NFC PACKAGE FOR STORING BIOMETRIC INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20160164867A1
• Filed: 12/01/2015
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jung, Yong-Won, Chu, Youn-Sung
• Granted Patent: US 9,942,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An electronic device includes a biometric sensor configured to generate biometric data by sensing a biometric characteristic and to encrypt the biometric a near field communication (NFC) controller configured to perform a near field communication, and a secure storage device coupled to the NFC controller, and configured to receive the encrypted biometric data from the biometric sensor through an internal communications channel, which may include an application processor and the NFC controller, and to store the biometric data by decrypting the encrypted biometric data.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a biometric sensor configured to generate biometric data by sensing a biometric characteristic and to encrypt the biometric data;

an application processor connected to the biometric sensor and configured to control an operation of the electronic device;

a near field communication (NFC) controller directly connected to the application processor and configured to perform near field communications; and

a secure storage device directly connected to the NFC controller such that the secure storage device receives encrypted biometric data from the biometric sensor through the application processor and the NFC controller, the secure storage device configured to decrypt and store the biometric data.

2. The, electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor is configured to store an encryption key and to encrypt the biometric data using the encryption key, and

wherein the secure storage device is configured to store a decryption key corresponding to the encryption key and to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the decryption key.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the secure storage device includes a tamper-resistant function.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor includes at least one of:

a fingerprint sensor that senses fingerprint characteristics as the biometric data, a retina sensor that senses retina characteristics as the biometric data, an iris sensor that senses iris characteristics as the biometric data, a voice sensor that senses voice characteristics as the biometric data, an electrocardiogram sensor that senses heart functioning as the biometric data, a heart rate sensor that senses heart rate functioning as the biometric data, a blood pressure sensor that senses blood pressure as the biometric data, and a blood sugar sensor that senses a blood sugar level as the biometric data.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the application processor is configured to execute a normal operating system and a secure operating system, and

wherein the secure operating system is configured to receive encrypted biometric data from the biometric sensor and to transfer the encrypted biometric data to the NFC controller.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor includes:

a sensing unit configured to generate biometric data by sensing biometric characteristics;

a first key storing unit configured to store an encryption key; and

a first cryptographic unit configured to encrypt the biometric data using the encryption key.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the secure storage device includes:

a processor configured to control operation of the secure storage device;

a second key storing unit configured to store a decryption key corresponding to the encryption key;

a second cryptographic unit configured to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the decryption key; and

a secure storing unit configured to store the biometric data.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor is configured to store a first encryption key and to encrypt the biometric data using the first encryption key,

wherein the application processor is configured to store a first decryption key, corresponding to the first encryption key, and a second encryption key, to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the first decryption key, to perform a predetermined operation on the biometric data, and to encrypt the biometric data upon which the predetermined operation is performed using the second encryption key, and

wherein the secure storage device is configured to store a second decryption key corresponding to the second encryption key and to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the second decryption key.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor is configured to store a first encryption key and a second encryption key,

wherein, when the biometric data has a first security level, the biometric sensor encrypts the biometric data using the first encryption key, and

wherein, when the biometric data has a second security level, the biometric sensor encrypts the biometric data using the second encryption key.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the application processor is configured to store a second decryption key corresponding to the second encryption key, and a third encryption key,

wherein, when the biometric data has the first security level, the application processor is configured to transfer the encrypted biometric data to the NFC controller, and

wherein, when the biometric data has the second security level, the application processor is configured to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the second decryption key, performs a predetermined operation on the biometric data, and encrypts the biometric data upon which the predetermined operation is performed using the third encryption key.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the secure storage device is configured to store a first decryption key corresponding to the first encryption key, and a third decryption key corresponding to the third encryption key,

wherein, when the biometric data has the first security level, the secure storage device is configured to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the first decryption key, and

wherein, when the biometric data has the second security level, the secure storage device is configured to decrypt the encrypted biometric data using the third decryption key.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the secure storage device is configured to store registered biometric data,

wherein the secure storage device is configured to obtain current biometric data by decrypting the encrypted biometric data received from the biometric sensor through the application processor and the NFC controller, and

wherein the secure storage device is configured to compare the current biometric data with the registered biometric data to perform user authentication.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein, when the current biometric data matches the registered biometric data, the electronic device is configured to perform an electronic payment, a unlock operation or a confidential application execution.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to transfer the biometric data stored in the secure storage device to a health care server.

15. A near field communication (NFC) package, comprising:

an NFC controller directly connected to an application processor, and configured to perform near field communications; and

a secure storage device directly connected to the NFC controller such that the secure storage device receives biometric data encrypted by a biometric sensor through the application processor and the NFC controller, the secure storage device configured to decrypt and store the biometric data.

16. An electronic device, comprising:

a biometric sensor configured to generate biometric data by sensing a biometric characteristic and to encrypt the biometric data;

a near field communication controller configured to perform near field communications; and

a secure storage device coupled to the near field controller and configured to receive encrypted biometric data from the biometric sensor through an internal communications channel from the near field communications controller, the secure storage device also configured to decrypt and store the biometric data.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the biometric sensor includes an encryption key for encrypting the biometric data and the secure storage device includes a corresponding key for decrypting the biometric data.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the secure storage device is configured to store authentication biometric data in nonvolatile memory.

19. A portable electronic device including the device of claim 18.

20. A portable electronic device of claim 19, wherein the device is a watch.