Personal digital key initialization and registration for secure transactions

• US 8,412,949 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2007
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Proxense, LLC
• Original Assignee: Proxense, LLC
• Inventors: Giobbi, John J., Brown, David L., Hirt, Fred S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani, Taghi
• Assistant Examiner(s): LANE, GREGORY A
• Application Number:
  US11/744,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20070260888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,159 Days
• Field of Search: 713/186, 726/27
• US Class Current: 713/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• 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 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/12 Comprising means for protecting or securing the privacy of biometric data, e.g. cancellable biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/26 using a biometric sensor integrated in the pass
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications

Abstract

A system and method provide efficient, secure, and highly reliable authentication for transaction processing and/or access control applications. A personal digital key (PDK) is programmed using a trusted programming device to initialize and/or register the PDK for use. In one embodiment, the initialization and registration processes are administered by a specialized trusted Notary to ensure the processes follow defined security procedures. In a biometric initialization, the programming device acquires a biometric input from a user and writes the biometric data to a tamperproof memory in the PDK. In registration, the Programmer communicates to one or more remote registries to create or update entries associated with the user PDK. Once initialized and registered, the PDK can be used for various levels of secure authentication processes.

Claims

1. A method of using a programming device to initialize a personal digital key (PDK) for use in secure authentication, comprising:

reading, with the programming device, user information from a user PDK associated with a user, the user PDK separate from the programming device;

determining, with the programming device, a status of the user PDK based at least in part on a registry including data describing the status of the user PDK;

responsive to determining that the status of the user PDK is in good standing, determining, with the programming device, that the user is authorized for initialization;

reading, with the programming device, notary information from a notary PDK;

determining, with the programming device, that the notary PDK is authorized to witness the initialization;

acquiring, with the programming device, a biometric input from the user;

receiving, with the programming device, data from the notary PDK indicating that the notary PDK witnesses acquisition of the biometric input from the user by the programming device;

responsive to the user and notary PDK being authorized, generating, with the programming device, a biometric profile that includes the biometric input; and

storing the biometric profile on the user'"'"'s PDK.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user PDK is in good standing if the user PDK has not been reported as lost, stolen, expired, or revoked.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user PDK is in good standing if the user PDK has never been initialized.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the biometric input comprises:

scanning the biometric input from a user associated with the user PDK; and

performing a transformation on the biometric input to generate the biometric profile.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

checking a quality of the scanned biometric input; and

responsive to the quality not being satisfactory, re-scanning the biometric input.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing initialization history data on the programming device, wherein initialization history data comprises at least one of a user PDK ID, a notary ID, a programming device ID, and a site ID.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising writing initialization history data to the user PDK, wherein initialization history data comprises at least one of a user PDK ID, a notary ID, a programming device ID, and a site ID.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a hardware authentication request from the user PDK;

transmitting programming device information to the user PDK; and

responsive to the user PDK determining that the programming device is a valid device, receiving authorization from the user PDK to continue initialization.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the notary is authorized to administer initialization comprises:

detecting the notary PDK;

checking a status of the notary PDK in a registry; and

responsive to the status being in good standing, determining that the notary is authorized to use the programming device for initialization of the user PDK.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the notary PDK is in good standing if the notary PDK has not been reported as lost, stolen, expired, or revoked.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if the programming device is in good standing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the programming device is in good standing if the programming device has not been reported as lost, stolen, expired, or revoked and the programming device does not comprise altered software.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the notary administers the initialization process from a remote location.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting registry information to a remote registry to add or update a registry entry, wherein the registry information comprises at least one of a user PDK ID, purchasing information, and personal information.

15. An apparatus for programming a user'"'"'s personal digital key (PDK) for use in secure authentication, comprising:

a PDK interface adapted to receive user information from a user PDK separate from the apparatus and receive notary information from a notary PDK, the user PDK associated with a user;

a biometric reader, the biometric reader adapted to acquire a biometric input from the user; and

a processor coupled to the PDK interface and the biometric reader, the processor adapted to determine a status of the user PDK based at least in part on a remote registry including data describing the status of the user PDK, to determine that the user is authorized for an initialization based at least in part on the user information and responsive to determining that the status of the user PDK is in good standing, to determine that the notary PDK is authorized to witness an initialization based on the notary information, to receive data from the notary PDK indicating that the notary PDK witnesses acquisition of the biometric input from the user by the biometric reader and to instruct the PDK interface to write a biometric profile including the biometric input to the user PDK responsive to authorization of the user and of the notary PDK.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a network interface coupled to the processor, the network interface adapted to transmit user PDK information to the remote registry and receive the data describing the status of the user PDK from the remote registry.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the user PDK is in good standing if the user PDK has not been reported as lost, stolen, expired, or revoked.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the user PDK is in good standing if the user PDK has never been initialized.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further adapted to check the quality of the acquired biometric input, and responsive to the quality not being satisfactory, instructing the biometric reader to re-scan the biometric input, and responsive to the quality being satisfactory, computing the biometric profile from the acquired biometric data.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a storage module adapted to store initialization history data, the initialization history data comprising at least one of a user PDK ID, a notary ID, a programming device ID, and a site ID.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the PDK interface is further adapted to write initialization history data to the user PDK, wherein initialization history data comprises at least one of a user PDK ID, a notary ID, a programming device ID, and a site ID.

22. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the biometric reader is adapted to obtain a representation of physical or behavioral characteristics derived from the individual.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the biometric reader comprises at least one of a fingerprint scanner, a retinal scanner, an iris scanner, a face scanner, a palm scanner, a DNA analyzer, a signature analyzer, and a voice analyzer.