Method and apparatus for automatic control of access

• US 7,370,208 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2002
• Issued: 05/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Shmuel Levin
• Original Assignee: Shmuel Levin
• Inventors: Levin, Shmuel, Ashkenazi, Shai
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand; Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Reza; Mohammad W.
• Application Number:
  US10/469,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20040088553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,252 Days
• Field of Search: 713/182, 713/186
• US Class Current: 713/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling access of individuals to a service, device or location in order to restrict access to members of a particular age and/or gender category, by machine-sensing a predetermined biometric characteristic of the individual indicative of the particular age and/or gender category, and utilizing the machine-sensed characteristic for automatically controlling access of the individual. The method and apparatus are particularly suited to controlling access of children to certain Internet sites, TV programs, chat rooms, or other places inappropriate to children.

Claims

1. A method of controlling access of an individual to a service, device or location in order to restrict access to members of a particular age category, comprising:

machine-sensing at least one predetermined biometric characteristic of the individual;

analyzing the biometric characteristic to determine whether the individual belongs to said particular age category; and

automatically controlling access of the individual to said particular service, device or location, based on whether the individual belongs to said particular age category,

wherein analyzing said machine-sensed biometric characteristic comprises assessing a degree of ossification of an examined bone of the individual to determine a bone age of the individual,

wherein said assessing comprises assessing said degree of ossification of the bone by assessing whether a bone growth-plate is present in the examined bone,

wherein said examined bone is selected from the group consisting of;

a phalanx of a finger, a bone in a wrist, and a bone in a hand of the individual, and

wherein said machine-sensing comprises examining a joint of said examined bone to determine whether the growth-plate is present on one side of the joint.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensing comprises examining the phalanx bone to determine whether the growth-plate is present at one end of the bone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensing comprises examining said bone by transmitting ultrasound through said examined bone.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting said ultrasound transversely through said examined bone.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting said ultrasound axially through said examined bone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensing the at least one predetermined biometric characteristic comprises machine-sensing at least two biometric characteristics of the individual, one characteristic indicative of the particular age category and the other characteristic indicative of a gender category, and wherein utilizing said at least one machine-sensed characteristic comprises utilizing the at least two machine-sensed characteristics for automatically controlling said access of the individual to said particular service, device or location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said machine-sensing comprises machine-sensing facial characteristics of the individual by a camera to indicate the gender category of the individual.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said machine-sensing comprises machine-sensing voice characteristics of the individual by a microphone to indicate the gender category of the individual.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensing comprises machine-sensing the degree of ossification of the examined bone using an optical sensor to indicate the age category of the individual.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically controlling the access comprises automatically controlling access to an electronic medium.

11. Apparatus for controlling access of an individual to a service, device or location in order to restrict access to members of a particular age category, comprising:

at least one sensor, configured to sense at least one predetermined biometric characteristic of said individual indicative of said particular age category; and

a data processor, configured to receive and analyze the sensed biometric characteristic;

determine whether the individual belongs to the particular age category by comparing the biometric characteristic to reference data that correlates the biometric characteristic to the particular age category; and

output a signal indicating whether or not access to said particular service, device or location is permitted, based on whether the individual belongs to the particular age category,

wherein said predetermined biometric characteristic sensed by said sensor includes a degree of ossification of an examined bone of the individual,

wherein said sensor is configured to sense the degree of ossification of the examined bone by sensing whether a bone growth-plate in present in the examined bone,

wherein said bone is selected from the group consisting of;

a phalanx of a finger, a bone in a wrist, or a bone in a hand of the individual, and

wherein said sensor is configured to examine a joint in said examined bone to determine whether the growth-plate is present on one side of the joint.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said sensor is configured to examine the bone in said phalanx to determine whether a growth-plate is present at one end of the bone.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said sensor comprises an ultrasound sensor.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said ultrasound sensor is oriented to transmit ultrasound transversely through said examined bone.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said ultrasound sensor is oriented to transmit ultrasound axially through said examined bone.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least two sensors for sensing at least two respective biometric characteristics of the individual, one of which sensors is configured to sense at least one of the biometric characteristics indicative of the particular age category, and the other of which sensors is configured to sense at least one of the biometric characteristics indicative of a gender category;

and wherein said data processor receives and analyzes the at least two examined biometric characteristics, and outputs the signal indicating whether or not access to said particular service, device or location is permitted, based on whether the individual belongs to the particular age category and whether the individual belongs to the gender category.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said other sensor comprises a camera for sensing a face of the individual.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said other sensor comprises a microphone for sensing a voice of the individual.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a manual control member configured to be coupled to an electronic medium, and wherein said at least one sensor is included in the manual control member.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said sensors are included in an electronic medium.

21. A memory device storing in an installable format a software application, the application including instructions, which, when read by a data processor, cause the data processor to analyze at least one machine-sensed predetermined biometric characteristic of an individual to determine whether said individual belongs to a particular age category, and to automatically control access of the individual to a service, device or location, based on whether the individual belongs to said particular age category, wherein said predetermined biometric characteristic includes a degree of ossification of an examined bone of the individual, wherein the instructions cause the data processor to sense the degree of ossification by sensing whether a bone growth-plate is present in the examined bone, wherein said bone is selected from the group consisting of:

a phalanx of a finger, a bone in a wrist or a bone in a hand of the individual, and wherein the instructions cause the data processor to examine a joint of said examined bane to determine whether the growth-plate is present on one side of the joint.