Apparatus for outputting individual authentication information connectable to a plurality of terminals through a network

• US 7,254,619 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2001
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamada, Shin, Mekata, Tsuyoshi, Uomori, Kenya
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US09/972,820
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,132 Days
• Field of Search: 713/155, 713/157, 713/159, 713/168, 713/172, 713/179, 713182-186, 707/9, 707/104.1, 705/65, 705/18, 705/77, 709/244, 709/245, 709217-219, 709/225, 709227-229, 704/273, 726 2- 10, 726 27- 8, 726/19, 380/227, 340/5.52, 340/5.82, 382115-127
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An individual authentication information output apparatus, connectable to a plurality of information processing systems through a network, includes an input section for receiving an input from a user; an individual authentication section for outputting an individual authentication result of the user based on the input from the user; a specification section for specifying at least an information processing system selected by the user among the plurality of information processing systems; a database for managing individual authentication information in association with the individual authentication result provided by the individual authentication section and a specification result provided by the specification section; and a database access section for, based on the individual authentication result provided by the individual authentication section and the specification result provided by the specification section, reading the individual authentication information associated therewith, and outputting the read individual authentication information to the selected information processing system through the network.

Claims

1. An individual authentication information output apparatus connectable to a terminal apparatus and a plurality of information processing systems through a network, the terminal apparatus receives from a user an individual authentication information comprising a user biometric information corresponding to a unique first human characteristic of the user, and sends the individual authentication information to the individual authentication information output apparatus through the network,

the individual authentication information output apparatus comprising:

a section for receiving the user biometric information from the terminal apparatus; and

a database access section operative to access, based on the received user biometric information, a database for managing a plurality of such user biometric information and a plurality of pseudo biometric information, each of the plurality of pseudo biometric information corresponding to a unique second human characteristic associated with the user and different from the first human characteristic, wherein each of the plurality of user biometric information is associated in the database with a respective one of the plurality of pseudo biometric information, said database access section operative to read the pseudo biometric information associated with the received user biometric information and to output the read pseudo biometric information as the individual authentication information to an information processing system selected among the plurality of information processing systems through the network.

2. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user biometric information is information for representing at least one of fingerprint, face, retina, iris, handprint, voice and handwriting.

3. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pseudo biometric information is information for representing at least one of fingerprint, face, retina, iris, handprint, voice and handwriting.

4. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pseudo biometric information is coded in a same format as the user biometric information.

5. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the database manages by matching each of the plurality of pseudo biometric information to a corresponding one of the user biometric information.

6. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, comprising an analyzing section for determining a matching degree of the biometric information received from the user by the terminal apparatus and outputting information indicating a user candidate based on the determined result and information indicating a probability degree representing a probability of matching each user;

and a biometric information processing section for processing the pseudo biometric information read from the database into a new pseudo biometric information by using information output from the analyzing section.

7. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the database is a machine readable medium detachable with respect to the individual authentication information output apparatus.

8. An individual authentication information output apparatus connectable to a plurality of information processing systems through a network, the individual authentication information output apparatus comprising:

a section for receiving a user biometric information corresponding to a unique first human characteristic of the user as an individual authentication information and

a database access section operative to access, based on the received user biometric information, a database for managing a plurality of such user biometric information and a plurality of pseudo biometric information corresponding to a unique second human characteristic associated with the user different from the first human characteristic, wherein each of the plurality of user biometric information is associated in the database with a corresponding one of the plurality of pseudo biometric information, said database access section operative to read the pseudo biometric information associated with the received user biometric information and to output the read pseudo biometric information as the individual authentication information to an information processing system selected among the plurality of information processing systems through the network.

9. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the user biometric information is information for representing at least one of fingerprint, face, retina, iris, handprint, voice and handwriting.

10. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the pseudo biometric information is information for representing at least one of fingerprint, face, retina, iris, handprint, voice and handwriting.

11. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the pseudo biometric information is coded in a same format as the user biometric information.

12. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the database manages by matching each of the plurality of pseudo biometric information to a corresponding one of the user biometric information.

13. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, comprising an analyzing section for determining a matching degree of the biometric information received from the user by the terminal apparatus and outputting information indicating a user candidate based on the determined result and information indicating a probability degree representing a probability of matching each user;

and a biometric information processing section for processing the pseudo biometric information read from the database into a new pseudo biometric information by using information output from the analyzing section.

14. An individual authentication information output apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the database is a machine readable medium detachable with respect to the individual authentication information output apparatus.

15. An individual authentication information output apparatus connectable to a plurality of information processing systems through a network, the individual authentication information output apparatus comprising:

a section operative to receive a user biometric information corresponding to a unique first human characteristic of the user as an individual authentication information;

an individual authentication section operative to determine if there is any biometric information that matches the received user biometric information;

a database for managing a plurality of such user biometric information and a plurality of pseudo biometric information, said pseudo biometric information corresponding to a unique second human characteristic associated with the user different from the first human characteristic, wherein each of the plurality of user biometric information is associated in the database with a corresponding one of the plurality of the pseudo biometric information; and

a database access section, wherein when if the individual authentication section determines that there is a match between the received user biometric information and one of the plurality of user biometric information stored in the database the database access section converts the received user biometric information to the corresponding pseudo biometric information and outputs the pseudo biometric information as the individual authentication information to an information processing system selected among the plurality of information processing systems through the network.