System and Method for Remote Test Administration and Monitoring

• US 20110279228A1
• Filed: 05/12/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verificient Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Weyond Conferencing, LLC
• Inventors: Kumar, Rajnish
• Granted Patent: US 8,926,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.83
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A system and method for remote test administration are disclosed. The system includes a testing station having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory configured to store processor executable instructions configured to acquire biometric information related to a user, wherein the user is substantially adjacent to the testing station; identify at least one biometric vector within the acquired biometric information; and communicate the identified biometric vector. The system further includes a monitoring station configured to receive the biometric vector communicated by the testing station, the monitoring station having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory configured to store processor executable instructions configured to: compare the received biometric vector to a stored biometric vector and determine a recognition weight; group the biometric vector into one or more polling clusters based on the recognition weight and one or more recognition thresholds; and monitor the user at the testing station based on feature vectors associated with the one or more polling clusters.

Claims

1. A system for remote test administration, the system comprising:

a testing station having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory configured to store processor executable instructions configured to;

acquire biometric information related to a user, wherein the user is substantially adjacent to the testing station;

identify at least one biometric vector within the acquired biometric information; and

communicate the identified biometric vector;

a monitoring station configured to receive the biometric vector communicated by the testing station, the monitoring station having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory configured to store processor executable instructions configured to;

compare the received biometric vector to a stored biometric vector and determine a recognition weight;

group the biometric vector into one or more polling clusters based on the recognition weight and one or more recognition thresholds; and

monitor the user at the testing station based on feature vectors associated with the one or more polling clusters.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric information is digital image of the user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein identify at least one biometric vector comprises implement a facial recognition algorithm.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the polling clusters is associated with a different polling period.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric information is acquired via an input device selected from the group consisting of:

a fingerprint scanner;

a digital imaging device;

a keyboard device; and

an audio capture device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to:

compare each of the monitored feature vectors associated with one or more users with respect to a group of biometric vectors that includes all of the biometric vector grouped into the one or more polling clusters.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to:

identify at least one outlier feature vector, wherein the outlier feature vector is determined with respect to the group of biometric vectors.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to:

notify, at the monitoring station, a proctor of the identified at least one outlier feature vector.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to:

notify, at the testing station, the user associated with the identified at least one outlier feature vector.

10. A method of remote test administration, the method comprising:

acquiring biometric information related to a user interacting with a testing station;

identifying at least one biometric vector based on the acquired biometric information;

communicating the identified biometric vector to a centralized monitoring station for compiling with a plurality of identified biometric vectors acquired from a plurality of different users;

comparing the identified biometric vector to the plurality of identified biometric vectors to determine a recognition weight;

grouping the identified biometric vector into one or more clusters based on the recognition weight and one or more recognition thresholds; and

monitoring the user at the testing station based on feature vectors associated with the one or more clusters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein comparing the identified biometric vector comprises gathering the plurality of identified biometric vectors associated with the plurality of users participating in one or more similar tests.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein acquiring biometric information comprises acquiring a digital image of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one biometric vector comprises implementing a facial recognition algorithm.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein monitoring the user comprises monitoring each user within the one or more clusters according to a different polling period associated with each cluster.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

comparing each of the monitored feature vectors associated with one or more users with respect to a group of biometric vectors that includes all of the biometric vector grouped into the one or more clusters.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

identifying at least one outlier feature vector, wherein the outlier feature vector is determined with respect to the plurality of identified biometric vectors.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

notifying a proctor of the identified at least one outlier feature vector.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein monitoring the biometric information of the user and the plurality of users further comprises:

identifying at least one biometric vector within the biometric information; and

computing at least one feature vector from the identified at least on biometric vector.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

comparing each of the computed feature vectors associated with the user and the plurality of users; and

identifying at least one outlier feature vector, wherein the outlier feature vector is determined with respect to the computed feature vectors associated with the plurality of users.

18. A computer-implemented method of test administration, the method comprising:

identifying an exam pattern for a test to be administered;

comparing the identified test pattern to the stored test patterns of a plurality of tests to be administered;

grouping the identified exam pattern with one or more of the stored test patterns such that biometric information related to a user associated with the exam pattern for the test to be administered can be grouped with biometric information related to a plurality of users associated with the stored test patterns of the plurality of tests to be administered;

monitoring the biometric information of the user as the user participates in the test to be administered; and

monitoring the biometric information of the plurality of users associated with the stored test patterns, wherein the biometric information of the plurality of users is grouped with the biometric information of the user and wherein the plurality of users are monitored participating in the plurality of tests to be administered.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

notifying a proctor of the identified at least one outlier feature vector.

22. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for monitoring testing, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

receiving measurements from a testing station, the measurements being other than video and audio;

identifying suspect behavior from the measurements;

displaying a video feed from the testing station in response to the identification of the suspect behavior.