Information storing apparatus

• US 7,769,696 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoda, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): Fischer; Andrew J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KUCAB, JAMIE R
• Application Number:
  US10/736,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20040139333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,421 Days
• Field of Search: 705 54- 79, 726/2, 726 4- 9, 726 16- 21, 726/27, 726/28, 713/186, 902/3, 340/5.52, 340/5.53, 340 582- 584, 382115-127
• US Class Current: 705/67
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2113 Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication

Abstract

An information storing apparatus for judging who requests personal information and for setting an access level for the personal information for the requester. The information storing apparatus includes: a personal information storing section storing thereon the personal information which is to be disclosed to predetermined accessible persons; an accessible person information storing section storing thereon accessible person characteristic information indicating a physical characteristic of each of the plurality of accessible persons; a requester authentication section for receiving requester characteristic information indicating a physical characteristic of a requester who requests the personal information, and for performing authentication processing of the requester using the requester characteristic information and the accessible person characteristic information stored on the accessible person information storing section; an access level setting section for setting an access level, which is a level of the personal information to be disclosed to the requester, when the requester authentication section authenticates the requester as the accessible person; and a personal information output section for outputting a part of the personal information stored on the personal information storing section to the requester in accordance with the access level set-up by the access level setting section.

Claims

1. An authentication processing and information storing apparatus performing requester authentication processing and storing thereon personal information of the owner, comprising:

personal information storing circuitry storing thereon the personal information of the owner, which is disclosed to a predetermined accessible person of a plurality of predetermined accessible persons upon authentication;

accessible person information storing circuitry storing thereon accessible person characteristic information of each predetermined accessible person indicating a physical characteristic of each predetermined accessible person;

wherein at least one of the plurality of predetermined accessible persons is someone other than the owner;

requester authentication circuitry receiving requester characteristic information indicating a physical characteristic of a requester who requests the personal information of the owner, and performing authentication processing of the requester using the requester characteristic information and the accessible person characteristic information stored on said accessible person information storing circuitry wherein if a computed correlation between the requester characteristic information and the accessible person characteristic information is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value, the requester is authenticated as a predetermined accessible person;

access level setting circuitry setting an access level, which is a level of the personal information to be disclosed to the requester, when said requester authentication circuitry authenticates the requester as the accessible person;

personal information output circuitry outputting a part of the personal information stored on said personal information storing circuitry to the requester in accordance with the access level set by said access level setting circuitry; and

image capturing circuitry for generating the requester characteristic information by capturing an image of the requester while the information storing apparatus is retained by the owner.

2. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising access level storing circuitry storing thereon a personal information level, which is a level of the personal information to be disclosed to the accessible person, in association with each of the plurality of the accessible persons, wherein

said access level setting circuitry sets the access level to the personal information level corresponding to the accessible person when said requester authentication circuitry authenticates the requester as the accessible person.

3. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising access level storing circuitry storing thereon a personal information level, which is a level of the personal information to be disclosed to the accessible person, and an authentication criterion, which is strictness of the authentication to be performed when the personal information within the personal information level is disclosed, in association with each other, wherein

said access level setting circuitry determines the personal information level corresponding to the authentication criterion as at least a part of the access level when said requester authentication circuitry authenticates the requester by the authentication criterion or a criterion stricter than the authentication criterion.

4. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said requester authentication circuitry receives the authentication criterion from said access level storing circuitry, the authentication criterion corresponding to the personal information level for the personal information requested from the requester, and said requester authentication circuitry performs authentication processing of the requester by the authentication criterion.

5. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein

said access level storing circuitry stores the plurality of personal information levels and also stores a lower limit of credibility of the authentication as the authentication criterion corresponding to each of the personal information levels,

said requester authentication circuitry outputs the credibility of the authentication for the requester based on the result of the comparison of the requester characteristic information with the accessible person characteristic information, and

said access level setting circuitry selects the personal information level of which the lower limit of the corresponding credibility is less than the credibility of the authentication output by said requester authentication circuitry, and sets the access level to the sum of the selected personal information levels.

6. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein

said access level storing circuitry stores the personal information level and the authentication criterion in association with a title of the requester,

said requester authentication circuitry further receives the title of the requester from a belonging of the requester, and performs authentication processing of the requester using the authentication criterion by reading the authentication criterion corresponding to the received title from said access level storing circuitry, and

said access level setting circuitry sets the access level to the personal information level corresponding to the title of the requester when said requester authentication circuitry authenticates the requester as the accessible person.

7. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said accessible person information storing circuitry stores a plurality of accessible person characteristic information of each of the accessible persons,

said requester authentication circuitry receives a plurality of requester characteristic information, and performs authentication processing of the requester using the plurality of accessible person characteristic information and the plurality of requester characteristic information.

8. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said requester authentication circuitry employs face information as the requester characteristic information and the accessible person characteristic information.

9. The authentication processing and information storing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said requester authentication circuitry receives the requester characteristic information from a portable apparatus retained by the requester, and

said personal information output circuitry outputs the personal information to the portable apparatus retained by the requester and causes the portable apparatus to store the personal information.

10. An authentication processing and information storing apparatus performing requester authentication processing and storing thereon personal information of a owner, comprising:

personal information storing circuitry storing thereon the personal information of the owner which is to be disclosed to a predetermined accessible person of a plurality of predetermined accessible persons upon authentication;

authentication processing circuitry, which is requester authentication circuitry performing authentication processing of the requester using requester characteristic information indicating a physical characteristic of the requester, said authentication processing circuitry receiving a title of the requester from a belonging of the requester, and performing the authentication processing by a predetermined strictness of the authentication corresponding to the title wherein if a computed correlation between the requester characteristic information and the accessible person characteristic information is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value, the requester is authenticated as a predetermined accessible person;

access level setting circuitry setting a level of the personal information to be disclosed to the requester to a level of the personal information predetermined corresponding to the title when the requester authentication circuitry authenticates the requester as the accessible person;

personal information output circuitry outputting a part of the personal information stored on said personal information storing circuitry to the requester in accordance with the access level set by said access level setting circuitry; and

image capturing circuitry for generating the requester characteristic information by capturing an image of the requester while the information storing apparatus is retained by the owner.

11. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for authenticating a requester of personal information, comprising:

storing personal information of a first person, wherein portions of the personal information are respectively associated with a plurality of levels of accessibility;

storing accessor characteristic information of at least one predetermined accessor of the personal information, wherein at least one of the at least one predetermined accessor is someone other than the first person, and wherein the characteristic information indicates at least a physical characteristic of each of the at least one predetermined accessor;

receiving requester characteristic information indicating a physical characteristic of a requester who is requesting access to the personal information;

authenticating the requester by determining whether the requester is one of the at least one predetermined accessors based on the requester characteristic information and the stored accessor characteristic information;

setting an access level for the requester indicating the level of the personal information which the requester is authorized to access;

allowing the requester to access a portion of the personal information corresponding to the access level set for the requester; and

generating the requester characteristic information by capturing an image of the requester while the computer readable medium is retained by the first person.

12. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one predetermined accessor includes a plurality of predetermined accessors, and the method further comprises:

storing a level of the personal information in association with each of the plurality of predetermined accessors, indicating the level of the personal information which each of the plurality of predetermined accessors is authorized to access;

setting an access level for the requester based on the stored level associated with the predetermined accessor whose accessor characteristic information corresponds to the requester characteristic information.

13. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

storing an authentication criterion in association with each of the plurality of levels of the personal information, the authentication criterion indicating a strictness of the authentication to be performed when a requester requests access to a portion of the personal information corresponding to a particular level; and

setting an access level for the requester as the level corresponding to the authentication criterion when the requester is authenticated at a strictness level corresponding to the authentication criterion or a criterion stricter than the authentication criterion.

14. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the requester is authenticated according to the authentication criterion associated with the level corresponding to the portion of the personal information being requested by the requester.

15. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the authentication criterion corresponds to a minimum correlation between the accessor characteristic information and the requester characteristic information for which the requester will be granted access to the level of the personal information associated with the authentication criterion.

16. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

storing a level of the personal information and an authentication criterion in association with a title of the requester;

receiving the title of the requester from a belonging of the requester;

authenticating the requester based on the authentication criterion associated with the received title; and

setting the access level of the requester as the level of the personal information associated with the received title when the requester has been authenticated.