Remote control biometric user authentication

• US 8,988,192 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: King, John Kelly
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): BURGDORF, STEPHEN R
• Application Number:
  US13/028,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20120206236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,497 Days
• Field of Search: 235382-3825, 340 552- 553, 340 574- 584, 379 8801- 8802, 382115-116, 382/124, 704/275, 705/64, 705/67, 713/170, 713/182, 713/186, 726/19, 726 27- 29
• US Class Current: 340/5.83
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment

Abstract

A remote control device for providing individualized access control. The remote control device includes an interface for accepting input from a user and forwarding a signal corresponding the to the input from the user to a conditional access device, a biometric scanner, coupled to the remote device, for reading a biometric characteristic of a user and a processor, coupled to the interface, for generating a signal associated with the reading of the biometric characteristic of the user that is transmitted to the conditional access device for analysis to determine a function corresponding to the input from the user to execute.

Claims

1. A remote control device having individualized access control, comprising:

an interface for accepting input from a user and forwarding a signal corresponding to the input from the user to a conditional access device;

a biometric scanner, coupled to the remote control device, for reading a biometric characteristic of the user; and

a processor, coupled to the interface, for generating a secured unique four digit pin code and a digital signature associated with the reading of the biometric characteristic of the user, wherein at least one of;

the digital signature and the secured unique four digit pin code is transmitted to the conditional access device for analysis to determine a function corresponding to the input from the user to execute, the conditional access device providing a personalized experience based upon the user providing at least one of;

the biometric characteristic and the secured unique four digit pin code, wherein the personalized experience includes viewing privileges that allow access to subscription package content and a user'"'"'s viewing history, purchasing privileges that authorize the user to purchase content, and a filtering of an interactive program guide to provide the user with an individualized interactive program guide having individualized associations and presentation characteristics for the user.

2. The remote control device of claim 1 further comprising persistent memory, coupled to the biometric scanner, the memory storing biometric characteristics of a plurality of users.

3. The remote control device of claim 1, wherein the processor generates the secured unique four digit in code and the digital signature based on an analysis of the biometric characteristic received from the user.

4. The remote control device of claim 1, wherein the biometric scanner is a capacitive finger print scanner.

5. The remote control device of claim 1, wherein the biometric scanner is an optical retina scanner.

6. The remote control device of claim 1, wherein the biometric scanner is a voice print scanner.

7. A method for providing individualized access control for a user, comprising:

receiving, from the user of a remote control device, an input command via a user input interface of the remote control device;

gathering biometric characteristics of the user using a biometric data retrieval module on the remote control device;

generating a secured unique four digit pin code associated with the biometric characteristics of the user;

providing the input command and at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code from the remote control device to a conditional access device for storage in memory at the conditional access device, the biometric characteristics being used to generate a digital signature associated with the biometric characteristics of the user;

analyzing at least one of;

the digital signature generated from the biometric characteristics and the secured unique four digit pin code with reference to the at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit in code stored in memory at the conditional access device;

determining whether to authenticate the user based on the analysis of the at least one of;

the digital signature generated from the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code; and

executing, by the conditional access device, a process in accordance with the input command received from the remote control device when the user of the remote control device is authenticated to provide a personalized experience based upon at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code, wherein the personalized experience includes viewing privileges that allow access to subscription package content and a user'"'"'s viewing history, purchasing privileges that authorize the user to purchase content, and a filtering of an interactive program guide to provide the user with an individualized interactive program guide having individualized associations and presentation characteristics for the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the executing the process comprises changing a channel.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the executing the process comprises engaging in a dialog with the user regarding a purchase of items.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the executing the process comprises engaging in a dialog with the user regarding a purchase of a subscription packages from a content provider.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising prohibiting performance of the process when the user is not authenticated.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the gathering the biometric characteristics of the user comprises scanning a finger print of the user.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the gathering the biometric characteristics of the user comprises optically scanning a retina of the user.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the gathering the biometric characteristics of the user comprises scanning a voice print of the user.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, provides individualized access control for a user, by:

receiving, from the user of a remote control device, an input command via a user input interface of the remote control device;

gathering biometric characteristics of the user using a biometric data retrieval module on the remote control device;

generating a secured unique four digit pin code associated with the biometric characteristic of the user;

providing the input command and at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code from the remote control device to a conditional access device for storage in memory at the conditional access device, the biometric characteristics being used to generate a digital signature associated with the biometric characteristics of the user;

analyzing at least one of;

the digital signature generated from the biometric characteristics and the secured unique four digit pin code with reference to the at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit in code stored in memory at the conditional access device;

determining whether to authenticate the user based on the analysis of at least one of the least one of the biometric characteristic and the secured unique four digit pin code;

determining whether to authenticate the user based on the analysis of the at least one of;

the digital signature generated from the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code; and

executing, by the conditional access device, a process in accordance with the input command received from the remote control device when the user of the remote control device is authenticated to provide a personalized experience based upon at least one of;

the biometric characteristics of the user and the secured unique four digit pin code, wherein the personalized experience includes viewing privileges that allow access to subscription package content and a user'"'"'s viewing history, purchasing privileges that authorize the user to purchase content, and a filtering of an interactive program guide to provide the user with an individualized interactive program guide having individualized associations and presentation characteristics for the user.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the executing the process comprises changing a channel.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the executing the process comprises engaging in a dialog with the user regarding a purchase of items.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the executing the process comprises engaging in a dialog with the user regarding a purchase of a subscription packages from a content provider.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 further comprising prohibiting performance of the process when the user is not authenticated.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the gathering biometric characteristics of the user comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of scanning a finger print of the user, optically scanning a retina of the user and scanning a voice print of the user.