AUTHENTICATION APPARATUS, AUTHENTICATION METHOD, AND AUTHENTICATION PROGRAM

• US 20090261947A1
• Filed: 06/24/2009
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Aoki, Takahiro, Watanabe, Masaki, Endoh, Toshio, Fukuda, Mitsuaki, Yokoi, Hironori, Hama, Soichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,310,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.820
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints

Abstract

Disclosed is an authentication apparatus easily achieving convenience and high accuracy in authentication. The authentication apparatus has an authentication accuracy simulation section that simulates authentication accuracy and also has a registration information setting section that sets an ID and biometric information input as registration information. The authentication accuracy simulation section uses an ID and biometric information that has been input as registration information by a user at the time of registration and the registered registration information to simulate authentication accuracy with which the user is authenticated. When the authentication accuracy simulated by the authentication accuracy simulation section does not satisfy a predetermined condition, the registration information setting section rejects registration of the ID input as the registration information.

Claims

1. An authentication apparatus that uses an ID and biometric information that have been registered and an ID and biometric information that are input after the registration to authenticate a user corresponding to the ID and biometric information that are input after the registration, characterized by comprising:

an authentication accuracy simulation section that simulates authentication accuracy for authentication; and

a registration information setting section that sets the ID and biometric information that are input, wherein

the authentication accuracy simulation section uses the ID and biometric information that are input as registration information by the user at the time of registration and the ID and biometric information that have been registered so as to simulate authentication accuracy where the user who input the ID and biometric information as the registration information is authenticated, and

the registration information setting section requests the user to change the ID input as the registration information when the authentication accuracy simulated by the authentication accuracy simulation section does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

2. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by comprising a matching time simulation section that simulates matching time for authentication, wherein

the matching time simulation section uses the ID and biometric information that have been input as registration information by the user and registered registration information to simulate matching time required to authenticate the user, and

the registration information setting section presents the matching time simulated by the matching time simulation section to the user and receives an instruction to change the ID from the user.

3. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by comprising a timer section that measures matching time required in the case where the ID and biometric information that have been input by the user at the time of authentication and registered registration information are used to authenticate the user, wherein

the registration information setting section presents matching time measured by the timer section to the user and receives an instruction to change the ID from the user.

4. The authentication apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that

in the case where the registration information setting section received the instruction to change the ID, the authentication accuracy simulation section uses a newly input ID, registered biometric information and registered registration information to simulate authentication accuracy with which the user is authenticated, and

the registration information setting section rejects registration of the newly input ID when the authentication accuracy simulated by the authentication accuracy simulation section does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

5. The authentication apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that

the registration information setting section requests the user to change the ID input as the registration information when the authentication accuracy simulated by the authentication accuracy simulation section does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

6. The authentication apparatus according to claim 3, characterized by comprising a matching time simulation section that simulates matching time for authentication, wherein

the matching time simulation section uses the newly input ID, registered biometric information, and registered registration information to simulate matching time required to authenticate the user, and

the registration information setting section presents the matching time simulated by the matching time simulation section to the user and receives the instruction to change the ID from the user.

7. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

the ID is constituted by a plurality of characters or numbers, or a combination thereof, and

the number of digits of the ID is set to the same value among all users or set to an arbitrary value not more than a predetermined upper limit.

8. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

the registration information setting section applies at least one of quantization and noise addition to authentication accuracy simulated by the authentication accuracy simulation section and presents the resultant authentication accuracy to the user using a numeric value or symbol.

9. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

available IDs for which simulated authentication accuracy satisfies a predetermined condition are displayed at one or both of the ID registration time and ID change time.

10. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

when the user inputs an ID with a plurality of input operation steps at the authentication time, if the user ID can uniquely be identified before completion of the plurality of input operation steps, the user authentication processing can be started at an input operation step at which the user ID has been uniquely identified.

11. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

when the user inputs an ID with a plurality of input operation steps at the authentication time, even if the user ID cannot uniquely be identified, if the number of pieces of registered registration information corresponding to the ID whose first some digits coincide with input digits is less than a predetermined number, the user authentication processing can be started at an input operation step at which the number of pieces of the registration information is less than a predetermined number.

12. The authentication apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that

the authentication accuracy simulation section performs the authentication accuracy simulation based on the number of pieces of registration information to be searched for.

13. The authentication apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that

the matching time simulation section performs the matching time simulation based on the number of pieces of registration information to be searched for or actually measures the matching time using biometric information corresponding to a target user.

14. An authentication program for allowing a computer to execute an authentication method that uses an ID and biometric information that have been registered and an ID and biometric information that are input after the registration to authenticate a user corresponding to the ID and biometric information that are input after the registration, the program allowing the computer to execute:

an authentication accuracy simulation step that simulates authentication accuracy for authentication; and

a registration information setting step that sets the ID and biometric information that are input, wherein

the authentication accuracy simulation step uses the ID and biometric information that are input as registration information by the user at the time of registration and the ID and biometric information that have already been registered to simulate authentication accuracy where a user who input the ID and biometric information as the registration is authenticated, and

the registration information setting step requests the user to change the ID input as the registration information when the authentication accuracy simulated in the authentication accuracy simulation step does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

15. The authentication program according to claim 14, characterized by comprising a matching time simulation step that simulates matching time for authentication, wherein

the matching time simulation step uses the ID and biometric information that have been input as registration information by the user at the time of registration and the registered registration information to simulate matching time required to authenticate the user, and

the registration information setting step presents the matching time simulated by the matching time simulation section to the user and receives an instruction to change the ID from the user.

16. The authentication program according to claim 14, characterized by comprising a time counting step that measures matching time required in the case where the ID and biometric information that have been input by the user at the time of authentication and the registered registration information are used to authenticate the user, wherein

the registration information setting step presents matching time measured by the time counting step to the user and receives an instruction to change the ID from the user.

17. The authentication program according to claim 16, characterized in that

in the case where the registration information setting step received the instruction to change the ID, the authentication accuracy simulation step uses a newly input ID, registered biometric information and registered registration information to simulate authentication accuracy with which the user is authenticated, and

the registration information setting step rejects registration of the newly input ID when the authentication accuracy simulated in the authentication accuracy simulation step does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

18. An authentication method that uses an ID and biometric information that have been registered and an ID and biometric information that are input after the registration to authenticate a user corresponding to the ID and biometric information that are input after the registration, comprising:

an authentication accuracy simulation step that simulates authentication accuracy for authentication; and

a registration information setting step that sets the ID and biometric information that are input, wherein

the authentication accuracy simulation step uses the ID and biometric information that are input as registration information by the user at the time of registration and the ID and biometric information that have already been registered to simulate authentication accuracy where a user who input the ID and biometric information as the registration is authenticated, and

the registration information setting step requests the user to change the ID input as the registration information when the authentication accuracy simulated in the authentication accuracy simulation step does not satisfy a predetermined condition.