SYSTEM AND METHOD USING STREAMING CAPTCHA FOR ONLINE VERIFICATION

• US 20090328163A1
• Filed: 06/28/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Preece, Scott E.
• Application Number:
  US12/164,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20090328163A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

An improved system and method using a streaming captcha for online verification is provided. A request sent by a client device may be received by a server to serve a streaming captcha to the client device. A server may compose a streaming captcha by superimposing a captcha character string on a video. The streaming captcha may be streamed to the client device. The streaming captcha may be displayed on the client device, and a character string input by a user may be received in response to display of the streaming captcha. The character string received may be sent to the server for verification. The server may verify that the character string received is the same as the captcha character string displayed in the streaming captcha. The server may then send an indication of the verification to the client device.

Claims

1. A computer system for online verification, comprising:

captcha serving engine that provides services to send a streaming captcha to a web browser operating on a client device for display as part of a web page and services to validate a character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha; and

a storage operably coupled to the captcha serving engine that stores a video and a captcha character string.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a streaming captcha composer operably coupled to the captcha serving engine that superimposes a sequence of characters from the captcha character string on a video to compose the streaming captcha.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a captcha streamer operably coupled to the streaming captcha composer to stream the streaming captcha to the web browser operating on the client device for display as part of the web page.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a response verifier operably coupled to the captcha serving engine that verifies the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha is the same as the captcha character string.

5. A computer-implemented method for online verification, comprising:

composing a streaming captcha to display a sequence of characters in a captcha character string;

streaming the streaming captcha to a client device;

receiving a character string in response to display of the streaming captcha; and

outputting an indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein composing the streaming captcha to display the sequence of characters in the captcha character string comprises superimposing the sequence of characters from the captcha character string on a video to generate the streaming captcha.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein outputting the indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha comprises sending an acknowledgement of verification to the client device.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein outputting the indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha comprises verifying the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha is the same as the sequence of character in the captcha character string.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

setting a timer to expire after a time period designated for receiving the character string from the client device;

determining whether the timer expired before receiving the character string from the client device; and

verifying the character string from the client device is the same as the sequence of character in the captcha character string if the timer did not expire before receiving the character string from the client device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

composing a streaming captcha to display a sequence of characters in a captcha character string;

streaming the streaming captcha to a client device;

receiving a character string in response to display of the streaming captcha; and

outputting an indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha.

11. The method of claim 5 further comprising displaying the streaming captcha on the client device.

12. The method of claim 5 further comprising sending from the client device the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha to a server for verification.

13. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving on the client device an indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein composing a streaming captcha to display a sequence of characters in a captcha character string comprises generating an animation to display the sequence of characters from the captcha character string.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein superimposing the sequence of characters from the captcha character string on the video to generate the streaming captcha comprises randomly selecting the video from a plurality of videos and randomly selecting the captcha character string from a plurality of captcha character strings.

16. The method of claim 6 wherein superimposing the sequence of characters from the captcha character string on the video to generate the streaming captcha comprises superimposing the sequence of characters from the captcha character string on a video with a varying video stream.

17. The method of claim 6 wherein superimposing the sequence of characters from the captcha character string on the video to generate the streaming captcha comprises transforming a character in the sequence of characters into another character in the sequence of characters.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 5.

19. A computer system for online verification, comprising:

means for composing a streaming captcha to display a sequence of characters in a captcha character string;

means for streaming the streaming captcha to a client device;

means for receiving a character string in response to display of the streaming captcha; and

means for outputting an indication of verification of the character string received in response to display of the streaming captcha.

20. The computer system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for requesting the streaming captcha to display the sequence of characters in the captcha character string;

means for receiving the streaming captcha to display the sequence of characters in the captcha character string;

means for displaying the sequence of characters in the captcha character string;

means for sending a character string input in response to display of the streaming captcha for verification; and

means for receiving an indication of verification of the character string input in response to display of the streaming captcha.