Biometric Key

• US 20120079273A1
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MU Hua Investments Limited
• Original Assignee: MU Hua Investments Limited
• Inventors: Bacchiaz, John David, Pajnic, Andrej, Zepic, Tomaz, Podlipec, Bostjan
• Granted Patent: US 8,307,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00563 using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3231 Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A biometric key (10) which has an interface or electrical connection to a receptor body (11) which functions as an external power source a biometric sensor, a CPU, a nonvolatile memory unit incorporating a database of authorised biometric signatures or biocodes along with associated firmware required for comparison between data received from the biometric sensor and to provide acceptance or rejection of said data upon electrical connection to the receptor body (11) whereby a signal is sent to a facility (12, 13, 15, 16, 17) accessible by the key (10) advising of said acceptance or rejection.

Claims

1. A biometric key which has an interface or electrical connection to a receptor body which functions as an external power source, a biometric sensor, said biometric key including a central processing unit, a nonvolatile memory unit incorporating a database of authorised biometric signatures along with associated firmware required for comparison between data received from the biometric sensor and to provide acceptance or rejection of said data upon electrical connection to said receptor body whereby a signal is sent to a facility accessible by the biometric key advising of said acceptance or rejection characterized in that during use an authorized biometric signature is not transferred to any external computer or processor.

6. A communication method including the following steps:

(i) making electrical connection between a biometric key as claimed in claim 1 and a receptor body thereby making communication with a server wherein the biometric key has a public key and a private key and the server also has a public key and a private key wherein the server will identify the biometric key upon making such electrical connection;

(ii) establishing a security code for communication between the biometric key and the server wherein said security code will be encrypted with the biometric key'"'"'s public key and sent to the biometric key for decryption by the private key of the biometric key and said security code will be encrypted with the server'"'"'s public key and sent to the server for decryption by the server'"'"'s private key;

(iii) establishing using the security code and procedure in step (ii) that the biometric key is authorised to use the receptor body and if such authorisation is present a biocode of a user of the biometric key will subsequently be compared to a database located in the biometric key and if a match is obtained a communication from the biometric key using the security code and procedure in step (ii) will be sent to the server or receptor body wherein access to a facility accessible by the server or receptor body will be provided.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein in step (i) identification of the biometric key is obtained by forwarding a unique identification number (“

ID”

) of the biometric key from the biometric key to the server using the security code and procedure of step (ii) of claim 1 whereby said identification number is checked using an ID database associated with the server.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein in step (i) identification of the biometric key is obtained by forwarding a unique serial number of the biometric key from the biometric key to the server using the security code and procedure of step (ii) of claim 1 whereby said serial number is checked using a serial number database associated with the server.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein in step (ii) the security code is based upon symmetrical encryption.

10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein step (iii) takes place by the server checking the authority of the biometric key for the receptor body or facility and if there is no authority the server will encrypt the NO message with the symmetrical key and send a resultant communication to the biometric key for decryption by the symmetrical key for ultimate recordal in the biometric key in relation to time and a serial number of the receptor body or facility.

11. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein step (iii) takes place by the server checking the authority of the biometric key in regard to the receptor body or a facility and if such authority is present the server will encrypt the YES message with the symmetrical key and forward a resultant communication to the biometric key for decryption by the symmetrical key for ultimate recordal by the biometric key as to time and a serial number of the receptor body or facility.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein after receipt of the authority the biometric key after a period of time or waiting will verify the fingerprint or other biometric signature associated with the user and a resulting YES/NO communication encrypted with the symmetrical key will be sent to the server for decryption by the symmetrical key and a time and serial number of the facility or receptor body will also be recorded in the biometrical key and the server and subsequently the facility will be accessed by the user of the biometric key.

13. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein after location of the identification number the public key of the biometric key is generated and subsequently said public key is encrypted with a symmetric key.

14. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein after location of the serial number of the biometric key the public key of the biometric key is generated and subsequently said public key is encrypted with a symmetric key.

16. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a biometric sensor is used for enrolment of a user'"'"'s finger print in an authorised fingerprint template or database of the biometric key wherein said user'"'"'s fingerprint is scanned by the biometric sensor and stored as a biocode in a non-volatile memory of the biometric key.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein a security pair of the public key and private key of the biometric key is generated after the biocode is stored into the nonvolatile memory of the biometric key.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein after generation of the security pair the public key of the server is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the biometric key.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein a serial number of the biometric key and the public key of the biometric key is encrypted which is then sent to the server for decryption wherein subsequently the serial number and corresponding public key of the biometric key is stored.

20. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein during manufacture of the biometric key a serial number is assigned to the receptor body as well as the biometric key and also the public key and private key for the biometric key is also generated as well as a public key and private key for the receptor body.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein a serial number and public key and private key of a plurality of receptor bodies is generated.

2. A process for providing access to a facility which includes the steps of:

providing connection between a biometric key which incorporates a biometric sensor and a receptor body which provides electric power to the key while simultaneously activating the biometric sensor;

(ii) establishing a security code in relation to communications between the biometric key and a server;

(iii) comparing a biocode received from the biometric sensor with a database located in the biometric key to determine whether said biocode is located in said database and thus corresponds to an authorised biometric signature; and

(iv) upon a match and/or no match being made between said data and said database in relation to said authorised biometric signature forwarding a signal to the facility advising of acceptance or rejection of said data in the form of a YES/NO message in regard to providing access to the

facility whereby during steps (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) said authorized biometric signature is not transferred to any external computer or processor.

3. The process as claimed in claim 2, wherein in relation to step (ii) there are different authorizations assigned at different levels so that a user can only use a receptor body authorized at an appropriate level.

4. The process as claimed in claim 3, wherein said different levels of authorizations involve the use of receptor bodies including a door unit, a desktop unit or biometric key authorization unit.

5. The process as claimed in claim 2, wherein said security code is encrypted with a public key of the biometric key and sent to the biometric key for decryption with a private key of the server and sent to the server for decryption by a private key of the server.

15. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein a biometric sensor is used in enrolment of a user'"'"'s fingerprint in the database of the biometric key wherein said user'"'"'s fingerprint is scanned by the biometric sensor and stored as a biocode in a non-volatile memory of the biometric key.