Systems and methods for online identity verification

• US 7,765,408 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2007
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CompletelyOnline.com Incorporated
• Inventors: Geosimonian, Armen
• Primary Examiner(s): Chai, Longbit
• Application Number:
  US12/001,500
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 713/186
• US Class Current: 713/186
• 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: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/45 Detection of the body part being alive
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• 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: H04L 9/0866 involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3231 Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861

Abstract

A system controlling online access to a study course verifies the identity of an individual taking a study course over a global computer network from a first computer at a node of the network. The first computer has a biometric identification program and communicates over the network with a second computer that is at a network node other than a node of the first computer. The second computer includes study program material. The first computer operates a biometric reader, which obtains a first set of biometric data from the individual and a second set of biometric data from the individual while access is granted to course material. The biometric identification program compares the first set of data with the second set of data to make a verification of the identity of the individual and communicates the verification to the second computer.

Claims

1. A computerized method for administering a program to an individual over a computer network, the method comprising:

configuring at least one processor device to perform steps of;

receiving a request from a web browser or computer program launched by a computer used by the individual for access to a web page comprising program material;

obtaining a first image of the individual'"'"'s biometric data using a biometric reader;

providing the individual with access to program material over the network prior to verifying the individual;

continuously or periodically imaging the individual'"'"'s biometric data with the biometric reader while the individual is accessing the program and correlating the first image with the images obtained by continuously or periodically imaging the individual'"'"'s biometric data;

inserting a value into a unique data field in a web page wherein the value is an access value if the biometric reader is activated and wherein the value changes to a decline value if one or more of the images does not match the first image; and

terminating access to the program material after one or more of the images obtained by continuously or periodically imaging the individual'"'"'s biometric data does not match the first image.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a certificate of program completion comprising one of the images of the individual'"'"'s biometric data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the program comprises a traffic study course.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining an identification card or a copy of an identification card of the individual; and

comparing the identification card or the copy thereof with one of the images of the individual to verify the identity of the individual.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identification or the copy thereof is obtained after the individual completes the program.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the identification or the copy thereof is obtained before the individual completes the program.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparison of the identification or the copy thereof with one of the images of the individual is performed manually.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparison of the identification or the copy thereof with one of the images of the individual is performed using a biometric data recognition program.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting changes in the biometric data of the individual to confirm that the individual'"'"'s biometric data is live.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein terminating access to the program material comprises not providing the individual with program completion credit.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image is obtained before access to the program material is provided to the individual.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image is obtained after access to the program material is provided to the individual.

13. A computerized method for administering a program to an individual over a computer network, the method comprising:

configuring at least one processor device to perform steps of;

receiving a request from a web browser launched by a computer used by the individual for access to a web page comprising program material;

providing the individual with access to program material over the network prior to verifying the individual;

obtaining, via a biometric reader, a first image of the individual'"'"'s biometric data;

obtaining, via a biometric reader, continuous or periodic images of the individual'"'"'s biometric data while the individual is accessing the program material and correlating the first image with the continuous or periodic images;

receiving a value from the computer, the value inserted in a field in the web page, wherein the value is an access value if a biometric reader that communicates with the first computer is activated and wherein the value changes to a decline value if one or more of the continuous or periodic images does not match the first image;

verifying that the value inserted into the field is an access value; and

granting access to the program material only while the value remains an access value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the value is not an access value if the biometric reader is not activated.

15. The method of claims 13, wherein the correlation of the first image with the images is performed in real-time and the value changes from an access value to a decline value in real-time.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the biometric reader comprises a camera, a fingerprint reader, a microphone, an eye scanner, a signature pad, or a hand scanner.

17. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and having computer-executable instructions recorded on said storage medium for performing a method comprising:

receiving a request from a web browser launched by a computer used by an individual for access to a web page comprising program material;

activating a biometric reader that communicates with the user'"'"'s computer;

providing the individual with access to the program material prior to verifying the individual;

obtaining, by a biometric reader, a first image of the individual'"'"'s biometric data;

obtaining continuous or periodic images of the individual'"'"'s biometric data with the biometric reader while the individual is accessing the program material and comparing the first image with the continuous or periodic images;

inserting a value corresponding to a result of said comparison into a unique data field in a web page; and

terminating access to the program material if the comparison indicates that the first image does not match one or more of the continuous or periodic images.

18. The program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise deactivating the biometric reader if the comparison indicates that the first image does not match one or more of the images.

19. The program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise transmitting a verification failure message to the web page comprising the program material.

20. The program product of claim 17, wherein terminating access to the program material comprises not providing the individual with program completion credit.

21. The program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise shutting down the computer-executable instructions if the comparison indicates that the first image does not match one or more of the images.

22. The program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise deleting the first image or the images or both the first image and the images from a memory of the user'"'"'s computer.

23. The program product of claim 17, wherein the biometric reader comprises a camera.

24. The program product of claim 23, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise detecting changes in the biometric data of the user to confirm that the individual'"'"'s biometric data is live.

25. The program product of claim 24, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprise deactivating the biometric reader if facial movements are not detected.

26. The program product of claim 17, wherein the biometric reader comprises a fingerprint reader, a microphone, an eye scanner, a signature pad, or a hand scanner.