ENHANCED DEVICE AUTHENTICATION USING MAGNETIC DECLINATION

• US 20170004293A1
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Published: 01/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Mantri, Viraj C., Nyshadham, Shivaramakrishna, Mehrotra, Prateek, Bhasin, Vishal
• Granted Patent: US 10,509,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent

Abstract

Techniques described herein may allow for an enhanced authentication of a user of a user device, such as a mobile telephone. Some such techniques may be applicable when transitioning the user device from a locked state to an unlocked state. The user device may determine an orientation associated with the user device (e.g., a magnetic declination, which may be expressed in terms of degrees from north), and may output the direction to an authentication server. The authentication server may determine whether the orientation matches a previously stored orientation, and may indicate to the user device whether the user device should activate a public mode or a private mode. The authentication server may also notify one or more application servers regarding the mode of the user device. In private mode, the presenting, sending, or receiving of certain types of data (e.g., sensitive data) may be restricted.

Claims

1. A user device, comprising:

a memory device storing a set of processor-executable instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the processor-executable instructions, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions causes the user device to;

receive a request to authenticate a user of the user device;

determine, based on receiving the request, an orientation associated with the user device at a time that the request is received;

entering either a first mode or a second mode, the first mode or the second mode being determined based on the determined orientation associated with the user device at the time the request is received; and

presenting, sending, or receiving data in a manner that is dependent on whether the response indicates the first mode or the second mode.

2. The user device of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to authenticate the user includes:

receiving a request to unlock the user device when the user device is in a locked state.

3. The user device of claim 1, wherein the request to authenticate the user includes at least one of:

a personal identification number (“

PIN”

) code,

biometric information associated with the user, or

a swipe pattern.

4. The user device of claim 3, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the user device to:

validate the PIN code, the biometric information, or the swipe pattern prior entering the first mode or the second mode.

5. The user device of claim 1, wherein the first mode or the second mode is entered based on a comparison of the orientation associated with the user device to a previously configured orientation associated with either the first mode or the second mode.

6. The user device of claim 1, wherein the orientation associated with the user device is based on a magnetic declination of the user device.

7. The user device of claim 1, wherein the orientation associated with the user device is based on an orientation of another device communicatively coupled to the user device.

8. The user device of claim 1, wherein presenting, sending, or receiving data in the manner that is dependent on whether the response indicates the first mode or the second mode includes:

restricting the presenting, sending, or receiving of particular data when the response indicates the first mode, and

forgoing restricting the presenting, sending, or receiving of the particular data when the response indicates the second mode.

9. The user device of claim 1, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the user device to:

determine a local rotation, in three-dimensional space, of the user device,

wherein the first mode or the second mode is entered further based on the local rotation of the user device.

10. A device, comprising:

a memory device storing a set of processor-executable instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the processor-executable instructions, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions causes the device to;

receive and store information indicating a direction associated with a user device;

receive, subsequent to the storing of the information, a request to authenticate a user of a user device, the request including a particular direction associated with the user device at a time that corresponds to the request to authenticate the user;

compare, based on the request, the particular direction to the stored direction;

output, to the user device, a response that indicates whether the particular direction matches the stored direction,

the response causing the user device to restrict presenting or outputting one or more types of information when the response indicates that the particular direction does not match the stored direction.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the request further includes information identifying an application associated with the user device,

wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the device to:

output, to a server device associated with the application and based on the comparing, a notification regarding whether the particular direction matches the stored direction.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein when the notification, outputted to the server device, indicates that the particular direction does not match the stored direction, the server device is restricted from sending one or more particular types of information to the user device.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the direction associated with the user device is based on an orientation of another device communicatively coupled to the user device.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the particular direction is a magnetic declination associated with the user device.

15. A method, comprising:

storing, by a device, information indicating a direction associated with a user device;

receiving, subsequent to the storing of the information, an authentication request from the user device, the authentication request including a particular direction associated with the user device at a time that corresponds to the authentication request;

comparing, based on the request, the particular direction to the stored direction;

outputting, to the user device, a response that indicates whether the particular direction matches the stored direction,

the response causing the user device to restrict presenting or outputting one or more types of information when the response indicates that the particular direction does not match the stored direction.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the request further includes information identifying an application associated with the user device,

the method further comprising:

outputting, to a server device associated with the application and based on the comparing, a notification regarding whether the particular direction matches the stored direction.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein when the notification, outputted to the server device, indicates that the particular direction does not match the stored direction, the server device is restricted from sending one or more particular types of information to the user device.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the stored direction comprises a range of directions.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the particular direction is a magnetic declination associated with the user device.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the magnetic declination of the user device is expressed in terms of degrees from north.