TOUCH-BASED AUTHENTICATION OF A MOBILE DEVICE THROUGH USER GENERATED PATTERN CREATION

• US 20090284482A1
• Filed: 05/17/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David H. Chin
• Original Assignee: David H. Chin
• Inventors: CHIN, DAVID H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,174,503 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus of a touch-based authentication of a mobile device through user generated pattern creation are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a mobile device includes recognizing a tactile force on a touch screen without a visual aid as an unlocking gesture, storing the unlocking gesture to a memory of the mobile device, associating another tactile force on the touch screen with the unlocking gesture, and transforming the mobile device from an initial state to an unlocked state based on the association between the another tactile force and the unlocking gesture. The method may include transforming the mobile device to operate as a telephonic communication device in the unlocked state.

Claims

1. A method of a mobile device comprising:

recognizing a tactile force on a touch screen without a visual aid as an unlocking gesture;

storing the unlocking gesture to a memory of the mobile device;

associating another tactile force on the touch screen with the unlocking gesture; and

transforming the mobile device from an initial state to an unlocked state based on the association between the another tactile force and the unlocking gesture.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transforming the mobile device to operate as a telephonic communication device in the unlocked state.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

accessing a contact list and a greeting message based on a user profile of the telephonic communication device associated with the unlocking gesture to transform the mobile device to operate as the telephonic communication device.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising accessing a media playlist based on the user profile of the telephonic communication device associated with the unlocking gesture to transform the mobile device to operate as a media player.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

associating a set of bookmarks based on the user profile of the telephonic communication device associated with the unlocking gesture to enable customized settings on a browser application of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the tactile force is placed at multiple distinct locations on the touch screen while recognizing the tactile force as the unlocking gesture, wherein the multiple distinct locations are simultaneously and serially placed.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

designating a region of the touch screen as available to receive the another tactile force, such that the another tactile force is algorithmically determinable to be the unlocking gesture when recognized in the designated region.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining a duration of the another tactile force at a particular location of the touch screen to determine whether it is the unlocking gesture.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining that a total time to create the another tactile force is within a permitted amount of time when determining whether it is the unlocking gesture.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

operating the mobile device in the initial state such that certain functions are disabled in the initial state to conserve battery consumption of the mobile device through a power management circuitry of the mobile device.

11. The method claim 10 wherein the memory is a local memory of the mobile device that is internal to the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that a next tactile force is unrelated with the unlocking gesture; and

transforming the mobile device from the initial state to a locked state based on the determination that the next tactile force is unrelated with the unlocking gesture.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

permitting the mobile device to communicate with an emergency service provider even when in the locked state.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the unlocking gesture is similar to a stored gesture beyond a tolerance value; and

requesting a different gesture to be stored when the determination is made that the unlocking gesture is similar beyond the tolerance value.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the another tactile force is within an acceptance range of associability with the unlocking gesture when associating the another tactile force with the unlocking gesture.

16. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

17. A method of a mobile device comprising:

determining whether a tactile force on a touch screen without any visual aid on the touch screen is associated with a security gesture;

permitting access to a set of applications of the mobile device when an association is made between the tactile force and the security gesture; and

denying access to the set of applications of the mobile device when the association fails to be made between the tactile force and the security gesture.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

directly opening a particular application of the mobile device when the association is made between the tactile force and the security gesture.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the security gesture is a user-generated gesture that is stored in a memory that is internal to the mobile device.

20. A mobile device, comprising:

a touchscreen to recognize a tactile force using a processor of the mobile device;

a security module interfaced with the processor to associate the tactile force with a security gesture, and to determine access to a set of features on the mobile device based on the association; and

a user module of the security module to create security gestures based on a user input.