SECURITY SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURITY CERTIFICATION THEREOF, METHOD OF GENERATING RELATIVE CHARACTER INFORMATION, TERMINAL SYSTEM, AND SMART CARD

• US 20090154780A1
• Filed: 11/07/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JANG, Won-Churl
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,003 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/125
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/12 Comprising means for protecting or securing the privacy of biometric data, e.g. cancellable biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/26 using a biometric sensor integrated in the pass

Abstract

A security system is provided. The security system includes a terminal system and a smart card. The terminal system generates relative fingerprint information of a user from absolute fingerprint information of the user, determines a similarity between the generated relative feature information of the user and registered relative fingerprint information of a smart card owner transmitted from the smart card to generate variation information, and applies the variation information to the user absolute fingerprint information to generate modified user absolute fingerprint information. The smart card determines the similarity between the modified user absolute feature information and registered absolute feature information of the smart card owner to perform a certification operation.

Claims

1. A security system performing security certification, comprising:

a terminal system; and

a smart card,

the terminal system configured to generate relative fingerprint information of a user from absolute fingerprint information of the user, determine a similarity between the generated relative fingerprint information of the user and a registered relative fingerprint information transmitted from the smart card to generate final variation information, and apply the final variation information to the user absolute fingerprint information to generate modified user absolute fingerprint information, and

the smart card configured to determine a similarity between the modified user absolute fingerprint information transmitted from the terminal system and registered absolute fingerprint information to perform a certification operation,

wherein the registered relative fingerprint information is derived from the registered absolute fingerprint information and the registered absolute fingerprint information identifies the owner of the smart card.

2. The security system of claim 1, wherein the absolute fingerprint information comprises at least three absolute feature points including end points or diverging points of ridges of a fingerprint, and the relative fingerprint information comprises information including at least one relative feature point including at least one of a centroid, an incenter, a circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of three of the adjacent absolute feature points.

3. The security system of claim 1, further comprising a card reader exchanging data between the smart card and the terminal system.

4. The security system of claim 2, wherein the terminal system comprises:

a feature information conversion generator configured to generate the user relative fingerprint information from the absolute fingerprint information of the user;

a main comparison engine configured to determine the similarity between the user relative fingerprint information and the registered relative fingerprint information transmitted from the smart card to generate the final variation information according to a result of the determined similarity; and

a user absolute feature information unit configured to generate the modified user absolute fingerprint information by applying the final variation information to the user absolute fingerprint information.

5. The security system of claim 4, wherein the smart card comprises:

a storage unit configured to store the registered absolute fingerprint information and the registered relative fingerprint information;

a sub comparison engine configured to determine the similarity between the modified user absolute fingerprint information transmitted from the terminal system and the registered absolute fingerprint information; and

a certifier to perform the certification operation.

6. The security system of claim 4, wherein the feature information conversion generator comprises:

a feature information extractor configured to receive a fingerprint image of the user and extract the ridges, the end points or the diverting points of the ridges from the fingerprint image as the absolute feature points; and

a user relative feature information generator configured to generate the relative fingerprint information including the at least one relative feature point.

7. The security system of claim 6, wherein the user relative feature information generator comprises:

an adjacent feature point extractor configured to select a reference point among the user absolute feature points, setting a first radius based on the reference point, and selecting two points among the absolute feature points closest to the outer edge of the first radius as adjacent feature points;

a relative feature point detector configured to generate a point of the centroid, the incenter, the circumcenter, the orthocenter, or the excenter of the reference point and the two points as the user relative feature point; and

a relative feature information completion unit configured to obtain an entire set of the user relative feature points to complete the user relative feature information.

8. The security system of claim 1, further comprising a fingerprint image acquirer configured to obtain a fingerprint image of the user and output the obtained fingerprint image to the terminal system.

9. The security system of claim 4, wherein the main comparison engine further comprises:

a relative feature information comparison unit configured to perform a comparison of the user relative fingerprint information and the registered relative fingerprint information; and

a certification result processor performing a final certification operation according to the certification operation performed by the smart card and when the comparison indicates a match between the user relative fingerprint information and the registered relative fingerprint information.

