Systems and Methods of Identification Based on Biometric Parameters

• US 20120313753A1
• Filed: 02/09/2012
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HALO Wearables LLC
• Original Assignee: Ensign Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Miller, David R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,082,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.82
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/256 of results relating to different input data, e.g. multimodal recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/811 the classifiers operating on different input data, e.g. multi-modal recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/50 Maintenance of biometric data or enrolment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities

Abstract

Systems and methods for authenticating a user are disclosed. In some embodiments, information regarding multiple biometric parameters is gathered from a test subject and compared with a validation template. The validation template can be augmented with some or all of the information if the user is successfully authenticated.

Claims

1. A method of authentication, the method comprising:

obtaining from a user a plurality of first measurements corresponding to a first biometric parameter, wherein at least some of the first measurements are obtained at different times;

obtaining from the user a plurality of second measurements corresponding to a second biometric parameter, wherein at least some of the second measurements are obtained at different times;

analyzing the plurality of first measurements to obtain a first correlation value;

analyzing the plurality of second measurements to obtain a second correlation value;

combining the first and second measurements into a first composite dataset in which the first measurements are weighted according to the first correlation value and the second measurements are weighted according to the second correlation value;

obtaining a first test measurement corresponding to the first biometric parameter;

obtaining a second test measurement corresponding to the second biometric parameter; and

providing a confidence level of user authentication based on a comparison of the first and second test measurements with the first composite dataset.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising granting the user access to a first restricted destination if the confidence level is above a first threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising denying the user access to a second restricted destination if the confidence level is above the first threshold value and below a second threshold value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising supplementing the plurality of first measurements with the first test measurement if the confidence level is above a first threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising supplementing the plurality of second measurements with the second test measurement if the confidence level is above the first threshold value.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising withholding the second test measurement from augmenting the plurality of second measurements if the confidence level is above the first threshold value and below a second threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing the first test measurement in combination with the plurality of first measurements to obtain a third correlation value; and

supplementing the plurality of first measurements with the first test measurement if the confidence level is above a threshold value and the third correlation value is within a predetermined range.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising withholding the first test measurement from supplementing the plurality of second measurements if the confidence level is above the threshold value and the third correlation value is outside the predetermined range.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing of the plurality of first measurements comprises weighting the first measurements according to the chronological order in which the first measurements were obtained such that a newer measurement is weighted more heavily than an older measurement.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said analyzing of the plurality of second measurements comprises weighting the second measurements according to the chronological order in which the second measurements were obtained such that a newer measurement is weighted more heavily than an older measurement.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparison of the first and second test measurements with the first composite dataset comprises:

combining a weighted version of the first and second test measurements into a second composite dataset, wherein weighting of the first test measurement is based on the first correlation value and weighting of the second test measurement is based on the second composite dataset; and

comparing the second composite dataset with the first composite dataset.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining from a user a plurality of first measurements includes enrolling the user with respect to the first biometric parameter and said obtaining from a user a plurality of second measurements includes enrolling the user with respect to the second biometric parameter.

13. A method of authentication, the method comprising:

obtaining from a user a plurality of first measurements corresponding to a first biometric parameter, wherein at least some of the first measurements are obtained at different times;

obtaining from the user a plurality of second measurements corresponding to a second biometric parameter, wherein at least some of the second measurements are obtained at different times;

obtaining a first test measurement corresponding to the first biometric parameter;

obtaining a second test measurement corresponding to the second biometric parameter;

analyzing a combination of the plurality of first measurements and the first test measurement to obtain a first correlation value;

analyzing a combination of the plurality of second measurements and the second test measurement to obtain a second correlation value; and

combining a weighted version of the first and second test measurements into a composite dataset, wherein weighting of the first test measurement is based on the first correlation value and weighting of the second test measurement is based on the second correlation value; and

comparing the composite dataset with a combination of the plurality of first measurements and the plurality of second measurements to determine a confidence level of user authentication.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising supplementing the plurality of first measurements with the first test measurement and supplementing the plurality of second measurements with the second test measurement if the confidence level is above a threshold value.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the first correlation value with a predetermined range; and

supplementing the plurality of first measurements with the first test measurement if the first correlation value is within the predetermined range and if the confidence level is above a threshold value.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said analyzing a combination of the plurality of first measurements and the first test measurement to obtain the first correlation value comprises weighting the first measurements and the first test measurement according to the chronological order in which said measurements were obtained such that a newer measurement is weighted more heavily than an older measurement, and

wherein said analyzing a combination of the plurality of second measurements and the second test measurement to obtain the second correlation value comprises weighting the second measurements and the second test measurement according to the chronological order in which said measurements were obtained such that a newer measurement is weighted more heavily than an older measurement.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said combination of the plurality of first measurements and the plurality of second measurements is obtained by weighting the plurality of first measurements according to the first correlation value and weighting the plurality of second measurements according to the second correlation value.

14. (canceled)

19-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A system for authenticating a user, the system comprising:

a first device configured to obtain one or more measurements of a first biometric parameter;

a second device configured to obtain one or more measurements of a second biometric parameter that is different from the first biometric parameter;

one or more storage devices configured to store;

a first measurement of the first biometric parameter and a first measurement of the second biometric parameter that are obtained within a first time period; and

a second measurement of the first biometric parameter and a second measurement of the second biometric parameter that are obtained within a second time period subsequent to the first time period; and

one or more processors configured to;

combine the first measurements and the second measurements into a weighted combination, with the second measurements being weighted greater than the first measurements;

compare a third measurement of the first biometric parameter obtained via the first device within a third period of time and a third measurement of the second biometric parameter obtained via the second device within the third period of time with the weighted combination of the first measurements and second measurements, wherein the third period of time is subsequent to the second period of time; and

provide a confidence level of user authentication, wherein the confidence level is based on the weighted combination of the first measurements and second measurements.

38. A method of authenticating a test subject as a user, the method comprising:

providing a template comprising information regarding a first biometric parameter and information regarding a second biometric parameter, wherein the template is based on measurements obtained from the user;

obtaining a first set of information from the test subject regarding the first biometric parameter;

associating a first score with the first set of information based on one or more quality metrics of the first set of information;

obtaining a second set of information from the test subject regarding the second biometric parameter;

associating a second score with the second set of information based on one or more quality metrics of the second set of information;

comparing the template with a weighted combination of the first set of information and the second set of information, wherein the weighting of the first set of information is based on the first score and the weighting of the second set of information is based on the second score; and

providing a confidence level regarding whether the test subject is the user, wherein the confidence level is based on said comparing of the weighted combination of the template with the first and second sets of information.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising updating the template based on the first and second sets of information if the confidence level is above a threshold value.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

altering a first fusion parameter regarding the first biometric parameter based on at least one or more prior authentications of the user; and

altering a second fusion parameter regarding the second biometric parameter based on at least one or more prior authentications of the user,

wherein the weighting of the first set of information is further based on the first fusion parameter and the weighting of the second set of information is further based on the second fusion parameter.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the weighting of the first set of information is further based on the capacity of the first biometric parameter to uniquely identify an individual and the weighting of the second set of information is further based on the capacity of the second biometric parameter to uniquely identify an individual.

42. The method of claim 38, wherein the first score is substantially different from the second score such that the confidence level is based more on the first set of information than on the second set of information.

44. The method of claim 38, wherein the one or more quality metrics of the first set of information and the one or more quality metrics of the second set of information are selected from the group consisting of the level of completeness of a set of information, the signal-to-noise ratio of a set of information, the presence of disqualifying features in a set of information, and the conformance of a set of information to an expected signature profile.

43. (canceled)

45-50. -50. (canceled)