Wireless directional identification and verification using wearable electronic devices

• US 8,430,310 B1
• Filed: 05/24/2011
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ho, Harvey, Amirparviz, Babak, Prada Gomez, Luis Ricardo, Starner, Thad Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): HESS, DANIEL A
• Application Number:
  US13/114,408
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 235/382, 382/128, 382/117
• US Class Current: 235/382
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00396 starting with prompting the keyless data carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00968 shape of the data carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/33 using wearable devices, e.g. using a smartwatch or smart-glasses

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and devices for identifying a user associated with a wearable electronic device. First, a directed electromagnetic radiation comprising an identifier associated with a user of the wearable electronic device is transmitted to a first target device. In response, a challenge signal is received requesting a verification response verifying the authenticity of the identifier. The wearable electronic device than detects a predefined user input, and responsive to receiving the challenge signal and detecting the predefined user input, transmits a challenge response corresponding to the predefined user input to a second target device. The first and second target devices may be the same device. The predefined user input may be comprise one or more sensed head movements and/or detected user input operations.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a user associated with a wearable electronic device, the method comprising:

transmitting, via a first transmitter coupled to the wearable electronic device, directed electromagnetic radiation comprising an identifier associated with a user of the wearable electronic device;

aiming the directed electromagnetic radiation at a target electronic device so as to include the target electronic device within a limited beam width of the directed electromagnetic radiation;

receiving, via a receiver coupled to the wearable electronic device, a challenge signal requesting a verification response verifying the authenticity of the identifier;

detecting a predefined user input; and

responsive to receiving the signal and detecting the predefined user input, transmitting a challenge response corresponding to the predefined user input to a target device with a second transmitter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a modulated infrared beam emitted from an infrared device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises radio-frequencies emitted from a directed antenna.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a laser beam scanned to form a pattern associated with the identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the predefined user input comprises sensing, via one or more movement sensors, a plurality of movements of the wearable electronic device, and wherein the challenge response corresponds to data representative of the plurality of movements.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data representative of the plurality of movements is stored for a predetermined period of time before being transmitted to the target device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the data representative of the plurality of movements is intermittently transmitted for a predetermined period of time after being sensed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second transmitter is selected from a Bluetooth transmitter, an IEEE 802.11 transmitter, a WiMAX transmitter, and a cellular transmitter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises an electromagnetic beam having a radiation width of 120°

or less in a horizontal plane.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a laser beam having a wavelength in the visible spectrum, and

wherein detecting the predefined user input and transmitting the challenge response comprises transmitting a signal configured to activate a plurality of respectively disposed electromagnetic radiation detectors in a particular order determined by corresponding movements of the wearable electronic device.

11. A wearable electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a user input device;

a first transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit directed electromagnetic radiation;

a second transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation; and

a receiver;

wherein the processor is configured to;

cause an emission of directed electromagnetic radiation from the first transmitter, the directed electromagnetic radiation configured to transmit an identifier associated with a user of the wearable electronic device to be communication to one or more receiving devices disposed within a limited beam width of the directed electromagnetic radiation;

detect a predefined user input via the user input device; and

responsive to receiving a challenge signal requesting a verification response verifying an authenticity of the identifier, cause a challenge response corresponding to the predefined user input to be transmitted by the second transmitter.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the first transmitter is a directed infrared (IR) transmitter and the receiver is a directed IR receiver.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the first transmitter is a visible-spectrum laser transmitter.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the receiver is a short-range wireless receiver selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, and ZigBee.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the second transmitter is configured to transmit short-range wireless radiation.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the first transmitter is an infrared (IR) device and the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a modulated infrared beam emitted from the IR device.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the first transmitter is a visible-spectrum laser and the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a laser beam scanned to form a pattern associated with the identifier.

18. The device of claim 11, wherein the user input device comprises one or more movement sensors configured to track a movement of a wearer of the device;

and

wherein the processor is configured to detect the predefined user input by receiving, via the one or more movement sensors, indications of a plurality of movements of the device, and wherein the challenge response corresponds to data representative of the plurality of movements.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to cause the data representative of the plurality of movements to be stored for a predetermined period of time before being transmitted.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to cause the data representative of the plurality of movements to be intermittently transmitted for a predetermined period of time after being received.