BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION APPARATUS AND BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION METHOD

• US 20150154437A1
• Filed: 11/24/2014
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Aoki, Takahiro, Shinzaki, Takashi, NADA, Hajime
• Granted Patent: US 9,430,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1341 Sensing with light passing through the finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1359 Extracting features related to ridge properties; Determining the fingerprint type, e.g. whorl or loop
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1376 Matching features related to ridge properties or fingerprint texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/14 Vascular patterns

Abstract

A biometric authentication apparatus includes: a storage unit which stores identification information and authentication information of a plurality of registrants; a deletion process unit which registers, when receiving a request to delete the authentication information of any of the plurality of registrants, the identification information of the registrant to a deletion list, and deletes, from the storage unit, the authentication information of the registrant corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list at predetermined time; and an authentication process unit which matches the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with biometric information of a user based on the authentication information of each registrant and authentication information extracted from biometric data representing the biometric information of the user to determine whether or not to authenticate the user as any of the plurality of registrants other than the registrants corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list.

Claims

1. A biometric authentication apparatus comprising:

a storage unit which stores identification information and authentication information of each of a plurality of registrants, the authentication information being obtained from biometric information of each of the plurality of registrants;

a deletion process unit which registers, when receiving a delete request to delete the authentication information for any of the plurality of registrants, the identification information of the registrant to a deletion list, and deletes, from the storage unit, the authentication information of the registrant corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list at predetermined time; and

an authentication process unit which matches the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with biometric information of a user based on the authentication information of the plurality of registrants and authentication information extracted from biometric data representing the biometric information of the user acquired by a biometric information acquisition unit to determine whether or not to authenticate the user as any of the plurality of registrants other than the registrants corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list.

2. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the storage unit further stores an immediate deletion list on which identification information of a registrant whose authentication information is deleted when receiving the delete request is registered;

and

the deletion process unit determines whether or not the identification information of a registrant specified in the delete request matches any of the identification information registered on the immediate deletion list, and deletes the authentication information of the specified registrant from the storage unit without registering the identification information of the specified registrant to the deletion list, when the identification information of the specified registrant matches any of the identification information registered on the immediate deletion list.

3. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an immediate deletion list update unit which decides a registrant whose identification information is to be registered to the immediate deletion list based on history information indicating past results of determination made by the authentication process unit for each of the plurality of registrants.

4. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the storage unit stores, for each of the plurality of registrants, a selection feature representing a feature of biometric information of the registrant;

the authentication process unit comprises;

a selection process unit which extracts a user selection feature representing a feature of biometric information of the user from the biometric data of the user, selects registrants having the selection feature that matches the user selection feature, and calculates, for each of the selected registrants, degree of similarity between the biometric information of the registrant and the biometric information of the user; and

an authentication determination unit which calculates a matching score from the degree of similarity for each of the selected registrants, and authenticates the user as a registrant corresponding to a maximum value of the matching score when the maximum value of the matching score is greater than a threshold value; and

wherein

the history information includes number of times that the matching score is calculated for each of the plurality of registrants; and

the immediate deletion list update unit refers to the history information to calculate an expected value of time for calculating the degree of similarity of each of the plurality of registrants in one execution of a process by the authentication process unit, and registers, to the immediate deletion list, the identification information of a registrant, among the plurality of registrants, for whom the expected value is greater than the time for deleting the authentication information of the registrant from the storage unit.

5. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a first apparatus which comprises the authentication determination unit, and a plurality of second apparatuses which are communicatively connected to the first apparatus, comprises the selection process unit and executes the process by the authentication determination unit for registrants different from each other among the plurality of registrants,

wherein the selection process unit of each of the plurality of second apparatuses performs the selection and the calculation of the degree of similarity for registrants whose identification information is not registered on the deletion list among the plurality of registrants.

6. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of second apparatuses comprises the immediate deletion list update unit.

