SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTHENTICATING A USER THROUGH AN UNOBSERVABLE RE-AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM

• US 20150066822A1
• Filed: 09/03/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)
• Original Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)
• Inventors: Li, Lingjun, Zhao, Xinxin, Xue, Guoliang
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/316 by observing the pattern of computer usage, e.g. typical user behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer

Abstract

Systems and methods for authenticating a user through an unobservable re-authentication process are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method to authenticate an user of a device through an unobservable authentication process, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of data related to an authorized owner;

capturing a plurality of data related to a user'"'"'s interaction with a device; and

authenticating the user based on the user'"'"'s interaction with the device through an authentication module to determine if the user is the authorized owner, wherein authenticating the user is automatic and does not require specific prompts to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data related to an authorized owner may be collected from a training module or from the authorized owner'"'"'s interaction with the device, the training module further comprising:

initializing the authorized owner'"'"'s gesture feature data;

obtaining a plurality of classification modules from the authorized owner'"'"'s gesture feature data;

downloading a plurality of other people'"'"'s gesture feature data to the device wherein the other people'"'"'s gesture feature data may be anonymous and/or used for training purposes;

uploading the authorized owner'"'"'s gesture feature data to a sever; and

downloading the gesture feature data from the server onto the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication module further comprises:

assembling the plurality of user interaction data into a plurality of gestures;

extracting a plurality of features from the plurality of gestures; and

predicting whether the plurality of features belong to the authorized owner.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interaction data may comprise:

directional swiping motions; and

tapping motions.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the classification module of the training module is determined based on a plurality of factors, comprising:

the user'"'"'s gesture features data; and

a plurality of features from a plurality of other users.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the classification module further comprises a file containing parameters for the classification algorithm.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the classification module is generated by the training module, the training module is further deployed on a computer.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein predicting whether the plurality of features belongs to an authorized owner further comprises:

determining whether the features captured from the user matches previously known features of the authorized owner, further comprising;

a plurality of classification modules, wherein each classification module corresponds to the specific gesture feature data captured from the user and determined using a classification algorithm.

9. A method to authenticate an authorized owner of a smartphone, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of data related to an authorized owner of a smartphone;

capturing a plurality of data related to a user'"'"'s interaction with the smartphone;

determining whether the captured user interaction data matches up with the data related to the authorized owner; and

authenticating the authorized owner wherein authenticating the user is automatic and does not require specific prompts for user interaction with the smartphone.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of data related to an authorized owner may be collected from a training module or from the authorized owner'"'"'s interaction with the device, the training module further comprising:

obtaining a plurality of classification modules, wherein the classification modules represent a specific gesture feature data;

downloading the feature data of other people to be used as a comparison tool;

uploading the authorized owner'"'"'s gesture feature data to a server; and

downloading the gesture feature data from the server to a computer device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the authentication module further comprises:

assembling the plurality of user interaction data and extracting a plurality of feature data from the interaction data, wherein the extracted feature data is used to verify the authorized owner.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user interaction data may comprise hand, finger, facial, speech, or a combination the preceding actions.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein authenticating the authorized owner further comprises:

determining whether the features captured from the user matches previously obtained features of the authorized owner, further comprising;

a plurality of classification modules, wherein each classification module corresponds to the specific feature gesture data captured from the user and determined using a classification algorithm.

14. A method of un-observably authenticating an authorized owner of a smartphone, the method comprising:

capturing a plurality of data from the smartphone;

comparing the captured data with a plurality of already known data about the authorized owner; and

authenticating the authorized owner, wherein the authentication process is performed without prompting a smartphone user for specific information.

15. The method of claim 17, wherein an error message may be presented in the case that the authorized owner cannot be authenticated.