USING A SURFACE BASED COMPUTING DEVICE FOR VERIFICATION OF AN IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT

• US 20090052751A1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LAFFOON, CHRISTOPHER M., LEMANSKI, KATHRYN J., SRIKANTH, VISWANATH, GRIGSBY, TRAVIS M., CHANEY, CRAIG W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,983,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/751 Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching

Abstract

The current invention discloses a solution for using a surface based computing device for verification of an identification document, such as a driver'"'"'s license. A surface based computing device can be a device capable of scanning an identification document, comparing the scanned document against a set of conditions for a valid document, and reporting comparison results. A secured resource can be granted based at least in part upon identity verifications conducted by the surface based computing device. The surface based computing device can include a MICROSOFT SURFACE device or any other computing device able to scan an identification document and to process scanned results. In one embodiment, the surface based computing device can be used in conjunction with a human agent for added security.

Claims

1. A method of granting access to a secured resource based upon verifying an identification document comprising:

identifying an identification document placed on a surface based computing device;

the surface based computing device digitally encoding information from the identification document;

analyzing the digitally encoded information to determine a type of the identification document;

retrieving features for the determined type of identification document from a data store;

comparing the digitally encoded information against the retrieved features to determine a compatibility score;

when the compatibility score exceeds a previously established threshold, verifying the identification document as authentic; and

when the compatibility score does not exceed the previously established threshold, determining that the identification document is not verified, wherein verified identification documents are utilized to grant a related user access to a secured resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification document includes a birth date, wherein the secured resource is an age restricted resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the secured resource is associated with a purchase attempt of at least one of alcohol and tobacco.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the secured resource is an authentication action for a negotiable instrument, wherein said negotiable instrument comprises at least one of a check, a credit card, and a debit card.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein content contained in the digitally encoded information is compared against content of the negotiable instrument to verify that a negotiable instrument user is the same user as that associated with the identification document.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requiring a human verification agent to verify the identification document before granting access to the secured resource.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

presenting the human verification agent with verifying instructions for the identification document, wherein said verifying instructions are based upon the retrieved features.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing an image of a user presenting the identification document;

comparing the image against an image contained within the digitally encoded information; and

basing the granting of access to the secured resource upon comparison results of the captured image and the image from the identification document.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving information related to the identification document from a remotely located authority source;

comparing the retrieved information against the digitally encoded information from the identification document; and

basing the granting of access to the secured resource upon comparison results of the retrieved information and the digitally encoded information from the identification document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface based computing device is a Point of Sale (POS) device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface based computing device is a device located at or within tables of an alcohol serving establishment, wherein the identification document comprises a birth date, and wherein the secured resource is associated with a purchase attempt of alcohol.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface based computing device is integrated within a surface used for a non-computing purpose, wherein the surface based computing device lacks keyboard and mouse peripherals for interactions, wherein the surface based computing device automatically detects when the identification document is placed upon the surface, which initiates the digitally encoding step.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface based computing device is a MICROSOFT SURFACE based device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program stored in a computer readable media, said computer programming having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine.

15. A surface based computing device comprising:

a scanning device configured to scan an identification document;

an identification engine implemented within software executed upon the surface based computing device, where the identification engine is configured to analyze an identification document scanned by the scanning device to determine a validity of the scanned document by comparing features of the scanned identification document against features of an identification document template for a document of a same type as the scanned identification document; and

a user interface configured to present at least one of a user and a human verification agent with verification results of the analysis performed by the identification verification engine, wherein the verification results are utilized to selectively grant access to a secured resource.

16. The surface based computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

an image capture device configured to capturing an image of a user presenting the identification document, wherein the surface based computing device is configured to compare the image against an image contained in the identification document that has been scanned by the scanning device, wherein a granting of access to the secured resource is based upon comparison results of the captured image and the scanned image.

17. The surface based computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

a transceiver configured to connect the surface based communication device to a network; and

a content extraction engine configured to extract semantic content from the scanned document, wherein the surface based computing device is configured to retrieve information related to the identification document from a remotely located authority source, to compare the retrieved information against the digitally encoded information from the identification document, and to grant access to the secured resource based upon comparison results of the retrieved information and the extracted semantic content.

18. The surface based computing device of claim 15, wherein the surface based computing device is a Point of Sale (POS) device, wherein the identification document comprises a birth date, and wherein the secured resource is an age restricted resource.

19. The surface based computing device of claim 15, wherein the surface based computing device is a MICROSOFT SURFACE based device.