7. The biometric authentication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the history information includes, for each of the plurality of registrants, number of times that the registrant is selected by the selection process unit and number of times that the matching score is calculated;

the selection process unit of each of the plurality of second apparatuses notifies the first apparatus of the identification information and the degree of similarity of registrants whose degree of similarities are equal to or greater than a similarity threshold value;

the authentication determination unit of the first apparatus calculates the matching scores for the registrants whose identification information is notified; and

the immediate deletion list update unit of each of the second apparatuses refers to the history information to calculate the expected value for each of the plurality of registrants, the expected value being a sum of a product of a probability obtained by dividing number of times that the registrant is selected by the selection process unit by number of times that biometric authentication is performed and the time for the selection, and a product of a probability obtained by dividing number of times that the degree of similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value by the number of times that the registrant is selected and the time for calculating the degree of similarity.

8. A biometric authentication method comprising:

when receiving a delete request, for any of a plurality of registrants, to delete authentication information obtained from biometric information of the registrant, registering identification information of the registrant on a deletion list;

deleting, at predetermined time, the authentication information of the registrant corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list from a storage unit which stores the identification information and the authentication information of each of the plurality of registrants; and

matching the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with biometric information of a user based on the authentication information of the plurality of registrants and authentication information extracted from biometric data representing biometric information of a user acquired by a biometric information acquisition unit to determine whether or not to authenticate the user as any of the plurality of registrants other than the registrants corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list.

9. The biometric authentication method according to claim 8, wherein

the storage unit further stores an immediate deletion list on which identification information of a registrant whose authentication information is deleted when receiving the delete request is registered;

and

the deleting the authentication information of the registrant determines whether or not the identification information of a registrant specified in the delete request matches any of the identification information registered on the immediate deletion list, and deletes the authentication information of the specified registrant from the storage unit without registering the identification information of the specified registrant to the deletion list, when the identification information of the specified registrant matches any of the identification information registered on the immediate deletion list.

10. The biometric authentication method according to claim 9, further comprising:

deciding a registrant whose identification information is to be registered to the immediate deletion list based on history information indicating past results of determination for each of the plurality of registrants.

11. The biometric authentication method according to claim 10, wherein

the storage unit stores, for each of the plurality of registrants, a selection feature representing a feature of biometric information of the registrant;

the matching the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with the biometric information of the user comprises;

extracting a user selection feature representing a feature of biometric information of the user from the biometric data of the user;

selecting registrants having the selection feature that matches the user selection feature;

calculating, for each of the selected registrants, degree of similarity between the biometric information of the registrant and the biometric information of the user;

calculating a matching score from the degree of similarity for each of the selected registrants; and

authenticating the user as a registrant corresponding to a maximum value of the matching score when the maximum value of the matching score is greater than a threshold value; and

wherein

the history information includes number of times that the matching score is calculated for each of the plurality of registrants; and

the deciding a registrant whose identification information is to be registered to the immediate deletion list refers to the history information to calculate an expected value of time for calculating the degree of similarity of each of the plurality of registrants in one execution of a process of the matching the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with the biometric information of the user, and registers, to the immediate deletion list, the identification information of a registrant, among the plurality of registrants, for whom the expected value is greater than the time for deleting the authentication information of the registrant from the storage unit.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for biometric authentication that causes a computer to execute a process comprising:

when receiving a delete request, for any of a plurality of registrants, to delete authentication information obtained from biometric information of the registrant, registering identification information of the registrant on a deletion list;

deleting, at predetermined time, the authentication information of the registrant corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list from a storage unit which stores the identification information and the authentication information of each of the plurality of registrants; and

matching the biometric information of the plurality of registrants with biometric information of a user based on the authentication information of the plurality of registrants and authentication information extracted from biometric data representing biometric information of a user acquired by a biometric information acquisition unit to determine whether or not to authenticate the user as any of the plurality of registrants other than the registrants corresponding to the identification information registered on the deletion list.