DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED USER ASSISTANCE OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE BASED ON THE DETECTION OR TRACKING OF EYES

• US 20180181776A1
• Filed: 12/28/2016
• Published: 06/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Lim, Bing Qin, Hooi, Boon Kheng, Lee, Wai Mun, Tham, Mun Yew
• Granted Patent: US 10,354,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• 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: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/193 Preprocessing; Feature extraction

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided in this disclosure for operating an electronic device. The electronic device includes a user interface, a camera, and an electronic processor. The electronic processor determines whether a user assistance restriction is established for a current functional operation of the electronic device. The camera captures at least one image, the electronic processor analyzes the at least one image to detect one or more eyes in the field of view of the camera, and the electronic processor detects a violation of the user assistance restriction for the current functional operation based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one image. When a violation of the user assistance restriction is detected, the electronic processor adjusts one or more operations of the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of operating an electronic device by detecting unauthorized user assistance, the electronic device including a user interface, a camera, and an electronic processor, the method comprising:

determining, by the electronic processor, whether a user assistance restriction is established for a current functional operation of the electronic device;

capturing, by the camera, at least one image;

analyzing, by the electronic processor, the at least one image to detect a plurality of eyes in a field of view of the camera;

detecting, by the electronic processor, a violation of the user assistance restriction for the current functional operation of the electronic device based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one image; and

adjusting, by the electronic processor, one or more operations of the electronic device in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction includes detecting two or more pairs of eyes from the plurality of eyes in the field of view.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the at least one image includes detecting whether a gaze direction of each eye from the plurality of eyes in the at least one image is directed towards the user interface, and

wherein detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction includes detecting that the gaze direction of more than two eyes from the plurality of eyes detected in the at least one image is directed at the user interface of the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the at least one image includes capturing a series of images,

wherein analyzing the at least one image includes detecting changes in a gaze direction of one or more eyes from the plurality of eyes in the field of view of the camera, and

wherein detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction includes determining that the gaze direction of the one or more eyes from the plurality of eyes detected in the series of images repeatedly moves between the user interface and another location while a user input is received through the user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the one or more operations of the electronic device includes transmitting an alert signal to a remote computer system in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the one or more operations of the electronic device includes storing a data record logging the violation in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the one or more operations of the electronic device includes adjusting a displayed output to display a warning message or to black out the displayed output in response to detecting two or more users viewing the user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the one or more operations of the electronic device includes limiting access to the one or more operations of the electronic device when the violation of the user assistance restriction is detected during password entry.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a value indicative of a probability of unauthorized user assistance based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one image captured by the camera, and

wherein detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction includes detecting the violation when the value is greater than a predefined threshold.

10. An electronic device comprising:

a user interface;

a camera; and

an electronic processor configured to

determine whether a user assistance restriction is established for a current functional operation of the electronic device,

analyze at least one image captured by the camera to detect a plurality of eyes in a field of view of the camera;

detect a violation of the user assistance restriction for the current functional operation of the electronic device based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one image, and

adjust one or more operations of the electronic device in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to detect the violation of the user assistance restriction by detecting two or more pairs of eyes from the plurality of eyes in the at least one image captured by the camera.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to analyze the at least one image by detecting whether a gaze direction of each eye from the plurality of eyes in the at least one image is directed towards the user interface, and

wherein the electronic processor is configured to detect the violation of the user assistance restriction by detecting that the gaze direction of more than two eyes from the plurality of eyes detected in the at least one image is directed at the user interface of the electronic device.

13. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to analyze the at least one image by detecting changes in a gaze direction of one or more eyes from the plurality of eyes in a series of images captured by the camera, and

wherein the electronic processor is configured to detect the violation of the user assistance restriction by determining that the gaze direction of the one or more eyes from the plurality of eyes detected in the series of images repeatedly moves between the user interface and another location while a user input is received through the user interface.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to adjust the one or more operations of the electronic device by transmitting an alert signal to a remote computer system in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to adjust the one or more operations of the electronic device by storing a data record logging the violation in response to detecting the violation of the user assistance restriction.

16. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to adjust the one or more operations of the electronic device by adjusting a displayed output to display a warning message or to black out the displayed output in response to detecting two or more users viewing the user interface.

17. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to adjust the one or more operations of the electronic device by limiting access to the one or more operations of the electronic device when the violation of the user assistance restriction is detected during password entry.

18. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to calculate a value indicative of a probability of unauthorized user assistance based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one image captured by the camera, and

wherein the electronic processor is configured to detect the violation of the user assistance restriction by detecting the violation when the value is greater than a predefined threshold.