Systems and methods for securely monitoring an individual

• US 9,584,496 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2012
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HALO Wearables LLC
• Original Assignee: Convergence Biometrics LLC
• Inventors: Murakami, Rick V., Miller, David, Pettit, Matthew W., Lunt, Larry V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US13/497,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20130057385A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.82, 340/5.52, 340/5.53, 340/5.1, 340/6.1, 382/124, 382/115, 235/380, 235/492, 235/379, 235/381, 455/411, 600/310, 600/316, 600/317, 600/322, 705/51, 705/3, 705/2, 705/301
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/00 Programme-control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/95 structured as a network, e.g. client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means

Abstract

A biometric sensor may be coupled to a portable communications device, such as a cellular telephone. The biometric sensor may be configured to acquire one or more measurements of biological characteristics of an individual. One or more of the measurements may relate to internal, sub-epidermal characteristics of the individual, such as non-volitional processes occurring within the individual, sub-epidermal structures within the individual, or the like. A biometric marker may be derived from one or more of the measurements. The portable communications device may be activated responsive to deriving the biometric marker. The activation may include transmitting the measurements and/or biometric markers derived therefrom to a receiver using the portable communications device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting, using an energy emitter of a biometric sensor, a first energy signal into a sub-epidermal structure of an individual,

receiving, from the sub-epidermal structure of the individual, a second energy signal using an energy sensor of the biometric sensor;

determining a first sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual using the second energy signal;

transmitting, to a monitoring service executing on a server device, the first sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual;

receiving, from the monitoring service executing on the server device, a request for a second sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual;

measuring, using the biometric sensor, the second sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual;

transmitting, to the monitoring service executing on the server device, the second sub-epidermal characteristic; and

receiving, at a portable electronic device, a first alert from the monitoring service executing on the server device when the second sub-epidermal characteristic diverges from one or more thresholds defined in a profile for the individual, the profile comprising one more profile measurements corresponding to sub-epidermal measurements previously taken for the individual.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving a biometric marker from the first sub-epidermal characteristic; and

transmitting, to the monitoring service executing on the server device, the biometric marker.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the biometric marker, the first sub-epidermal characteristic, and the second sub-epidermal characteristic are encrypted for transmission over a network.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, from the monitoring service executing on the server device, instructions responsive to the monitoring service executing on the server device monitoring the second sub-epidermal characteristic.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving, from the monitoring service executing on the server device, second alert in responsive to the monitoring service executing on the server device monitoring the second sub-epidermal characteristic.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising emitting the second alert an audio alert in response to receiving the alert from the monitoring service executing on the server device.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising activating a vibrator in response to receiving the second alert from the monitoring service executing on the server device.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying using the biometric marker, information associated with the individual; and

monitoring the individual using the biometric marker.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information associated with the individual comprises an individual profile stored on a computer-readable storage medium, the individual profile comprising one more individual profile measurements corresponding to sub-epidermal structure measurements previously taken for the individual.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising authenticating, using the biometric marker, the second sub-epidermal characteristic.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the information associated with the individual comprises a stored biometric marker, and

authenticating the second sub-epidermal characteristic comprises comparing the biometric marker to the stored biometric marker.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the information describing the individual comprises a biometric profile of the individual, and

authenticating the second sub-epidermal characteristic further comprises comparing the biometric marker to the biometric profile.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising recording the second sub-epidermal characteristic into the individual profile.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

comparing the second sub-epidermal characteristic to one or more thresholds defined in the individual profile; and

transmitting, to a device associated with a health care provider, a third alert when the second sub-epidermal characteristic diverges from the one or more thresholds.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, using the energy emitter, a third energy signal into a second sub-epidermal structure of the individual,

receiving, using the energy sensor, from the second sub-epidermal structure of the individual, a fourth energy signal; and

determining, using the fourth energy signal, the second sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor is integrated into a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, or a media player.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sub-epidermal characteristic or the second sub-epidermal characteristic corresponds to a non-volitional process occurring within the individual.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first sub-epidermal characteristic or the second sub-epidermal characteristic is a hemodynamic waveform.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first sub-epidermal characteristic or the second sub-epidermal characteristic is a histological structure within the individual.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sub-epidermal characteristic or the second sub-epidermal characteristic is a heartbeat waveform.

21. A system comprising:

a portable device comprising;

an biometric sensor, the biometric sensor comprising;

an energy emitter to transmit, into a sub-epidermal structure of an individual, a first energy signal towards the individual;

an energy receiver to detect, from the sub-epidermal structure of the individual, a second energy signal, and

a processing device, coupled to the biometric sensor, the processing device is to;

determine a first sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual using the second energy signal;

determine a biometric marker of the individual using the first sub-epidermal characteristic;

transmit, to a monitoring service executing on a server device, the biometric marker;

receive, from the monitoring service executing on the server device, a request for a biometric characteristic;

transmit, to the monitoring service executing on the server device, the biometric characteristic of the individual;

receive, from the monitoring service executing on the server device, a challenge message requesting a measurement of a second sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual;

measure, using the biometric sensor, the sub-epidermal structure of the individual to obtain the second sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual;

transmit, to the monitoring service executing on the server device, the second sub-epidermal characteristic for the monitoring service executing on the server device to compare the second sub-epidermal characteristic to a biometric profile of the individual; and

receiving, at a portable electronic device, a first alert from the monitoring service executing on the server device when the second sub-epidermal characteristic diverges from a threshold defined in a profile for the individual, the profile comprising one more profile measurements corresponding to sub-epidermal measurements previously taken for the individual.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a communications device to transmit, to the monitoring service executing on the server device, a monitoring packet in responsive to the processing device deriving the biometric marker.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the monitoring packet comprises the biometric marker and the first sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the communication device is to send the monitoring packet to a monitoring service, and

the system further comprising;

the monitoring service to receive the monitoring packet from the communications device, the monitoring service comprising;

a computer-readable storage medium to store one or more information profiles corresponding to the individual; and

a security layer to associate the monitoring packet with an individual profile using the monitoring packet,

wherein the monitoring service is to perform a monitoring function for the individual using the individual profile associated with the monitoring packet and the biometric marker and the first sub-epidermal characteristic of the individual of the monitoring packet.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the security layer is to authenticate the monitoring packet using the one or more biometric markers in the monitoring packet.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the authenticating the monitoring packet comprises comparing the one or more biometric markers in the monitoring packet to the biometric profile in the individual profile.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the monitoring service is further to compare a selected measurement received in the monitoring packet to the threshold defined in the individual profile associated with the monitoring packet.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the portable device is to receive, from the monitoring function, an alert when the selected measurement diverges from the threshold.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the monitoring function is further to transmit an alert to a health care entity when the selected measurement diverges from the threshold.