Obscuring an accelerometer signal
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- determining, at a computing device including at least one processor and an accelerometer, that a user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device;
when the user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device, beginning to obscure a portion of an accelerometer signal output from the accelerometer to obtain an obscured accelerometer signal; and
receiving the sensitive input data from the user while the portion of the accelerometer signal is obscured.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure presents techniques for determining when to obscure an accelerometer signal from an accelerometer of a mobile device. The techniques include determining whether a user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the mobile device using an input device of the mobile device. When the user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data, the technique includes obscuring a portion of an accelerometer signal outputted from an accelerometer, and receiving the sensitive input data from the user at the input device while the accelerometer signal is obscured. In some embodiments, the accelerometer signal can be obscured by (i) switching the accelerometer 216 off, (ii) inserting a random noise signal into the accelerometer signal, (iii) masking the low-order bits of the accelerometer signal, (iv) passing the accelerometer signal through a filter, (v) actuating a vibrator of the mobile device, and/or (vi) otherwise degrading the accelerometer signal.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
-
determining, at a computing device including at least one processor and an accelerometer, that a user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device; when the user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device, beginning to obscure a portion of an accelerometer signal output from the accelerometer to obtain an obscured accelerometer signal; and receiving the sensitive input data from the user while the portion of the accelerometer signal is obscured. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computing device comprising:
-
an input device configured to receive input data from a user; an accelerometer module including an accelerometer; and a processing device in communication with the input device and the accelerometer module and configured to determine whether the user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device using the input device, and, when the user has been prompted to provide the sensitive input data to the computing device, to begin obscuring of a portion of an accelerometer signal output by the accelerometer to obtain an obscured accelerometer signal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A computer-implemented method comprising:
-
determining, at a processing device of a computing device, that a user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device; when the user has been prompted to provide sensitive input data to the computing device, beginning to obscure a portion of an accelerometer signal output from an accelerometer of the computing device to obtain an obscured accelerometer signal; receiving, at the processing device, the obscured accelerometer signal; receiving the sensitive input data from the user while the portion of the accelerometer signal is obscured; determining, at the processing device, that the user has finished entering the sensitive input data; and ceasing to obscure the portion of the accelerometer signal when the user has finished entering the sensitive input data. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification