according to claim 1, wherein the control microprocessor can further process and judge whether or not the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data, and outputs an identification number to the terminal system if the scanned fingerprint data substantially matches with the set of reference fingerprint data.