10. The security system of claim 9, wherein the relative feature information comparison unit performs the comparison by selecting one registered relative feature point among the registered relative fingerprint information as a first registered reference feature point, selecting one user relative feature point among the user relative fingerprint information as a first user reference feature point, and comparing the first registered reference feature point and the first user reference feature point.

11. The security system of claim 10, wherein the comparison is based on a distance difference, and a rotational angle difference between the first user reference feature point and the first registered reference feature point.

12. The security system of claim 11, wherein the comparison indicates the match when the distance difference and rotational angle difference are within a predetermined range.

13. The security system of claim 5, wherein the sub comparison engine selects one of the registered absolute feature points as a second registered reference feature point, selects one user absolute feature point among the modified user absolute fingerprint information as a second user reference feature point, and determines the similarity between the registered absolute fingerprint information and the user absolute fingerprint information based on the second registered reference feature point and the user reference feature point, and

the certifier determines the similarity between the fingerprint information of the user and the fingerprint information of the smart card owner according to a result of the determined similarity and then outputs a certification result.

14. The security system of claim 13, wherein the similarity determination comprises:

calculating a distance difference and a rotational angle difference between the registered absolute feature point and the corresponding user absolute feature point, and determining whether the differences are within a predetermined range.

15. A security certification method comprising:

generating user relative feature information from fingerprint information of a user;

generating final variation information based on a similarity between the user relative feature information and registered relative feature information transmitted from a smart card;

applying the final variation information to the user absolute feature information to generate modified user absolute feature information; and

certifying the user as the owner of the smart card when a similarity between the modified user absolute feature information and registered absolute feature information of the smart card owner exceeds a predetermined threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating of the user relative feature information comprises:

extracting ridges, end points or diverting points of the ridges from a fingerprint image of the user as user absolute feature points; and

generating the relative feature information including at least one centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, or excenter of three of the adjacent user absolute feature points.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the registered absolute feature information comprises at least three registered absolute feature points including ridges, end points or diverging points of the ridges extracted from a fingerprint of the smart card owner, and the registered relative feature information comprises at least one registered relative feature point including at least one of a centroid, an incenter, a circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of three of the adjacent registered absolute feature points.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the generating of the user relative feature information comprises:

selecting a reference point among the user absolute feature points, setting a first radius based on the reference point, and selecting the two of the user absolute feature points closest to an outer edge of the first radius as adjacent feature points;

generating a centroid, an incenter, a circumcenter, an orthocenter, and an excenter of the reference point and the two closest feature points as user relative feature points.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating of the final variation information comprises:

selecting one of the registered relative feature points as a first registered reference feature point;

selecting one of the user relative feature points as a first user reference feature point;

calculating variation information between the first registered reference feature point and the first user reference feature point and modifying the user relative feature information by applying the variation information; and

determining the similarity between the user relative feature information and the registered relative feature information and determining the final variation information according to the similarity determination result.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the variation information comprises a distance difference and a rotational angle difference between the first user reference feature point and the first registered reference feature point.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the similarity determination comprises determining whether the distance difference is within a first predetermined range and whether the rotational angle difference is within a second predetermined range.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the certifying comprises:

selecting one of registered absolute feature point as a second registered reference feature point;

selecting one of the user absolute feature points as a second user reference feature point; and

determining the similarity between the registered absolute feature information and the user absolute feature information based on the second registered reference feature point and the user reference feature point to output a certification result.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the determining of the similarity comprises:

calculating a distance difference and a rotational angle difference between the registered absolute feature point and the corresponding user absolute feature point and determining whether the differences are within a predetermined threshold.

24. A method of generating feature information used for security certification, the method comprising:

extracting a fingerprint image;

generating absolute feature information from the fingerprint image, the absolute feature information including a set of at least three absolute feature points of end points or diverging points of ridges of the fingerprint image, and

generating relative feature information including a set of relative feature points of a centroid, an incenter, a circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of the three adjacent absolute feature points.

