Secure authentication of users of devices using tactile and voice sequencing with feedback

• US 10,073,959 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., Jimenez, Diego Xirinachs, Macias Garcia, Andrea del Pilar, McConnell, Stephen J., Pierga, Piotr, Ramos, Stacey
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Luu T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cohen, Harvey I
• Application Number:
  US14/744,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,180 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints

Abstract

A method for securely authenticating users of a device which uses pairings of a verbal passphrase and user interactions. The user interactions may be finger position on an interface of the device, number of taps on the interface of the device, or touching of the interface in a predefined area. Alternatively, the user can provide a verbal passphrase with inflection points.

Claims

1. A method for securely authenticating a user to use a device, the device comprising:

a device computer comprising at least one processor, one or more memories, and one or more repositories, at least one interface for receiving input from a user, an audio receiver with an input and an output in communication with the device computer, the method comprising the steps of;

receiving, by the device computer, an indication from the user regarding securely authenticating an identity of a user;

receiving, by the device computer, a verbal passphrase out of order, the verbal passphrase comprising a plurality of words from an output of the audio receiver;

detecting, by the device computer, a user interaction comprising simultaneous contact of at least one finger of the user with the at least one interface in a plurality of predefined areas of the at least one interface to provide authentication information associated with each of the plurality of words of the verbal passphrase being received by the device computer as input from the user, wherein the simultaneous contact of the user with a predefined area of the plurality of predefined areas of the at least one interface indicates a specific order designation of a word of the verbal passphrase received out of order, the specific order designation for the word ordering the out of order words received by the device computer as verbal input from the user in a registered pairing, wherein each designated predetermined area of the at least one interface corresponds to one of the words of the verbal passphrase;

reordering, by the device computer, the words of the verbal passphrase in accordance with the user interaction on at least one interface;

comparing, by the device computer, a pairing of the detected user interaction comprising simultaneous contact with the predefined area of the at least one interface and the plurality of words of the verbal passphrase to at least one registered pairing of user interactions and words as stored in a repository; and

if the detected user interaction and words of the verbal passphrase correspond to at least one registered pairing of user interactions and words, authenticating, by the device computer, the user to use the device.

2. The method of claim 1, in which at least one position of the at least one finger of the user on at least one of the interfaces is associated with each word of the verbal passphrase in the registered pairings of user interactions and words in the repository.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering, by the device computer, pairings of user interactions with words, comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the device computer, a user defined verbal passphrase from an output of an audio receiver;

receiving, by the device computer, user interaction with the at least one interface of the device for each of the words of the verbal passphrase; and

storing, by the device computer, the pairings of each of the words of the verbal passphrase with the user interaction as registered pairings in a repository.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected user interaction is finger contact with the interface within the predefined area of at least one of the interfaces.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected user interaction is a number of taps on at least one interface of the device in the predefined areas of the at least one interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the device computer provides feedback regarding each of the pairings of the detected user interaction and words of the verbal passphrase.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the feedback is haptic.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the feedback is visual.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the feedback is audio.

10. A computer program product for securely authenticating a user to use a device, the device comprising:

at least one processor, one or more memories, and one or more repositories, at least one interface for receiving input from a user, an audio receiver with an input and an output in communication with the device computer, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by the computer to perform a method comprising;

receiving, by the device computer, an indication from the user regarding securely authenticating an identity of a user;

receiving, by the device computer, a verbal passphrase out of order, the verbal passphrase comprising a plurality of words from an output of the audio receiver;

detecting, by the device computer, a user interaction comprising simultaneous contact of at least one finger of the user with the at least one interface in a plurality of predefined areas of the at least one interface to provide authentication information associated with each of the plurality of words of the verbal passphrase being received by the device computer as input from the user, wherein the simultaneous contact of the user with a predefined area of the plurality of predefined areas of the at least one interface indicates a specific order designation of a word of the verbal passphrase received out of order, the specific order designation for the word ordering the out of order words received by the device computer as verbal input from the user in a registered pairing, wherein each designated predetermined area of the at least one interface corresponds to one of the words of the verbal passphrase;

reordering, by the device computer, the words of the verbal passphrase in accordance with the user interaction on at least one interface;

comparing, by the device computer, a pairing of the detected user interaction comprising simultaneous contact with the predefined area of the at least one interface and the plurality of words of the verbal passphrase to at least one registered pairing of user interactions and words as stored in a repository; and

if the detected user interaction and words of the verbal passphrase correspond to at least one registered pairing of user interactions and words, authenticating, by the device computer, the user to use the device.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, in which at least one position of the at least one finger of the user on at least one of the interfaces is associated with each word of the verbal passphrase in the registered pairings of user interactions and words in the repository.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising registering, by the device computer, pairings of user interactions with words, comprising the program instructions of:

receiving, by the device computer, a user defined verbal passphrase from an output of an audio receiver;

receiving, by the device computer, user interaction with the at least one interface of the device for each of the words of the verbal passphrase; and

storing, by the device computer, the pairings of each of the words of the verbal passphrase with the user interaction as registered pairings in a repository.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the detected user interaction is finger contact with the interface within the predefined area of at least one of the interfaces.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the contact of the at least one finger of the user with the at least one interface is a number of taps on the at least one interface of the device in the predefined areas of the at least one interface.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the device computer provides feedback regarding each of the pairings of the detected user interaction and words of the verbal passphrase.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the feedback is haptic.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the feedback is visual.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the feedback is audio.