Authentication System and Authentication Method

• US 20140109211A1
• Filed: 12/15/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Sunrise Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Information Services International-Dentsu Limited (Dentsu Group, Inc.), Field System, Inc.
• Inventors: SUZUKI, Hiroshi, OKUYAMA, Ichiro, TSUKUMA, Takashige, MARUNO, Yoshimaru, MATSUSHIMA, Hiroaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0838 using one-time-passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3228 One-time or temporary data, i.e. information which is sent for every authentication or authorization, e.g. one-time-password, one-time-token or one-time-key
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/65 Environment-dependent, e.g. using captured environmental data

Abstract

An authentication system 1 that uses sound to transmit one-time password(s) may be equipped with portable terminal(s) 10, authentication terminal(s) 30, and authentication server(s) 50. Portable terminal 10 may be equipped with password generating unit(s) 21 which encrypt information including password generation user identifier(s) issued by authentication server(s) 50 and generate one-time password(s), encoding unit(s) 22 which encode one-time password(s) and generate baseband signal(s), carrier wave generating unit(s) 23 which generate carrier wave(s) in audible band(s), modulating unit(s) 25 which use baseband signal(s) to modulate carrier wave(s) and generate modulated signal(s), and speaker(s) 17 which transmit modulated signal(s) in the form of sound wave(s). One-time password(s) may be input as sound wave(s) from portable terminal(s) 10 to authentication terminal(s) 30.

Claims

1. An authentication system comprising:

at least one portable terminal;

at least one authentication terminal; and

at least one authentication server;

wherein the at least one authentication server;

provides information necessary for authentication to the at least one authentication terminal,

carries out user authentication of at least one user who performs at least one operation at the at least one authentication terminal while using the at least one portable terminal,

has a storage unit that stores, in associated fashion and separately for each of the at least one user, at least one password generation user identifier for generating at least one one-time password;

wherein the at least one portable terminal has;

at least one storage unit that stores the at least one password generation user identifier,

at least one password generating unit that encrypts information including the at least one password generation user identifier and that generates the at least one one-time password,

at least one encoding unit that encodes the at least one one-time password and generates at least one baseband signal,

at least one carrier wave generating unit that generates at least one carrier wave in at least one audible band,

at least one modulating unit that uses the at least one baseband signal to modulate the at least one carrier wave and generate at least one modulated signal, and

at least one speaker that transmits the at least one modulated signal as at least one sound wave; and

wherein the at least one authentication terminal has;

at least one microphone that receives the at least one sound wave, and

at least one terminal authentication unit that carries out user authentication based on at least one result of comparison of the at least one one-time password which is obtained by demodulating and decoding the at least one sound wave received thereby, and at least one authentication one-time password which is directly generated from the at least one password generation user identifier stored in the storage unit of the at least one authentication server.

2. The authentication system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one encoding unit of the at least one portable terminal encodes the at least one one-time password in the form of at least one first data frame.

3. The authentication system according to claim 2 wherein the at least one first data frame contains at least one frame identifier for distinguishing the at least one first data frame from at least one second data frame.

4. The authentication system according to claim 2 wherein the at least one first data frame contains at least one packet, the at least one packet including

at least one packet identifier for identifying the packet, and

at least one set of data containing at least a portion of the at least one one-time password.

5. The authentication system according to claim 4 wherein the at least one packet identifier is at least one packet number present at the beginning of the at least one packet in at least one location preceding the at least one set of data.

6. The authentication system according to claim 1 wherein

the at least one modulating unit carries out modulation at at least one modulation rate that is 1/n (where n is at least one natural number) of at least one audio sampling frequency used by the at least one portable terminal;

and

the at least one carrier wave generated by the at least one carrier wave generating unit has at least one frequency that is m (where m is at least one natural number) times the at least one modulation rate.

7. The authentication system according to claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of the at least one carrier wave in the at least one audible band.

8. The authentication system according to claim 7 wherein there are three of the at least one carrier wave in the at least one audible band, the three carrier waves having respectively different frequencies.

9. The authentication system according to claim 8 wherein

there is one of the at least one baseband signal, and

the at least one modulated signal is a combined modulated signal obtained by using the one baseband signal to modulate the three carrier waves.

