SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SECURELY MONITORING AN INDIVIDUAL

• US 20130057385A1
• Filed: 09/14/2010
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Convergence Biometrics LLC
• Original Assignee: Ensign Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Murakami, Rick V., Miller, David, Pettit, Matthew W., Lunt, Larry V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,584,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.82
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/00 Programme-control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/95 structured as a network, e.g. client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means

Abstract

A biometric sensor may be coupled to a portable communications device, such as a cellular telephone. The biometric sensor may be configured to acquire one or more measurements of biological characteristics of an individual. One or more of the measurements may relate to internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual, such as non-volitional processes occurring within the individual, sub-epidermal structures within the individual, or the like. A biometric marker may be derived from one or more of the measurements. The portable communications device may be activated responsive to deriving the biometric marker. The activation may include transmitting the measurements and/or biometric markers derived therefrom to a receiver using the portable communications device.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring biometric measurements of an individual using a portable communications device having an integral biometric sensor comprising an energy emitter and an energy sensor, the method comprising:

measuring a plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of an individual using the biometric sensor by,

transmitting one or more energy signals into the individual using the energy emitter, receiving one or more energy signals responsive to the transmitting using the energy sensor, and

determining a plurality of measurements of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual using the received energy signals;

transmitting one or more of the internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual to a receiver via a network;

receiving a request for a measurement of a particular biometric characteristic from the receiver in response to the transmitting; and

transmitting a measurement of the requested biometric characteristic acquired by use of the biometric sensor to the receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving a biometric marker from one or more of the plurality of measurements; and

transmitting the biometric marker to the receiver using the portable communications device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the biometric marker and the measurement of the requested biometric characteristic are encrypted for transmission over the network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the request, acquiring the measurement of the particular biometric characteristic using the biometric sensor.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiver performs a monitoring function using the transmitted measurements, the method further comprising receiving instructions from the receiver responsive to the monitoring.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving an alert from the receiver responsive to the monitoring.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the alert comprises the portable communications device emitting an audio alert.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the alert comprises the portable communications device vibrating.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable communications device is one of a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, and a media player.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying information describing the individual using the transmitted biometric marker; and

performing a monitoring function using the transmitted measurements.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information describing the individual comprises an individual profile stored on a computer-readable storage medium, the individual profile comprising one or more individual profile measurements corresponding to measurements previously received from the individual.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising authenticating the transmitted measurements using the biometric marker.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the information describing the individual comprises a stored biometric marker, and wherein authenticating the measurements comprises comparing the biometric marker to the stored biometric marker.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the information describing the individual comprises a biometric profile of the individual, and wherein authenticating the measurements comprises comparing the biometric marker to the biometric profile.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising recording the measurements in the individual profile.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the transmitted measurements to one or more thresholds defined in the individual profile; and

transmitting an alert to the portable communications device when one or more of the transmitted measurements diverge from the one or more thresholds.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the transmitted measurements to one or more thresholds defined in the individual profile; and

transmitting an alert to a health care provider when one or more of the measurements diverge from the one or more thresholds.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics corresponds to a non-volitional process occurring within the individual.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics is a heartbeat waveform.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein one of the plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics is a hemodynamic waveform.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein one of the plurality of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics is a histological structure within the individual.

3. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

25. A system for obtaining biometric measurements, comprising:

a portable communications device capable of transmitting and receiving information on a communications network, the portable communications device comprising,

an integral biometric sensor, the integral biometric sensor comprising,

an energy emitter configured to transmit one or more energy signals towards an individual, the energy signals configured to measure internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual,

an energy receiver configured to detect one or more energy signals responsive to the transmitting, and

a processing module communicatively coupled to the biometric sensor and configured to determine from the received energy signals, measurements of one or more internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual,

wherein the processing module is configured to derive one or more biometric markers for the individual using one or more of the measurements, to transmit the one or more biometric markers to a receiver, and to transmit one or more measurements of specified biometric characteristics of the individual in response to a request for the specified biometric characteristics from the receiver.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the portable communications device is configured to activate responsive to the processing module deriving the one or more biometric markers, and wherein activating the portable communications device comprises transmitting a monitoring packet to a receiver on the communications network.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the monitoring packet comprises one or more of the derived biometric markers and one or more of the measurements of internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a monitoring service configured to receive the monitoring packet from the communications device, the monitoring service comprising,

a computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more information profiles, each information profile corresponding to an individual, and

a security layer configured to associate the monitoring packet with an individual profile using the monitoring packet,

wherein the monitoring service is configured to perform a monitoring function for the individual using the individual profile associated with the monitoring packet and the measurements received in the monitoring packet.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the security layer is configured to authenticate the monitoring packet using the one or more biometric markers in the monitoring packet.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein authenticating the monitoring packet comprises comparing the one or more biometric markers in the monitoring packet to a biometric profile in an individual profile.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the security layer is configured to authenticate the individual by causing a challenge to be transmitted to the portable communications device, the challenge specifying a measurement of an internal, sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual, receiving the specified measurement from the portable communications device, and comparing the specified measurement to a biometric profile in an individual profile.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the monitoring function comprises the monitoring service comparing a selected measurement received in the monitoring packet to a respective threshold defined in the individual profile associated with the monitoring packet.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the monitoring function comprises transmitting an alert to the portable communications device when the selected measurement diverges from the threshold.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the monitoring function comprises transmitting an alert to a health care entity when the selected measurement diverges from the threshold.

35-40. -40. (canceled)