Locking and unlocking a mobile device using facial recognition

• US 9,875,349 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2016
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zhao, Lihua, Tsai, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Jiang, Yong Hang
• Application Number:
  US15/276,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20170076077A1
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 340 51, 340 58, 340 581, 340 583, 340 582, 340 553
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• 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: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/40 Security arrangements using identity modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

In an embodiment of the invention, an unlocked mobile device is configured to capture images, analyze the images to detect a user'"'"'s face, and automatically lock the device in response to determining that a user'"'"'s face does not appear in the images. The camera capturing and face recognition processing may be triggered by the device having detected that it has been motionless for a threshold period of time. In another embodiment, a locked mobile device is configured to capture an initial image using its camera, capture a new image in response to detecting movement of the device, determine that the device moved to a use position, capture a subsequent image in response to determining that the device moved to a use position, analyze the subsequent image to detect a user'"'"'s face, and unlock the device in response to detecting the user'"'"'s face. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations to lock a mobile device having a camera, the operations comprising:

while the mobile device is unlocked and in response to detecting that the mobile device has been motionless for a period of time, capturing one or more images using the camera wherein detecting that the mobile device has been motionless includes detecting movement or orientation of the mobile device using a motion sensor;

analyzing the images to determine whether a face appears in the one or more images; and

locking the mobile device in response to determining that the face does not appear in the one or more images.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein capturing the one or more images comprises capturing one or more images in response to detecting that the mobile device is idle.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein a monitoring of a motion state of the mobile device to detect whether the mobile device is motionless occurs prior to capturing the one or more images.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor includes a tilt sensor or an infrared (IR) sensor.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein detecting that the mobile device has been motionless includes filtering sensor data to remove spurious signals.

6. The medium of claim 5, wherein the spurious signals are filtered in response to a signal from an ambient light sensor.

7. The medium of claim 5, wherein determining that the face does not appear in the one or more images comprises:

determining that the face does not appear in at least one of the one or more images;

capturing one or more additional images for a predetermined period; and

locking the mobile device in response to determining that the face does not appear in the one or more additional images.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the predetermined period is configurable via a graphical interface of the mobile device.

9. The medium of claim 1, wherein locking the mobile device comprises disabling at least a portion of a graphical interface of the mobile device and wherein a display of the mobile device indicates where a face must appear in an image.

10. The medium of claim 9, wherein locking the mobile device comprises disabling at least a portion of applications and functions of the mobile device.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the portion of the graphical interface, functions or applications of the mobile device that are disabled by the locking is configurable.

12. A mobile device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a camera coupled to the one or more processors;

a motion sensor to detect orientation or movement of the mobile device; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions to cause the one or more processors to;

capture one or more images using the camera while the device is unlocked and in response to a detection that the mobile device has been motionless for a period of time, wherein the detection that the mobile device has been motionless includes detection of movement or orientation of the mobile device via the motion sensor;

analyze the images to determine whether a face appears in the one or more images; and

lock the mobile device in response to a determination that the face does not appear in the one or more images.

13. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein to capture the one or more images includes to capture one or more images in response to a detection that the mobile device is idle.

14. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein the motion sensor monitors a motion state of the mobile device to detect whether the device is motionless prior to capturing the one or more images.

15. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein the motion sensor includes a tilt sensor or an infrared (IR) sensor.

16. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein to detect that the mobile device has been motionless includes to filter sensor data to remove spurious signals.

17. The mobile device as in claim 16, wherein the spurious signals are to be filtered in response to a signal from an ambient light sensor.

18. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein to determine that the face does not appear in the one or more images includes to:

determine that the face does not appear in at least one of the one or more images;

capture one or more additional images for a predetermined period; and

lock the mobile device in response to a determination that the face does not appear in the one or more additional images.

19. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein the predetermined period is configurable via a graphical interface of the mobile device.

20. The mobile device as in claim 12, wherein locking the mobile device includes to disable at least a portion of a graphical interface of the mobile device and disable at least a portion of applications and functions of the mobile device and wherein a display of the mobile device indicates where the face must appear in an image.

21. A system to lock a mobile device having a camera, the system comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable storage device; and

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory machine-readable storage device, the one or more processors to execute instructions stored in the storage device to perform operations while the mobile device is unlocked, the operations including;

in response to detecting that the mobile device has been motionless for a period of time, capturing one or more images using the camera, wherein detecting that the device has been motionless includes detecting movement or orientation of the device using a motion sensor;

analyzing the images to determine whether a face appears in the one or more images; and

locking the mobile device in response to determining that the face does not appear in the one or more images.

22. The system as in claim 21, wherein capturing the one or more images is in response to detecting that the mobile device is idle.

23. The system as in claim 21, wherein monitoring of a motion state of the mobile device to detect whether the device is motionless occurs prior to capturing the one or more images.

24. The system as in claim 21, wherein the motion sensor includes a tilt sensor or an infrared (IR) sensor.

25. The system as in claim 21, wherein detecting that the mobile device has been motionless includes filtering sensor data to remove spurious signals in response to a signal from an ambient light sensor.

26. The system as in claim 21, wherein determining that the face does not appear in the one or more images comprises:

determining that the face does not appear in at least one of the one or more images;

capturing one or more additional images for a predetermined period; and

locking the mobile device in response to determining that the face does not appear in the one or more additional images.

27. The system as in claim 21, wherein locking the mobile device comprises disabling at least a portion of a graphical interface of the mobile device and disabling at least a portion of applications and functions of the mobile device and wherein a display of the mobile device indicates where a face must appear in an image.