Biometrics authentication method and biometrics authentication system

• US 20080002861A1
• Filed: 01/31/2007
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Frontech Limited (Fujitsu Limited), Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takaku, Kazuo, Yano, Masayuki, Iwasaki, Shinya, Suzuki, Naoko, Katsumata, Yutaka, Mita, Yasuhiko, Mutou, Ikuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,885,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints

Abstract

A biometrics authentication system detect body characteristics, verify the characteristics against registered biometrics data to perform individual authentication. In 1:n authentication, a plurality of different type biometrics database sets of a user are registered in a database, and at the time of verification of one type biometrics data set with one type registered biometrics data set, the control unit judges whether similar biometrics data sets of other person are registered, and if other person'"'"'s similar biometrics data sets are registered, performs verification of each of the another type biometrics data sets of the plurality of similar biometrics data sets with the detected another type biometrics data set, and identifies the individual in question.

Claims

1. A biometrics authentication system which detects characteristics of a body of a user to perform individual authentication, comprising:

a detection device which detects a relevant portion of the body and outputs biometrics data indicating characteristics of the body;

a database file which stores at least two different type biometrics data sets for each of a plurality of users, detected by the detection device; and

a control unit which verifies the biometrics data detected at the time of authentication against biometrics data registered in the database file, and identifies an individual with biometrics characteristic data for which the verification result is satisfactory,

wherein the control unit, at the time of authentication, verifies one type biometrics data set detected by the detection device against one type biometrics data set registered in the database file, and upon judging that similar registered one type biometrics data set exists, verifies another type biometrics data set detected by the detection device against another type biometrics data set registered in the database file, and performs individual authentication.

2. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, at the time of registration of the biometrics data, performs verification of at least one type biometrics data set detected by the detection device against the one type biometrics data set registered in the database file, judges whether a similar biometrics data set is registered, and, if similar one type biometrics data set is registered, registers in the database file similarity information indicating the existence of similar data together with the two different type biometrics data, and at the time of authentication, upon judging that there exists one type registered biometrics data set similar to the one type detected biometrics data set, verifies the detected another type biometrics data set against another type biometrics data set registered in the database file by referencing the similarity information, and performs individual authentication.

3. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit, upon judging that there exists one type registered biometrics data set similar to the one type detected biometrics data set, identifies, from the similarity information which has been set for the one type biometric data set judged to be similar, another type biometric data set forming a pair with the other similar one type biometric data set, verify another type detected biometrics set against the identified another type biometric set and another type biometric data set forming a pair with the one similar one type biometric data set registered in the database file, and perform individual authentication.

4. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit sets, as the similarity information, an identifier of the other similar biometrics data set in the one similar biometrics data set, and an identifier of the one similar biometrics data set in the other similar biometrics data set.

5. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit, upon judging that one type registered biometrics data set similar to the one type detected biometrics data set exists, identifies another type biometrics data set forming a pair with the other similar one type biometrics data set from the other one type biometrics data identifier which has been set in the registered one type biometrics data set which is judged similar, verifies the detected another type biometrics data set against the registered another type biometrics data set forming a pair with the other similar one type biometrics data set and the registered another type biometrics data set forming a pair with the judged one type biometrics data set, and performs individual authentication.

6. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the database file comprises:

a biometrics database file which stores biometrics data;

an individual database file which stores individual data for the user; and

a link table which links the individual data in the individual database file to the biometrics data in the biometrics data file.

7. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 6, wherein the individual data file stores similarity information indicating the fact that there is registered biometrics data for another person similar to the biometrics data for the user of the individual data.

8. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, after deleting biometrics data for the user from the database file, acquires biometrics data for the user from the detection device, and verifies the detected biometric data against the biometrics data registered in the database file, to confirm the deletion.

9. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 8, wherein the control unit sets, as similarity information, an identifier of other similar biometrics data set in the one similar biometrics data set, and an identifier of the one similar biometrics data set in the other similar biometrics data set, and deletes the biometrics data for the user and the both identifiers from the database file.

10. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the detection device comprises a device which detects a blood vessel image of the body.

11. The biometrics authentication system according to claim 10, wherein the detection device comprises an image capture unit which captures a blood vessel image of a hand of the body.

12. A biometrics authentication method of detecting characteristics of a body of a user and performing individual authentication, comprising:

a step of detecting a relevant portion of the body using a detection device, and of outputting biometrics data indicating characteristics of the body;

a step of registering, in a database file, at least two different type biometrics data sets for each of a plurality of users, detected by the detection device;

a step of verifying detected one type biometrics data set against one type biometrics data set registered in the database file, and judging whether there exists the registered one type biometrics data set which is similar; and

a step of, when the similar one type biometrics data set is judged to be registered, verifying another type biometrics data set detected by the detection device against another type biometrics data set registered in the database file to perform individual authentication.

13. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 12, wherein the registration step comprises:

a step of performing verification of at least one type biometrics data set detected by the detection device against the one type biometrics data set registered in the database file;

a step of judging whether a similar one type biometrics data set is registered; and

a step of, when similar one type biometrics data set is registered, registering, in the database file, similarity information indicating the existence of similar data together with the two different type biometrics data sets,

and wherein the authentication step comprises a step of verifying the detected another type biometrics data set against another type biometrics data set registered in the database file by referencing the similarity information, and of performing individual authentication.

14. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 13, wherein the authentication step comprises:

a step of identifying another type biometric data set forming a pair with the other similar one type biometric data set from the similarity information which has been set for the one type biometric data set judged to be similar; and

a step of verifying another type detected biometrics set against the identified another type biometric set and another type biometric data set forming a pair with the one similar one type biometric data set registered in the database file, and performing individual authentication.

15. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 13, wherein the registration step comprises a step of setting, as the similarity information, an identifier of the other similar biometrics data set in the one similar biometrics data set, and an identifier of the one similar biometrics data set in the other similar biometrics data set.

16. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 15, wherein the authentication step comprises:

a step of identifying another type biometrics data set forming a pair with the other similar one type biometrics data set from the identifier of the other similar biometrics data set, which has been set for the one type biometrics data set which is judged similar; and

a step of verifying the detected another type biometrics data set against the identified another type biometrics data set with the another type biometrics data set forming a pair with the one type biometrics data set in the database file, and performing individual authentication.

17. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 12, wherein the registration step comprises:

a step of storing the biometrics data in a biometrics database file;

a step of storing individual data for the user in an individual database file; and

a step of creating a link table to link the individual data in the individual database file with the biometrics data in the biometrics database file.

18. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 17, further comprising a step of storing, in the individual data of the individual data file, similarity information indicating the fact that the registered biometrics data for another person is similar to the biometrics data of for user of the individual data.

19. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 12, wherein further comprising:

a step of deleting from the database file the biometrics data for the user; and

a step of acquiring biometrics data for the user from the detection device, verifying the acquired biometric data against the biometrics data registered in the database file, and confirming the deletion.

20. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 19, wherein the deletion step further comprises a step of deleting, from the database file, the similarity information in which an identifier of the other similar biometrics data set is set in the one similar biometrics data set, and an identifier of the one similar biometrics data set is set in the other similar biometrics data set.

21. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 12, wherein the detecting step comprises a step of detecting a blood vessel image of the body and outputting biometrics data indicating characteristics of the blood vessel image.

22. The biometrics authentication method according to claim 21, wherein the detecting step comprises a step of capturing an image of blood vessels of a hand of the body, and outputting biometrics data indicating characteristics of the blood vessel image.