10. The authentication system according to claim 9 wherein the three carrier waves respectively have frequencies of 8,820 Hz, 11,760 Hz, and 14,700 Hz.

11. The authentication system according to claim 6 wherein the at least one modulation rate is 1/15 of the at least one audio sampling frequency.

12. The authentication system according to claim 6 wherein the at least one frequency of the at least one carrier wave is one or more species selected from among the group consisting of three, four, and five times the at least one modulation rate.

13. The authentication system according to claim 6 wherein

the at least one modulation rate is on the order of 3 kHz, and

the at least one frequency of the at least one carrier wave is on the order of 12 kHz.

14. The authentication system according to claim 13 wherein the at least one modulation rate includes 2,940 Hz.

15. The authentication system according to claim 13 wherein the at least one frequency of the at least one carrier wave includes 8,820 Hz, 11,760 Hz, and 14,700 Hz.

16. The authentication system according to claim 1 wherein

the at least one storage unit of the at least one authentication server stores, in associated fashion and separately for each of the at least one user, at least one first user identifier, input of which to the at least one authentication terminal is requested so that user authentication may be carried out;

the at least one authentication server is equipped with

at least one demodulating/decoding unit that demodulates and decodes the at least one sound wave received from the at least one authentication terminal and reconstitutes the at least one one-time password;

at least one authentication password generating unit that generates the at least one authentication one-time password from the at least one password generation user identifier stored at the at least one storage unit of the at least one authentication server based on the at least one first user identifier input at the at least one authentication terminal by the at least one user; and

at least one server authentication unit that compares the at least one reconstituted one-time password and the at least one authentication one-time password;

wherein the at least one terminal authentication unit of the at least one authentication terminal carries out user authentication based on at least one result of the comparison by the at least one server authentication unit.

17. The authentication system according to claim 1 wherein the information encrypted by the at least one password generating unit to generate the at least one one-time password further includes at least one time.

18. The authentication system according to claim 17 wherein the at least one password generating unit performs at least one hash function on the at least one password generation user identifier and the at least one time to generate the at least one one-time password.

19. In the context of an authentication system that is equipped with at least one portable terminal, at least one authentication terminal, and at least one authentication server which provides information necessary for authentication to the at least one authentication terminal, an authentication method for carrying out user authentication of at least one user who performs at least one operation at the at least one authentication terminal while using the at least one portable terminal, the authentication method comprising:

at least one password generating operation taking place at the at least one portable terminal in which information including at least one password generation user identifier is encrypted and at least one one-time password is generated;

at least one encoding/modulating operation taking place at the at least one portable terminal in which the at least one one-time password is encoded and at least one baseband signal is generated, the at least one baseband signal is used to modulate at least one carrier wave in at least one audible band, and at least one modulated signal is generated;

at least one transmitting operation in which the at least one modulated signal is transmitted as at least one sound wave from at least one speaker of the at least one portable terminal;

at least one receiving operation in which the at least one sound wave is received by at least one microphone at the at least one authentication terminal;

at least one demodulating/decoding operation taking place at the at least one authentication terminal and/or the at least one authentication server in which the at least one received sound wave is demodulated and decoded to reconstitute the at least one one-time password;

at least one authentication one-time password generation operation taking place at the at least one authentication terminal and/or the at least one authentication server in which at least one authentication one-time password is directly generated from the at least one password generation user identifier stored at the at least one authentication server; and

at least one authentication operation taking place at the at least one authentication terminal and/or the at least one authentication server in which the at least one reconstituted one-time password and the at least one authentication one-time password are compared to carry out user authentication.

20. A one-time password transmission program for causing at least one computer to transmit at least one one-time password in the form of at least one sound wave, the one-time password transmission program causing the at least one computer to execute:

at least one password generating step in which information including at least one password generation user identifier is encrypted and the at least one one-time password is generated;

at least one encoding step in which the at least one one-time password is encoded and at least one baseband signal is generated;

at least one carrier wave generating step in which at least one carrier wave in at least one audible band is generated;

at least one modulating step in which the at least one baseband signal is used to modulate the at least one carrier wave, and at least one modulated signal is generated; and

at least one transmitting step in which the at least one modulated signal is transmitted in the form of at least one sound wave from at least one speaker.