Biometric capture for unauthorized user identification

• US 9,819,676 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2016
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Han, Byron B., Marciniak, Craig A., Wright, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Armouche, Hadi
• Assistant Examiner(s): STEINLE, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US15/143,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20160248769A1
• Time in Patent Office: 564 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• 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 9/3231 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 computing device may determine to capture biometric information in response to the occurrence of one or more trigger conditions. The trigger condition may be receipt of one or more instructions from one or more other computing devices, detection of potential unauthorized use by the computing device, normal operation of the computing device, and so on. The computing device may obtain biometric information and may store such biometric information. Such biometric information may be one or more fingerprints, one or more images of a current user of the computing device, video of the current user, audio of the environment of the computing device, forensic interface use information, and so on. The computing device may then provide the stored biometric information for identification of one or more unauthorized users.

Claims

1. A system for capturing biometric information for identifying unauthorized users, comprising:

at least one computing device, comprising;

at least one biometric sensor;

at least one processing unit, communicably coupled to the at least one biometric sensor; and

at least one non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by the at least one processing unit to;

receive at least one instruction from at least one additional computing device to capture biometric information, wherein the at least one instruction is received based on an unauthorized use of the at least one computing device;

capture said biometric information without making said unauthorized user aware of said capture;

receive the biometric information from the at least one biometric sensor;

store the biometric information; and

purge at select times at least a portion of the stored biometric information according to a purging rule, wherein the purging rule is based on at least one of;

a given number of unauthorized access attempts;

a given period of time;

a type of biometric information;

a determination whether the biometric information comprises a complete set of biometric information;

or

an amount of biometric information associated with a type of biometric information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of at least one fingerprint of a current user, at least one image of the current user, video of the current user, audio of an environment of the computing device, or forensic user interface information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit executes instructions stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium to provide the stored biometric information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one processing unit provides the biometric information by transmitting the biometric information to at least one additional computing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processing unit transmits the biometric information to the at least one additional computing device in response to at least one request for the biometric information received from the at least one additional computing device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit executes instructions stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium to evaluate the biometric information to determine an identity of said unauthorized user associated with the biometric information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit time stamps the biometric information.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by the at least one processing unit to store the biometric information includes storing the biometric information in an encrypted and/or otherwise hidden form.

9. A method for capturing biometric information for identifying unauthorized users, the method comprising:

determining, by a first computing device, to capture biometric information based on receipt of at least one instruction from a second computing device to capture biometric information, wherein the at least one instruction is received based on;

one or more failed authentication attempts on the first computing device;

an unauthorized use of the first computing device;

or

a use or an attempted use of the first computing device that deviates from past usage patterns;

capturing, by the first computing device, said biometric information without making said unauthorized user aware of said capture utilizing at least one biometric sensor;

receiving, by the first computing device, the biometric information, utilizing the at least one processing unit, from the at least one biometric sensor;

storing, by the first computing device, the biometric information utilizing the at least one processing unit; and

purging at select times at least a portion of the stored biometric information according to a purging rule, wherein the purging rule is based on at least one of;

a given number of unauthorized access attempts;

a given period of time;

a type of biometric information;

a determination whether the biometric information comprises a complete set of biometric information;

or

an amount of biometric information associated with a type of biometric information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of at least one fingerprint of a current user, at least one image of the current user, video of the current user, audio of an environment of the computing device, or forensic user interface information.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting, by the first computing device, the biometric information to at least one additional computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said operation of transmitting the biometric information to at least one additional computing device is performed in response to at least one request for the biometric information received from the at least one additional computing device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising evaluating, by the first computing device, the biometric information to determine an identity of said unauthorized user associated with the biometric information.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising time stamping the biometric information.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of storing the biometric information includes storing the biometric information in an encrypted and/or otherwise hidden form.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising capturing audio of an environment of the first computing device.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the biometric information comprises a video of a current user.

18. A method for capturing biometric information for identifying unauthorized users, the method comprising:

transmitting at least one instruction to capture biometric information to a first computing device utilizing at least one second computing device, wherein the transmission of the at least one instruction is based on a request from an owner of the first computing device to capture the biometric information;

capturing said biometric information without making said unauthorized user aware of said capture;

receiving the biometric information at the at least one second computing device from the first computing device;

storing the received biometric information utilizing the at least one second computing device; and

purging at select times at least a portion of the stored biometric information according to a purging rule, wherein the purging rule is based on at least one of;

a given number of unauthorized access attempts;

a given period of time;

an identified type of biometric information;

a determination whether the biometric information comprises a complete set of biometric information;

or

an amount of biometric information associated with a type of biometric information.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of storing the received biometric information includes storing the biometric information in an encrypted and/or otherwise hidden form.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the request is received from an application accessed on the at least one second computing device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the request comprises a user request received by the at least one second computing device.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising evaluating, by the second computing device, the biometric information to determine an identity of said unauthorized user associated with the biometric information.