Methods and apparatus for authentication in an electronic device
First Claim
1. A biometric authentication system, comprising:
- one or more inputs, for receiving biometric input signals from a user;
a biometric authentication module having one or more biometric authentication module inputs, and being configured to carry out biometric authentication of signals received at the one or more biometric authentication module inputs and generate an authentication result;
a control interface, for receiving one or more control signals from an application processor;
a routing module, having a set of routing inputs and a set of routing outputs, at least one of the routing inputs being coupled to the one or more inputs and at least one of the routing outputs being coupled to the biometric authentication module, the routing module being configurable by the one or more control signals to route signals from one or more of the routing inputs to one or more of the routing outputs; and
a security module, operable to determine whether a routing module configuration complies with one or more rules and, responsive to a determination that the routing module configuration does not comply with one or more of the one or more rules, generate a signal indicating that the routing module configuration is insecure.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatus for monitoring the routing configuration within an electronic device such that a biometric authentication process can be carried out without interference from other components of the device, such as may occur when the device has become infected with malware for example. The invention may provide a codec or speaker recognition processor, coupled to receive biometric input data, comprising a security module that determines whether a routing configuration complies with one or more rules. The security module may be implemented to prevent genuine biometric data from being output from the speaker recognition processor, and/or to prevent spoof biometric data from being inserted into the authentication module.
19 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A biometric authentication system, comprising:
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one or more inputs, for receiving biometric input signals from a user; a biometric authentication module having one or more biometric authentication module inputs, and being configured to carry out biometric authentication of signals received at the one or more biometric authentication module inputs and generate an authentication result; a control interface, for receiving one or more control signals from an application processor; a routing module, having a set of routing inputs and a set of routing outputs, at least one of the routing inputs being coupled to the one or more inputs and at least one of the routing outputs being coupled to the biometric authentication module, the routing module being configurable by the one or more control signals to route signals from one or more of the routing inputs to one or more of the routing outputs; and a security module, operable to determine whether a routing module configuration complies with one or more rules and, responsive to a determination that the routing module configuration does not comply with one or more of the one or more rules, generate a signal indicating that the routing module configuration is insecure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A biometric authentication system, comprising:
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one or more inputs, for receiving biometric input signals from a user; a biometric authentication module having one or more biometric authentication module inputs, and being configured to carry out biometric authentication of signals received at the one or more biometric authentication module inputs and generate an authentication result; a plurality of configurable signal paths terminating at the one or more biometric authentication module inputs, at least one of the configurable signal paths originating at the one or more inputs; and a security module, operable to determine whether the plurality of signal paths complies with one or more rules and, responsive to a determination that the plurality of signal paths does not comply with one or more of the one or more rules, generate a signal indicating that the signal path configuration is insecure. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A biometric authentication system comprising:
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a routing module, configurable in use to route received signals to at least one routing module output from a selected one or more of a plurality of routing module inputs; a biometric authentication module coupled to receive signals from said at least one routing module output, and being configured to generate a biometric authentication result based on at least the signals received from said at least one routing module output; and a security module, operable to determine whether the routing module is configured compliant with one or more rules and, if not compliant, modify the biometric authentication result.
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Specification