CAPTCHA IMAGE AUTHENTICATION METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20130019278A1
• Filed: 09/13/2011
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: SUN, HUNG-MIN, YEH, CHUN-HAO, CHEN, YAO-HSIN
• Granted Patent: US 8,607,331 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) image authentication method and system. The CAPTCHA image authentication method comprises the steps of: collecting a plurality of first objects; defining a plurality of variables so as to be used as basis for classifying and dividing the plural first objects into M groups accordingly while allowing each group in the M groups to correspond to at least one variable selected from the plural variables; selecting at least one group from the M groups while further grading and dividing the first objects in the selected group into subgroups of N grades based upon a standard unit of the variable corresponding to the selected group; sorting and storing the subgroups of N grades; and selecting a plurality of authentication objects from the subgroups of N grades to be used in an authentication process.

Claims

1. A CAPTCHA image authentication method, comprising the steps of:

collecting a plurality of first objects;

defining a plurality of variables so as to be used as basis for classifying and dividing the plural first objects into M groups accordingly while allowing each group in the M groups to correspond to at least one variable selected from the plural variables;

selecting at least one group from the M groups while further grading and dividing the first objects in the selected group into subgroups of N grades based upon a standard unit of the variable corresponding to the selected group;

sorting and storing the subgroups of N grades; and

selecting a plurality of authentication objects from the subgroups of N grades to be used in an authentication process.

2. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, wherein each of the first objects is an object selected from the group consisting of:

a static picture, a dynamic image and the combination of the two.

3. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, wherein each of the plural variable is a measureable variable, and the plural variables includes:

size, speed, weight, height, volume, age, length, and area.

4. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

defining a margin interval to be used for defining a region evenly to the left and to the right from the border of any two neighboring subgroups of N grades after being sorted, and accordingly removing each and every objects, referring as second objects, in those related neighboring subgroups that are located within their corresponding margin intervals; and

selecting the plural authentication objects from the subgroups of N grades after having their corresponding second objects removed.

5. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

randomly selecting P grades from the N grades so as to select the plural authentication objects from the subgroups relating to the selected P grades.

6. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

after sorting the selected group into subgroups of N grades, defining a margin interval to be used for defining a region evenly to the left and to the right from the border of any two neighboring subgroups of N grades, and accordingly removing each and every objects, referring as second objects, in those related neighboring subgroups that are located within their corresponding margin intervals; and

randomly selecting P grades from the N grades so as to select the plural authentication objects from the subgroups relating to the selected P grades after having their corresponding second objects removed.

7. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 4, wherein the margin interval is defined based upon a mathematics equation.

8. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 7, wherein the margin interval is defined to be a present difference or a preset multiple between any two neighboring subgroups of N grades.

9. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 8, wherein the preset multiple is increasing or decreasing from a predesignated starting set including two neighboring subgroups to the left and/or to the right to those other sets of two neighboring subgroups.

10. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, wherein the values of M and N are integral values.

11. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 5, wherein the value of P is an integral value.

12. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

defining a selection criteria before or after completion of the selection of the plural authentication objects;

displaying the selection criteria and the plural authentication objects on a display unit for allowing a user to acquire and sort the plural authentication according to the selection criteria; and

making an evaluation to determine whether the plural authentication objects are successfully acquired and are sorted corrected; and

if so, the authentication process is determined to be passed;

otherwise, the authentication process is failed while enabling a new set of authentication objects to be selected.

13. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 12, wherein the selection criteria is configured with texts, pictures and images.

26. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 6, wherein the margin interval is defined based upon a mathematics equation.

27. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 26, wherein the margin interval is defined to be a present difference or a preset multiple between any two neighboring subgroups of N grades.

28. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 27, wherein the preset multiple is increasing or decreasing from a predesignated starting set including two neighboring subgroups to the left and/or to the right to those other sets of two neighboring subgroups.

29. The CAPTCHA image authentication method of claim 6, wherein the value of P is an integral value.

14. A CAPTCHA image authentication system, comprising:

an acquisition unit, for collecting a plurality of first objects;

a processing unit, coupling to the acquisition unit to be used for defining a plurality of variable while allowing the plural variables to be used as basis for performing the following procedures;

classifying and dividing the plural first objects into M groups accordingly while allowing each group in the M groups to correspond to at least one variable selected from the plural variables;

selecting at least one group from the M groups while further grading dividing the first objects in the selected group into subgroups of N grades based upon a standard unit of the variable corresponding to the selected group;

sorting and storing the subgroups of N grades;

selecting a plurality of authentication objects from the subgroups of N grades to be used in an authentication process; and

a storage unit, coupling to the processing unit to be used for storing the sorted subgroups of N grades.

15. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further capable of performing the following procedures:

defining a selection criteria before or after completion of the selection of the plural authentication objects;

displaying the selection criteria and the plural authentication objects on a display unit for allowing a user to acquire and sort the plural authentication according to the selection criteria; and

making an evaluation to determine whether the plural authentication objects are successfully acquired and are sorted corrected; and

if so, the authentication process is determined to be passed;

otherwise, the authentication process is failed while enabling a new set of authentication objects to be selected.

16. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein each of the first objects is an object selected from the group consisting of:

a static picture, a dynamic image and the combination of the two.

17. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein each of the plural variables is a measureable variable, and the plural variables includes:

size, speed, weight, height, volume, age, length, and area.

18. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein after sorting the selected group into subgroups of N grades, the processing unit is enabled to perform the following procedure:

after sorting the selected group into subgroups of N grades, defining a margin interval to be used for defining a region evenly to the left and to the right from the border of any two neighboring subgroups of N grades, and accordingly removing each and every objects, referring as second objects, in those related neighboring subgroups that are located within their corresponding margin intervals; and

selecting the plural authentication objects from the subgroups of N grades after having their corresponding second objects removed.

19. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein after sorting the selected group into subgroups of N grades, the processing unit is enabled to perform the following procedure:

randomly selecting P grades from the N grades so as to select the plural authentication objects from the subgroups relating to the selected P grades.

20. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein after sorting the selected group into subgroups of N grades, the processing unit is enabled to perform the following procedure:

defining a margin interval to be used for defining a region evenly to the left and to the right from the border of any two neighboring subgroups of N grades after being sorted, and accordingly removing each and every objects, referring as second objects, in those related neighboring subgroups that are located within their corresponding margin intervals; and

randomly selecting P grades from the N grades so as to select the plural authentication objects from the subgroups relating to the selected P grades after having their corresponding second objects removed.

21. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 18, wherein the margin interval is defined based upon a mathematics equation.

22. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 21, wherein the margin interval is defined to be a present difference or a preset multiple between any two neighboring subgroups of N grades.

23. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 22, wherein the preset multiple is increasing or decreasing from a predesignated starting set of two neighboring subgroups to the left and/or to the right to those other sets of two neighboring subgroups.

24. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 14, wherein the values of M and N are integral values.

25. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 19, wherein the value of P is an integral value.

30. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 20, wherein the margin interval is defined based upon a mathematics equation.

31. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 30, wherein the margin interval is defined to be a present difference or a preset multiple between any two neighboring subgroups of N grades.

32. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 31, wherein the preset multiple is increasing or decreasing from a predesignated starting set of two neighboring subgroups to the left and/or to the right to those other sets of two neighboring subgroups.

33. The CAPTCHA image authentication system of claim 20, wherein the value of P is an integral value.