METHOD AND SYSTEM OF IDENTIFYING A USER OF A HANDHELD DEVICE
First Claim
1. A handheld electronic device, comprising:
- a housing;
a touch sensor system disposed along a periphery of the housing and responsive to a plurality of simultaneous points of contact between a user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device to generate observation signals indicative of the plurality of points of contact between the user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device;
a touch sensor processing module configured to receive the observation signals from the touch sensor system and determine a user'"'"'s holding pattern;
an inertial sensor embedded in the housing and responsive to movement of the handheld electronic device by the user'"'"'s hand to generate inertial signals;
a trajectory module configured to determine a trajectory for the movement of the handheld electronic device, based on the inertial signals from the inertial sensor, a starting position, and an end position, the starting position being a location where the handheld electronic device in a resting position is grabbed by a user, the end position being a location of the handheld electronic device being held;
a touchpad located along an external surface of the housing that is responsive to the user'"'"'s finger movement along the external surface of the touchpad to generate touchpad signals;
a touchpad processing module configured to receive the touchpad signals and determines user finger movement data;
a user identification database storing data corresponding to attributes of a plurality of known users, wherein the attributes of the plurality of the known users are used to identify a user, and wherein the attributes include holding patterns of the plurality of known users, trajectories for the movement of the handheld electronic device of the plurality of known users, and user finger movement data of the plurality of known users; and
a user identification module configured to receive identification information of the user and identify the user based on the identification information and the attributes of the plurality of known users by accessing said used identification database, wherein the identification information includes the user'"'"'s holding pattern, the user'"'"'s trajectory for movement of the handheld electronic device, and the user'"'"'s finger movement data, wherein the user identification module is configured to identify the user by detecting a trajectory that matches the user'"'"'s trajectory for movement of the handheld electronic device from the trajectories for the movement of the handheld electronic device of the plurality of known users.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for identifying a user of a handheld device is herein disclosed. The device implementing the method and system may attempt to identify a user based on signals that are incidental to a user'"'"'s handling of the device. The signals are generated by a variety of sensors dispersed along the periphery or within the housing. The sensors range may include touch sensors, inertial sensors, acoustic sensors, pulse oximiters, and a touchpad. Based on the sensors and corresponding signals, identification information is generated. The identification information is used to identify the user of the handheld device. The handheld device may implement various statistical learning and data mining techniques to increase the robustness of the system. The device may also authenticate the user based on the user drawing a circle, or other shape.
150 Citations
48 Claims
-
1. A handheld electronic device, comprising:
-
a housing; a touch sensor system disposed along a periphery of the housing and responsive to a plurality of simultaneous points of contact between a user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device to generate observation signals indicative of the plurality of points of contact between the user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device; a touch sensor processing module configured to receive the observation signals from the touch sensor system and determine a user'"'"'s holding pattern; an inertial sensor embedded in the housing and responsive to movement of the handheld electronic device by the user'"'"'s hand to generate inertial signals; a trajectory module configured to determine a trajectory for the movement of the handheld electronic device, based on the inertial signals from the inertial sensor, a starting position, and an end position, the starting position being a location where the handheld electronic device in a resting position is grabbed by a user, the end position being a location of the handheld electronic device being held; a touchpad located along an external surface of the housing that is responsive to the user'"'"'s finger movement along the external surface of the touchpad to generate touchpad signals; a touchpad processing module configured to receive the touchpad signals and determines user finger movement data; a user identification database storing data corresponding to attributes of a plurality of known users, wherein the attributes of the plurality of the known users are used to identify a user, and wherein the attributes include holding patterns of the plurality of known users, trajectories for the movement of the handheld electronic device of the plurality of known users, and user finger movement data of the plurality of known users; and a user identification module configured to receive identification information of the user and identify the user based on the identification information and the attributes of the plurality of known users by accessing said used identification database, wherein the identification information includes the user'"'"'s holding pattern, the user'"'"'s trajectory for movement of the handheld electronic device, and the user'"'"'s finger movement data, wherein the user identification module is configured to identify the user by detecting a trajectory that matches the user'"'"'s trajectory for movement of the handheld electronic device from the trajectories for the movement of the handheld electronic device of the plurality of known users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 48)
-
-
11. A handheld electronic device, comprising:
-
a housing; a sensor system disposed along a periphery of the housing and responsive to a plurality of simultaneous points of contact between a user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device to generate observation signals indicative of the plurality of points of contact between the user'"'"'s hand and the handheld electronic device; a user identification database storing data corresponding attributes of a plurality of known users, wherein the attributes of the plurality of known users are used to identify a user; a user identification module configured to receive the observation signals from the sensor system and identify the user from the observation signals and the attributes of the plurality of users by accessing said user identification database; an inertial sensor embedded in the housing and responsive to movement of the handheld electronic device by the user'"'"'s hand to generate inertial signals; and a trajectory module configured to receive the inertial signals from the inertial sensor and determine a trajectory for the movement of the handheld electronic device, wherein the user identification module is configured to receive the trajectory from the trajectory module and identify the user based in part from the trajectory. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 47)
-
-
12-22. -22. (canceled)
-
27-28. -28. (canceled)
-
30-46. -46. (canceled)
Specification