METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UNLOCKING OPERATING SYSTEM

• US 20130122866A1
• Filed: 12/31/2012
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Huang, Kai
• Granted Patent: US 9,131,377 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6281 at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/81 by operating on the power supply, e.g. enabling or disabling power-on, sleep or resume operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2131 Lost password, e.g. recovery of lost or forgotten passwords
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for unlocking an operating system, which are used to unlock the system with personal information data when a user forgets a password, thereby increasing a probability of successful unlocking of the user. The method of the embodiment of the present invention includes: when a user fails in unlocking the system via an unlock pattern in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking, displaying an unlocking interface for personal information authentication, and matching personal information input by the user with personal information pre-stored in a local database.

Claims

1. A method for unlocking an operating system, the method comprising:

when a user fails in unlocking the system via an unlock pattern in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking, displaying an unlocking interface for personal information authentication;

receiving personal information input by the user; and

matching the personal information input by the user with personal information pre-stored in a local database.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the matching the personal information input by the user with the personal information pre-stored in the local database, the method comprises:

unlocking the system if the personal information input by the user is consistent with the personal information pre-stored in the local database;

or

returning to the unlocking interface for pattern unlocking if the personal information input by the user is inconsistent with the personal information pre-stored in the local database.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein before the displaying the unlocking interface for the personal information authentication, the method comprises:

receiving an unlock pattern which is input by the user and is for unlocking the system in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking;

recording the number of times when the user inputs the unlock pattern for unlocking the system in the unlocking interface for pattern unlocking;

judging whether the unlock pattern is correct, and if the unlock pattern is wrong, recording the number of times of inputting a wrong unlock pattern;

when the number of times of inputting the wrong unlock pattern reaches a preset threshold, displaying an interface requiring the user to choose whether the unlock pattern is forgotten; and

if the user chooses that the unlock pattern is forgotten, executing a step of displaying an unlocking interface for personal information authentication for unlocking the system with personal information;

or returning to the unlocking interface for pattern unlocking if the user chooses that the unlock pattern is not forgotten.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the personal information comprises one piece or a combination of multiple pieces of the following information:

contact information of a mobile phone address book, a mobile phone call record, a short message or multimedia message received by the user, and a short message or multimedia message sent by the user.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the displaying the unlocking interface for the personal information authentication comprises:

when the user fails in unlocking the system via the unlock pattern in the unlocking interface for pattern unlocking, displaying an unlocking interface requiring the user to input two or more pieces of personal information for authentication.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

when the user fails in unlocking via a password, or gesture unlocking, or sound unlocking or fingerprint unlocking, displaying the unlocking interface for the personal information authentication.

7. An apparatus for unlocking an operating system, the apparatus comprising:

a display unit, configured to, when a user fails in unlocking the system via an unlock pattern in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking, display an unlocking interface for personal information authentication;

a receiving unit, configured to receive personal information input by the user; and

a matching unit, configured to match the personal information input by the user with personal information pre-stored in a local database.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

an unlocking unit, configured to unlock the system if the personal information input by the user is consistent with the personal information pre-stored in the local database; and

a returning unit, configured to return to a pattern unlocking interface if the personal information input by the user is inconsistent with the personal information pre-stored in the local database.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a judging unit, configured to judge whether an unlock pattern which is input by the user and is for unlocking the system in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking is correct; and

a recording unit, configured to record the number of times when the user inputs the unlock pattern, and record the number of times of inputting a wrong unlock pattern, wherein

the receiving unit is further configured to receive the unlock pattern;

the display unit is further configured to, when the number of times of inputting the wrong unlock pattern reaches a preset threshold, display an interface requiring the user to choose whether the unlock pattern is forgotten; and

when the user chooses that the unlock pattern is forgotten, display an unlocking interface for personal information authentication for unlocking the system with personal information;

a returning unit is further configured to return to the unlocking interface for pattern unlocking if the user chooses that the unlock pattern is not forgotten.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the display unit is further configured to, when the user fails in unlocking via the pattern, display an unlocking interface requiring the user to input two or more pieces of personal information for authentication.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the display unit is further configured to, when the user fails in unlocking via a password, or gesture unlocking, or sound unlocking or fingerprint unlocking, display the unlocking interface for the personal information authentication.

12. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the apparatus is a mobile phone;

and the mobile phone further comprises;

a radio frequency circuit, a microphone, a loudspeaker and a power supply circuit, wherein

the radio frequency circuit is configured to establish communication between the mobile phone and a wireless network to implement receiving and sending of data between the mobile phone and the wireless network;

the microphone is configured to collect sound and convert the collected sound into sound data, so that the mobile phone sends the sound data to the wireless network through the radio frequency circuit;

the loudspeaker is configured to restore sound from sound data received by the mobile phone from the wireless network through the radio frequency circuit, and play the sound to the user; and

the power supply circuit is configured to supply power to each circuit or component of the mobile phone.

13. A terminal device, comprising:

a transceiver;

memory;

one or more processors; and

one or more modules stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more modules including instructions to;

display an unlocking interface for personal information authentication when a user fails in unlocking the system via an unlock pattern in an unlocking interface for pattern unlocking,

receive personal information input by the user, and

match the personal information input by the user with personal information pre-stored in a local database.