SECURITY CHECK PROVISION
First Claim
1. A method of providing an automatic security check, said method comprising the steps of:
- operating a user data capture device to;
(a) obtain, from a user attempting to pass the security check, a user data set; and
(b) derive a user partial data set from the user data set, the derivation involving the selection of elements from the user data set;
transmitting said partial data set via a communications link to an authentication apparatus operable to provide one or more acceptable data sets;
operating said authentication apparatus to compare said user partial data set with at least one of said one or more acceptable data sets to determine whether said user is a person authorised to pass said security check.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for providing a security check are disclosed. Many conventional security checks require the recording or transmission of a user data sets associated with respective authorized users. A problem arises with these systems if the user data set becomes known by unauthorized persons. In order to address this problem the present invention proposes the recording or transmission of only part of the user data set in insecure sections of the system. For example, a security check preventing unauthorized remote access to a shared computer (20) is provided by capturing a user data set representing a user'"'"'s iris, operating the user'"'"'s personal computer (10) to select only a portion of the captured data set requested by the shared computer (20) and transmitting the portion along a telecommunications line (16). The shared computer (20) derives partial data sets from stored user data sets using a similar selection to that used by personal computer (10) and compares the partial data set it has derived with the partial data set transmitted by the personal computer (10) in deciding whether to grant access. Point-of-sale devices and cards recording only partial user data sets are also disclosed.
14 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of providing an automatic security check, said method comprising the steps of:
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operating a user data capture device to;
(a) obtain, from a user attempting to pass the security check, a user data set; and
(b) derive a user partial data set from the user data set, the derivation involving the selection of elements from the user data set;
transmitting said partial data set via a communications link to an authentication apparatus operable to provide one or more acceptable data sets;
operating said authentication apparatus to compare said user partial data set with at least one of said one or more acceptable data sets to determine whether said user is a person authorised to pass said security check. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20)
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11. A security check terminal comprising:
a user partial data acquisition device operable to;
(a) obtain, from a user attempting to pass the security check, a user data set; and
(b) derive a user partial data set from the user data set, the derivation involving the selection of elements from the user data set. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 16, 18)
- 14. A portable device for use in enabling an authorised person to pass a security check, said device comprising storage means storing an acceptable data set comprising elements selected from a user data set associated with said authorised user, without encoding any of the remaining elements in said user data set.
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17. An authentication apparatus comprising:
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a partial user data set input means;
an authentication signal output means;
one or more storage media having recorded therein one or more stored data sets, and processor readable code executable to verify that a remote user is an authorised person, said code comprising;
user partial data set input code executable to read a user partial data set via said input means;
acceptable data set acquisition code executable to provide one or more acceptable data sets on the basis of one or more of said stored data sets;
data set comparison code executable to establish whether the user partial data set and the acceptable data set are sufficiently similar to verify that the remote user is an authorised person; and
authentication signal generation code operable to cause an authentication signal to be output via said output means on said data sets being sufficiently similar.
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19. A method of providing an automatic security check, said method comprising the steps of:
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operating a user data capture device to;
(a) obtain, from a user attempting to pass the security check, a user data set; and
(b) derive a user partial data set from the user data set, the derivation involving the selection of elements from the user data set;
operating said authentication apparatus to compare said user partial data set with a stored acceptable partial data set to determine whether said user is a person authorised to pass said security check, without storing the remainder of the acceptable data set from which said acceptable partial data set is derived.
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21. A method of providing a security check substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
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22. A security check terminal substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
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23. An authentication apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Specification