AUTHENTICATING A USER THROUGH FINGERPRINT RECOGNITION

• US 20160224823A1
• Filed: 01/22/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: HUH, Won, CHO, Jeong-Ho, KIM, Jae-Yub, MIN, Ki-Hong, PARK, Jeong-Min, BAEK, Seung-Geol, CHUNG, Do-Hyoung
• Granted Patent: US 9,922,235 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1335 Combining adjacent partial images (e.g. slices) to create a composite input or reference pattern; Tracking a sweeping finger movement
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1347 Preprocessing; Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1382 Detecting the live character of the finger, i.e. distinguishing from a fake or cadaver finger

Abstract

Provided is a method for authenticating a user in an electronic device. In illustrative embodiments, a fingerprint input from the user is be detected by receiving detection signals for respective sample points across an area of the fingerprint input. A determination value may be computed, which represents a degree of distribution of the detection signals according to signal strengths. It is then determined whether the determination value falls outside a preset reference range. If the determination value falls outside the preset reference range, the method determines that the fingerprint input from the user is invalid.

Claims

1. A method for authenticating a user using fingerprint recognition in an electronic device, the method comprising:

detecting a fingerprint input from the user by receiving detection signals for respective sample points across an area of the fingerprint input;

computing a determination value representing a degree of distribution of the detection signals according to signal strengths;

determining whether the determination value falls outside a preset reference range; and

determining that the fingerprint input from the user is invalid, if the determination value falls outside the preset reference range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preset range is based on a reference fingerprint image of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the determination value comprises:

classifying each of a plurality of signal levels according to a respective range of signal strengths of the detection signals corresponding to the fingerprint input;

determining a number of detection signals of the fingerprint input that correspond to each of the signal levels; and

determining an accumulation pattern based on the number of detection signals for each of the signal levels; and

determining the determination value by using the accumulation pattern.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a fingerprint image by using the detection signals.

5. The authentication method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining whether the generated fingerprint image matches a previously stored fingerprint image; and

determining that the fingerprint input is valid if the generated fingerprint image matches the previously stored fingerprint image and that the determination value falls within the preset reference range.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining that the fingerprint input is invalid if the generated fingerprint image does not match the previously stored fingerprint image.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause an electronic device to perform the method of claim 1.

7. An electronic device for authenticating a user using fingerprint recognition, the electronic device comprising:

a fingerprint recognition module configured to detect a fingerprint input from the user by receiving detection signals for respective sample points across an area of the fingerprint input; and

a processor configured to;

compute a determination value representing a degree of distribution of the detection signals according to signal strengths;

determine whether the determination value falls outside a preset reference range, and

determine that the fingerprint input from the user is invalid, if the determination value falls outside the preset reference range.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the preset range is based on a reference fingerprint image of the user.

9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor classifies each of a plurality of signal levels according to a respective range of signal strengths of the detection signals corresponding to the fingerprint input;

determines a number of detection signals of the fingerprint input that correspond to each of the signal levels;

determines an accumulation pattern based on the number of detection signals for each of the signal levels; and

determines the determination value by using the accumulation pattern.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the fingerprint recognition module generates a fingerprint image by using the detection signals.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor determines whether the generated fingerprint image matches a previously stored fingerprint image and determines that the fingerprint input is valid if the generated fingerprint image matches the previously stored fingerprint image and that the determination value falls within the preset reference range.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor determines that the fingerprint input is not valid if the generated fingerprint image does not match the previously stored fingerprint image.

14. An electronic device for authenticating a user using fingerprint recognition, the electronic device comprising:

a fingerprint recognition module configured to detect a fingerprint input from the user and to determine a signal-level-specific distribution of signal strengths of detection signals corresponding to the fingerprint input; and

a processor configured to;

compute a determination value by analyzing the signal-level-specific distribution,

determine whether the determination value falls within a preset reference range, and

determine that the fingerprint input from the user is valid, if the determination value falls within the preset reference range.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the preset range is based on a reference fingerprint image of the user.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine an accumulation pattern based on the signal-level-specific distribution, and determine the determination value by using the accumulation pattern.

17. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the fingerprint recognition module is further configured to generate a fingerprint image by using the detection signals.

18. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the fingerprint input is invalid if the determination values falls outside the preset reference range.

19. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the fingerprint input is valid if the generated fingerprint image matches previously stored fingerprint image.