APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING USER AUTHENTICATION IN TERMINAL

• US 20140013143A1
• Filed: 07/05/2013
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Sern-Young, SUH, Jung-Won, SHIN, Gye-Joong
• Application Number:
  US13/935,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20140013143A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3243 Power saving in microcontroller unit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/83 input devices, e.g. keyboards, mice or controllers thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A user authentication apparatus and method for allowing a user to conveniently perform user authentication by a touch and motion-based gesture in a terminal are provided. In the user authentication apparatus, a low-power sensor platform is configured to transfer a wake-up signal to a controller upon detecting a motion of the terminal for waking up while the terminal is in a sleep mode, and to transfer a motion signal generated while the terminal is in a wake-up mode to the controller. The controller is configured to switch the terminal to the wake-up mode in response to the wake-up signal that is received from the low-power sensor platform while the terminal is in the sleep mode, and to switch to a user-authenticated specific application mode upon receiving the motion signal from the low-power sensor platform during a touch occurring in a specific area while the terminal is in the wake-up mode.

Claims

1. An apparatus for performing user authentication in a terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a low-power sensor platform configured to transfer a wake-up signal to a controller upon detecting a motion of the terminal for waking up while the terminal is in a sleep mode, and to transfer a motion signal generated while the terminal is in a wake-up mode to the controller; and

a controller configured to switch the terminal to the wake-up mode in response to the wake-up signal that is received from the low-power sensor platform while the terminal is in the sleep mode, and to switch to a user-authenticated specific application mode upon receiving the motion signal from the low-power sensor platform during a touch occurring in a specific area while the terminal is in the wake-up mode.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the low-power sensor platform comprises:

a Micro Controller Unit (MCU) configured to periodically wake up from the sleep mode to check whether a motion signal is generated by a motion detector, to transfer the wake-up signal to the controller upon receiving a motion signal for waking up from the motion detector, and to transfer to the controller the motion signal that is received from the motion detector while the terminal is in the wake-up mode; and

the motion detector configured to detect a motion signal corresponding to a motion of the terminal, and to transfer the detected motion signal to the MCU.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the motion detector includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, and a gesture sensor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wake-up mode includes at least one of a standby mode and an arbitrary application mode.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to release a lock screen set in the terminal and switch to the wake-up mode, in response to the wake-up signal that is received from the low-power sensor platform while the terminal is in the sleep mode.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the motion signal is received from the low-power sensor platform during the touch occurring in the specific area on a screen while the terminal is in the wake-up mode, if a specific application is registered in the specific area where the touch occurs, and a password corresponding to a combination of coordinates of the touch occurring in the specific area and the motion signal is identical to a first password that is registered in the specific application for user authentication and mode switching, the controller is configured to switch to a user-authenticated specific application mode.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to switch to a specific application mode, if a password corresponding to a combination of coordinates of the touch occurring in the specific area and the motion signal is identical to a second password that is registered in the specific application for mode switching.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to register a selected specific application in a selected specific area among a plurality of areas in a touch and motion-based application registration mode, and when a first motion signal is received from the low-power sensor platform during the touch occurring in the selected specific area, the controller is configured to combine coordinates of the specific area in which the touch occurs, with the first motion signal, and to register the combination results as a first password for user authentication and mode switching for the specific application.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein, when a second motion signal is received from the low-power sensor platform during the touch occurring in the selected specific area, the controller is configured to combine coordinates of the specific area in which the touch occurs, with the second motion signal, and to register the combination results as a second password for mode switching for the specific application.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein, in the touch and motion-based application registration mode, the controller is configured to control to display a screen divided into a plurality of areas and to change an application-registered area depending on a gesture, the plurality of areas being displayed to indicate whether associated applications are registered.

11. A method for performing user authentication in a terminal, the method comprising:

switching the terminal to a wake-up mode upon detecting a motion of the terminal for waking up while the terminal is in a sleep mode; and

switching to a user-authenticated specific application mode upon detecting a motion of the terminal during a touch occurring in a specific area while the terminal is in the wake-up mode.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the switching to the wake-up mode comprises:

periodically waking up, by a low-power sensor platform, from the sleep mode to check whether a motion of the terminal is detected;

upon detecting the motion of the terminal, determining whether the motion of the terminal is the motion of the terminal for waking up; and

if the motion of the terminal is a motion of the terminal for waking up, transferring a wake-up signal to a controller to switch the terminal to the wake-up mode.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the switching to the wake-up mode comprises, upon detecting the motion of the terminal for waking up, releasing a lock screen set in the terminal and switching to the wake-up mode.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the wake-up mode includes at least one of a standby mode and an arbitrary application mode.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the switching to the user-authenticated specific application mode comprises:

upon detecting the motion of the terminal during the touch occurring in the specific area on a screen while the terminal is in the wake-up mode, determining whether a specific application is registered in the specific area in which the touch occurs;

if a specific application is registered in the specific area in which the touch occurs, extracting a password corresponding to a combination of coordinates of the touch occurring in the specific area and a motion signal corresponding to the motion of the terminal; and

switching to a user-authenticated specific application mode, if the password corresponding to the combination of the coordinates of the touch occurring in the specific area and the motion signal is identical to a first password which is registered in the specific application for user authentication and mode switching.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising switching to a specific application mode, if the password corresponding to the combination of the coordinates of the touch occurring in the specific area and the motion signal is identical to a second password which is registered in the specific application for mode switching.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying a screen divided into a plurality of areas, in a touch and motion-based application registration mode;

registering a selected specific application in a selected specific area among the plurality of areas; and

if a first motion signal is generated depending on the motion of the terminal during the touch occurring in the selected specific area, combining coordinates of the specific area in which the touch occurs, with the first motion signal, and registering the combination results as a first password for user authentication and mode switching for the specific application.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

if a second motion signal is generated depending on the motion of the terminal during the touch occurring in the selected specific area, combining coordinates of the specific area in which the touch occurs, with the second motion signal, and registering the combination results as a second password for mode switching for the specific application.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein, in the touch and motion-based application registration mode, the displaying comprises displaying the screen divided into the plurality of areas and changing an application-registered area depending on a gesture, the plurality of areas being displayed to indicate whether associated applications are registered.

20. A non-transitory processor-readable recording medium storing a program for performing the method of claim 11.