Using Multi-Touch Gestures to Protect Sensitive Content Using a Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA)

• US 20090249476A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Seacat, Lisa Anne
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/17
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha

Abstract

The invention described herein uses a multi-touch manager for authorizing multi-touch devices by first providing a multi-touch test to a multi-touch device. In turn, the multi-touch manager receives a multi-touch response from the multi-touch device. The multi-touch manager then compares the multi-touch response with a multi-touch answer and authorizes the device based upon the comparison.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method comprising:

providing a multi-touch test to a multi-touch device;

receiving a multi-touch response from the multi-touch device, the multi-touch response corresponding to the multi-touch test;

comparing the multi-touch response with a multi-touch answer for the multi-touch test; and

authorizing the device based upon the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-touch test instructs a user to perform an action that requires the user to simultaneously contact a display at a plurality of locations.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the multi-touch test is based upon a Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA).

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving multi-touch answer parameters, wherein the multi-touch answer parameters dictate an acceptable range of the multi-touch test answer;

comparing the multi-touch response with the multi-touch answer parameters; and

authorizing the device in response to the multi-touch response falling within the multi-touch answer parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-touch test is sent to the multi-touch device in response to receiving a page request from the multi-touch device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to not authorizing the multi-touch device, determining whether a maximum number of multi-touch tests have been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, sending a subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting a second multi-touch test;

identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting the subsequent multi-touch test;

identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device; and

sending the subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device in response to identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-touch response is selected from the group consisting of zooming in on an object and rotating an object.

9. A peripheral device comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by at least one of the processors;

a nonvolatile storage area accessible by at least one of the processors;

a set of instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors in order to perform actions of;

providing a multi-touch test to a multi-touch device;

receiving a multi-touch response from the multi-touch device, the multi-touch response corresponding to the multi-touch test;

comparing the multi-touch response with a multi-touch answer for the multi-touch test; and

authorizing the device based upon the comparison.

10. The peripheral device of claim 9 wherein the multi-touch test instructs a user to perform an action that requires the user to simultaneously contact a display at a plurality of locations.

11. The peripheral device of claim 9 wherein the set of instructions performs actions of:

retrieving multi-touch answer parameters, wherein the multi-touch answer parameters dictate an acceptable range of the multi-touch test answer;

comparing the multi-touch response with the multi-touch answer parameters; and

authorizing the device in response to the multi-touch response falling within the multi-touch answer parameters.

12. The peripheral device of claim 9 wherein the multi-touch test is sent to the multi-touch device in response to receiving a page request from the multi-touch device.

13. The peripheral device of claim 9 wherein the set of instructions performs actions of:

in response to not authorizing the multi-touch device, determining whether a maximum number of multi-touch tests have been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, sending a subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device.

14. The peripheral device of claim 13 wherein the set of instructions performs actions of:

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting a second multi-touch test;

identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting the subsequent multi-touch test;

identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device; and

sending the subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device in response to identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device.

15. A computer program product stored in a computer readable medium, comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions that include:

providing a multi-touch test to a multi-touch device;

receiving a multi-touch response from the multi-touch device, the multi-touch response corresponding to the multi-touch test;

comparing the multi-touch response with a multi-touch answer for the multi-touch test; and

authorizing the device based upon the comparison.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the multi-touch test instructs a user to perform an action that requires the user to simultaneously contact a display at a plurality of locations.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the information handling system further performs actions that include:

retrieving multi-touch answer parameters, wherein the multi-touch answer parameters dictate an acceptable range of the multi-touch test answer;

comparing the multi-touch response with the multi-touch answer parameters; and

authorizing the device in response to the multi-touch response falling within the multi-touch answer parameters.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the multi-touch test is sent to the multi-touch device in response to receiving a page request from the multi-touch device.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the information handling system further performs actions that include:

in response to not authorizing the multi-touch device, determining whether a maximum number of multi-touch tests have been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, sending a subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the information handling system further performs actions that include:

in response to determining that a maximum number of multi-touch tests have not been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting a second multi-touch test;

identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device;

in response to identifying that the second multi-touch test has already been sent to the multi-touch device, selecting the subsequent multi-touch test;

identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device; and

sending the subsequent multi-touch test to the multi-touch device in response to identifying that the subsequent multi-touch test has not been sent to the multi-touch device.