FINGER PRINT SENSOR AND AUXILIARY PROCESSOR INTERGRATION IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20160086010A1
• Filed: 12/04/2015
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Merrell, Thomas Y., Knapp, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/94 Hardware or software architectures specially adapted for image or video understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/12 Fingerprints or palmprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1306 non-optical, e.g. ultrasonic or capacitive sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1347 Preprocessing; Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification

Abstract

A system includes a fingerprint sensor and an auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the auxiliary processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The fingerprint sensor can detect a finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor, capture and store fingerprint data from the finger, perform at least one pre-processing step after capturing the fingerprint data from the finger while the auxiliary processor is in the low power or sleep mode, and after the at least one pre-processing step and upon receiving a request from the auxiliary processor for the finger print data deliver the fingerprint data to the auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor can compare the fingerprint data to reference data and determine whether the fingerprint data substantially matches the reference data.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a fingerprint sensor;

an application processor operable to enter a low power or sleep mode; and

a secondary processor operable to arm the fingerprint sensor;

the fingerprint sensor to;

detect a finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor;

capture and store fingerprint data from the finger;

perform at least one pre-processing step after capturing the fingerprint data from the finger while the application processor is in the low power or sleep mode; and

after the at least one pre-processing step and upon receiving a request from the application processor for the fingerprint data deliver the fingerprint data to the application processor; and

the application processor to;

compare the fingerprint data to reference data; and

determine whether the fingerprint data substantially matches the reference data.

2. The system of claim 1, the at least one pre-processing step comprising:

initiation of a timer upon capturing the fingerprint data from the finger; and

deletion of the fingerprint data upon expiration of the timer.

3. The system of claim 1, the at least one pre-processing step comprising:

initiation of a timer upon capturing the fingerprint data from the finger;

detection of removal and replacement of the finger on the fingerprint sensor; and

where the timer has not expired, capture of second fingerprint data from the finger.

4. The system of claim 3, the at least one pre-processing step further comprising:

a comparison of the fingerprint data to the second fingerprint data;

determination of which of the fingerprint data or the second fingerprint data is more representative of the finger; and

deletion of which of the fingerprint data or the second fingerprint data is less representative of the finger.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more state input/output lines coupled between the fingerprint sensor and the secondary processor.

6. The system of claim 5, the fingerprint sensor to configure the one or more state input/output lines as an output during capturing the fingerprint data from the finger.

7. The system of claim 6, the fingerprint sensor to deliver a state output to the application processor during the capturing of the fingerprint data from the finger.

8. The system of claim 7, the fingerprint sensor to monitor for a power button or interrupt control actuation event after delivering the state output.

9. The system of claim 7, the fingerprint sensor to monitor for another object proximately located with the fingerprint sensor after delivering the state output.

10. The system of claim 5, the fingerprint sensor to configure the one or more state input/output lines as an input while detecting the finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor.

11. The system of claim 10, the secondary processor to deliver a state output to the fingerprint sensor on the one or more state input/output lines to interrupt the fingerprint sensor.

12. The system of claim 11, the state output to cause the fingerprint sensor to return to an idle mode of operation.

13. The system of claim 11, the state output to cause the fingerprint sensor to delete the fingerprint data.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interrupt control to cause the application processor to exit the low power or sleep mode in response to actuation of the interrupt control.

15. The system of claim 1, the secondary processor comprising a lower power processor than the application processor.

16. A method, comprising:

in a fingerprint sensor operable with a secondary processor and an application processor;

entering an armed mode based on an instruction from the secondary processor;

remaining in the armed mode while the application processor is in a low power or sleep mode;

detecting an object contacting a surface of the fingerprint sensor while the application processor is in the low power or sleep mode;

capturing object data from the object;

performing at least one pre-processing step while the application processor is in the low power or sleep mode;

receiving a request from the object data from the application processor after the application processor exits the low power or sleep mode;

delivering the object data to the application processor; and

entering a disarmed mode based on an instruction from the secondary processor; and

in the application processor, after exiting the low power or sleep mode;

comparing the object data to reference data; and

determining whether the object data substantially matches the reference data.

17. The method of claim 16, the performing at least one pre-processing step comprising initiating a timer, retaining the object data prior to expiration of the timer, and deleting the object data after expiration of the timer.

18. The method of claim 17, the performing at least one pre-processing step comprising configuring an input/output line as an input during the detecting and the capturing.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, converting the input/output line to an output after the capturing.

20. The method of claim 16, the performing at least one pre-processing step comprising:

capturing second object data from the object;

comparing the second object data to the object data; and

deleting a lesser quality one of the second object data and the object data.