Method and system to detect human interaction with a computer

• US 8,341,699 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2010
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Billingsley, Eric N., Monier, Louis M.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US12/848,895
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 726/2, 713/178, 713/182, 382/100, 725/11, 705/500
• US Class Current: 726/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3234 involving additional secure or trusted devices, e.g. TPM, smartcard, USB or software token network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using an additional device in a packet data network H04L63/0853
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps

Abstract

A system is provided to monitor a user'"'"'s interaction with a computer. The system may comprise a random reference data generator to generate a random reference string, an image generator to create an image including the random reference string, a modification module to iteratively modify the image until a distortion criterion is satisfied, and a communications module to communicate the image to a client computer for display to a user. The random reference string comprises a plurality of alphanumeric characters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

using one or more processors;

generating, a random reference string, the random reference string comprising a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

creating an image including the random reference string;

iteratively modifying the image until a distortion criterion is satisfied;

communicating the image to a computer for display to a user together with a time stamp and a checksum, the checksum being generated utilizing the random reference string and the time stamp;

receiving user input data; and

comparing the random reference string and the user input data to detect human interaction with the computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of alphanumeric characters is a random reference number, the method of claim 1 comprising further randomizing the random reference number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the image including the random reference string comprises:

for each iteration of the modifying, generating an image modification random number and modifying the image based on the image modification random number.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the generated image modification random number is from a plurality of image modification random numbers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates that the modifying of the image comprises off-centering each character in the random reference string.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates that the modifying of image comprises adding random distortion to the image.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates that the modifying of the image comprises adding a grid to the image.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting a request from a browser application, wherein the generating of the random reference string is in response to the detecting of the request.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of alphanumeric characters is a random reference number; and

the random reference data generator is to further randomize the random reference number.

10. A system computer comprising:

a random reference data generator to generate a random reference string, the random reference string comprising a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

an image generator to create an image including the random reference string;

a modification module to iteratively Modify the image until a distortion criterion is satisfied; and

a communications module to communicate the image to a computer for display to a user together with a time stamp and a checksum, the checksum being generated utilizing the random reference string and the time stamp, and to receive user input data, the user input data to be compared to the random reference string to detect human interaction with the computer.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the image generator is to generate an image modification random number for each iteration of the modifying of the image and modify the image based on the image modification random number.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the generated image modification random number is from a plurality of image modification random numbers.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates that the image generator is to modify the image by off-centering each character in the random reference string.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates that the image generator is to modify the image by adding random distortion to the image.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the generated image modification random number from the plurality of image modification random numbers indicates the image generator is to modify the image by adding a grid to the image.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the communications module is to detect a request from a browser application, wherein the generating of the random reference string is in response to the detecting of the request.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon which, when executed by a processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

generating a random reference string, the random reference string comprising a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

creating an image including the random reference string;

iteratively modifying the image until a distortion criterion is satisfied;

communicate the image to a computer for display to a user;

communicating the image to a computer for display to a user together with a time stamp and a checksum, the checksum being generated utilizing the random reference string and the time stamp;

receiving user input data; and

comparing the random reference string and the user input data to detect human interaction with the computer.