ADJUSTMENT OF A SECURITY LEVEL OF A TRANSACTION SYSTEM BASED ON A BIOMETRIC CHARACTERISTIC OF A CUSTOMER

• US 20120253953A1
• Filed: 03/29/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Herring, Dean F., Johnson, Brad M., Smith, Jeffrey J., Aziz, Bilal
• Granted Patent: US 8,812,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules

Abstract

Methods and systems for adjusting a security level of a transaction system based on biometric characteristics of a customer are disclosed. According to an aspect, a method includes interacting with a customer at a transaction terminal. The method also includes determining a biometric characteristic of the customer based on the interaction with the customer. Further, the method may include adjusting a security level of a transaction system based on the biometric characteristic.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

interacting with a customer at a transaction terminal;

determining a biometric characteristic of the customer based on the interaction with the customer; and

adjusting a security level of a transaction system based on the biometric characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric characteristic is a measure of at least one of a speech pattern, eye movement, facial movement, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and perspiration of the customer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein interacting with a customer comprises:

presenting at least one question to the customer; and

receiving a response of the customer to the at least one question, and

wherein determining a biometric characteristic of the customer comprises determining the biometric characteristic based on the response of the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an honesty level of the customer based on the biometric characteristic, and

wherein adjusting a security level comprises adjusting the security level based on the honesty level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction terminal comprises at least one of a touch, visual, and audio sensor, and

wherein interacting with a customer at a transaction terminal comprises using the at least one of the touch, visual, and audio sensor to interact with the customer.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying an image at the transaction terminal for invoking a response from the customer, and

wherein determining a biometric characteristic of the customer comprises using the at least one of the touch, visual, and audio sensor to measure the biometric characteristic of the customer in response to displaying the image at the transaction terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting a security level of the transaction system comprises adjusting the security level of the transaction system to one of a plurality of security levels that are each associated with at least one biometric characteristic.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising implementing a predetermined action in response to adjusting the security level.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein implementing a predetermined action comprises adjusting product checkout criteria of the transaction terminal.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a biometric characteristic history of the customer based on a plurality of interactions with the customer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein adjusting a security level of the transaction system comprises adjusting the security level of the transaction system based on the biometric characteristic history.

12. A system comprising:

a user interface of a transaction terminal configured to interact with a customer; and

a security module configured to;

determine a biometric characteristic of the customer based on the interaction with the customer; and

adjust a security level of a transaction system based on the biometric characteristic.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the biometric characteristic is a measure of at least one of a speech pattern, eye movement, facial movement, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and perspiration of the customer.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the security module is configured to control the user interface to:

present at least one question to the customer; and

receive a response of the customer to the at least one question, and

wherein the security module is configured to determine a biometric characteristic based on the response of the customer.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the security module is configured to:

determine an honesty level of the customer based on the biometric characteristic; and

adjust the security level based on the honesty level.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the user interface of the transaction terminal comprises at least one of a touch, visual, and audio sensor for interacting with the customer.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the security module is configured to control the user interface to display an image at the transaction terminal to invoke a response from the customer, and

wherein the security module is configured to determine a biometric characteristic of the customer using the at least one of the touch, visual, and audio sensor to measure the biometric characteristic of the customer in response to displaying the image at the transaction terminal.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the security module is configured to adjust product checkout criteria of the transaction terminal in response to adjusting the security level.

19. A computer program product for adjusting a security level of a transaction system, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to determine a biometric characteristic of a customer based on an interaction with the customer at a transaction terminal; and

computer readable program code configured to adjust a security level of the transaction system based on the biometric characteristic.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code comprises:

computer readable program code configured to present at least one question to the customer at the user interface;

computer readable program code configured to receive a response of the customer to the at least one question; and

computer readable program code configured to determine the biometric characteristic based on the response of the customer.