25. A method of performing security certification by a terminal system, comprising:

generating relative fingerprint information of a user from user absolute fingerprint information of the user;

determining a similarity between the relative fingerprint information of the user and registered relative fingerprint information of a smart card owner to generate final variation information;

applying the final variation information to the user absolute fingerprint information to generate modified user absolute fingerprint information; and

certifying the user as the owner of the smart card when a difference between the modified user absolute fingerprint information and registered absolute fingerprint information of the smart card owner exceed a predefined threshold.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the absolute fingerprint information comprises a set of absolute feature points including end points or diverging points of ridges of a fingerprint, and the relative feature information comprises a set of relative feature points including a centroid, an incenter, a circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of the three adjacent absolute feature points.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the terminal system comprises:

a feature information conversion generator configured to generate the user relative fingerprint information from the absolute fingerprint information of the user;

a main comparison engine configured to determine the similarity between the user relative fingerprint information and the registered relative fingerprint information which is transmitted from the smart card to generate the final variation information according to the similarity determination result; and

a user absolute feature information unit configured to generate the modified user absolute fingerprint information by applying the final variation information to the user absolute fingerprint information.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the feature information conversion generator comprises:

a feature information extractor receiving a fingerprint image of the user and extracting ridges, end points or diverting points of the ridges from the fingerprint image as the relative feature points; and

a user relative feature information generator generating the relative fingerprint information including a set of points of a centroid, an incenter, an circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of three adjacent points among the absolute feature points.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the user relative feature information generator comprises:

an adjacent feature point extractor selecting a reference point among the user absolute fingerprint information, setting a first radius based on the reference point, and selecting two points of the absolute fingerprint information closest to an outer edge of the first radius as adjacent feature points;

a relative feature point detector generating a point of the centroid, the incenter, the circumcenter, the orthocenter, or the excenter of the reference point and the two closest feature points as the user relative feature point; and

a relative feature information completion unit obtaining an entire set of the user relative feature points.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the main comparison engine further comprises:

a relative feature information comparison unit selecting one registered relative feature point among the registered relative feature information as a first registered reference feature point, selecting one user relative feature point among the user relative feature information as a first user reference feature point, calculating variation information between the first registered reference point and the first user reference feature point, modifying the user relative feature information by applying the variation information in order to determine the similarity between the user relative feature information and the registered relative feature information, and generating the final variation information according to the similarity determination result; and

a certification result processor performing a final certification operation according to a certification result of the smart card.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the variation information comprises a distance difference and a rotational angle difference between the first user reference feature point and the first registered reference feature point.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the similarity determination comprises:

determining whether the distance difference and the rotational angle difference between the modified user relative feature point and the corresponding registered relative feature point are within a predetermined threshold.

33. A smart card comprising:

a storage unit storing registered absolute feature information of a smart card owner and registered relative feature information, generated from the registered absolute feature information; and

a sub comparison engine determining a similarity between modified user absolute feature information and the registered absolute feature information,

wherein the modified user absolute feature information is generated by applying final variation information obtained from determining a similarity between the registered relative feature information and user relative feature information; and

a certifier to certify the user as the smart card owner when the similarity between modified user absolute feature information and the registered absolute feature information exceeds a predefined threshold.

34. The smart card of claim 33, wherein the absolute feature information comprises a set of absolute feature points including end points or diverging points of ridges of a fingerprint, and

the relative feature information comprises a set of relative feature points including a centroid, an incenter, the circumcenter, an orthocenter, or an excenter of the three adjacent absolute feature points.

35. The smart card of claim 34, further comprising:

a sub comparison engine configured to determine the similarity between the modified user absolute feature information and the registered absolute feature information.

36. The smart card of claim 35, wherein the sub comparison engine selects one registered absolute feature point among the registered absolute feature information as a registered reference feature point, selects one user absolute feature point among the modified user absolute feature information as a user reference feature point, determines the similarity between the registered absolute feature information and the user absolute feature information based on the registered reference feature point and the user reference feature point, and transmits a certification result according to the similarity determination result to a terminal system.

37. The smart card of claim 36, wherein the similarity determination comprises:

calculating a distance difference and a rotational angle difference between the registered absolute feature point and the corresponding user absolute feature point, and determining whether the differences are within a predetermined range.