Password that associates screen position information with sequentially entered characters

• US 20040111646A1
• Filed: 12/10/2002
• Published: 06/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Little, Alex Dudley
• Granted Patent: US 7,124,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation

Abstract

A method that provides high-entropy password protection for electronic devices without requiring the presence of a full keyboard for entering characters or special character-recognition capability. To proffer a password to an electronic device, a user enters a sequence of standard characters on a screen. The device reads the entered sequence, and determines screen position information associated with the entered sequence, according to where the characters are entered on the screen. The entered sequence and the screen position information are compared with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen position information. If the entered sequence and screen position information match the predetermined sequence and predetermined screen position information, the device accepts the entered sequence as a valid password.

Claims

1. A method for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method comprising the steps of:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered on a screen by a user;

determining screen-position information associated with the entered sequence;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

2. A method for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method comprising the steps of:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered on a screen by a user;

for each character of the entered sequence, determining screen-position information associated with the character by reading input that identifies a sector of the screen selected by the user, and associating the identified sector with the character as screen-position information;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the characters are entered on the screen with a stylus.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the characters are entered on the screen with a keyboard.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining screen position information includes the step of identifying a sector of the screen touched with a stylus.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining screen position information includes the step of identifying a sector of the screen located with a cursor-moving control.

7. A method for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method comprising the steps of:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered by a user, wherein the characters are entered in sectors of a screen selected by the user from a plurality of sectors displayed to the user;

for each character of the entered sequence, associating the selected sector with the character as screen-position information;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence of characters as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each character is entered with a stylus.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a sector is selected with a cursor-moving control, and a character is entered in the selected sector with a keyboard.

10. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method steps comprising:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered on a screen by a user;

determining screen-position information associated with the entered sequence;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

11. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for method for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method steps comprising:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered on a screen by a user;

for each character of the entered sequence, determining screen-position information associated with the character by reading input that identifies a sector of the screen selected by the user, and associating the identified sector with the character as screen-position information;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

12. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the characters are entered on the screen with a stylus.

13. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the characters are entered on the screen with a keyboard.

14. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the step of determining screen position information includes the step of identifying a sector of the screen touched with a stylus.

15. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the step of determining screen position information includes the step of identifying a sector of the screen located with a cursor-moving control.

16. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for determining whether an entered sequence of standard characters is a valid password, suitable for controlling access to an electronic device such as a personal digital assistant, said method steps comprising:

reading a sequence of standard characters entered by a user, wherein the characters are entered in sectors of a screen selected by the user from a plurality of sectors displayed to the user;

for each character of the entered sequence, associating the selected sector with the character as screen-position information;

comparing the entered sequence and the screen-position information with a predetermined sequence of characters and predetermined screen-position information associated with the predetermined sequence of characters; and

accepting the entered sequence of characters as a valid password if the entered sequence and the screen-position information match the predetermined sequence of characters and the predetermined screen-position information.

17. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein each character is entered with a stylus.

18. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein a sector is selected with a cursor-moving control, and a character is entered in the selected sector with a keyboard.