JP2003528407A - Security user identification system and method using a Bluetooth enabled transceiver and biometric sensor implemented in a handheld computer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract A security biometric identification system and method of the present invention. In the most general embodiment, the system of the present invention includes a processor, a biometric sensor operatively connected to the processor, and a wireless transmitter operatively connected to the sensor. In an exemplary embodiment, the sensor is a fingerprint sensor and the transmitter is a wireless Bluetooth enabled transceiver. The sensor and transceiver are located on first and second expansion cards adapted to engage expansion slots of a personal digital assistant.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to electronic devices and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods that provide user identification and / or authentication for electronic devices and systems. 2. Description of Related Art Today, whenever a user desires to access a computer-based system containing private data, the user must typically use a password to identify himself. Often has to be. Regarding the password,
The user chooses a very simple and easily discoverable password, or
When a user uses a more complex password, that user often writes the password down somewhere, and that password is likely to be stolen, so the password does not provide sufficient security. Well known.

Eventually, many cryptographic modalities as well as access controls such as passwords and locks are used for a single purpose of identifying the individual requesting access.

Therefore, there is a need for a reliable security system or method that authenticates the identity of a user. Ideal if there is a system or method in which the user does not have to remember the password or use other authentication devices such as keys to access the computer or other electronic devices and systems. Target. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This need in the industry has been met by the security biometrics of the present invention.
etric) Identification system and method. In its most general implementation, the system of the present invention includes a processor, a biometric sensor operably connected to the processor, and a wireless transmitter operably connected to the sensor.

In the illustrated embodiment, the processor is the central processing unit of a personal digital assistant (PDA). In this preferred embodiment, the PD
A has an expansion slot that allows access to its system bus. The sensor is a fingerprint sensor and the transmitter is a wireless Bluetooth (Bl
It is a transceiver compatible with Bluetooth. The sensor and transceiver are located on first and second expansion cards designed to engage the expansion slots of the personal digital assistant and connect to the system bus.

The system of the present invention provides a mobile, secure, low cost system and method for providing biometric data for user authentication and identification. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the following, in order to clarify the advantageous disclosure content of the present invention, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention and a typical application example will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Although the present invention is described herein with reference to exemplary embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to such embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art who have the benefit of the disclosure provided herein will appreciate additional modifications, applications, and examples within the scope of the invention and further areas within which the invention is very useful.

As described above, in accordance with the present disclosure, the system of the present invention is adapted to receive a biometric input from a fingerprint sensor and responsively provide a first signal. Includes Digital Assistant (PDA). Personal digital assistants are well known and widely used.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a PDA suitable for use in connection with the present disclosure. The PDA 10 is shown mounted in a cradle 11. As is known in the art, PDA 10 is a handheld computer having a liquid crystal display and touch screen 12 and a keypad 14. As will be described in more detail below, PDA 10 in its optimal form is manufactured and sold by the company Handspring and at www. ha
ndspring. An expansion slot is provided, such as the Visor ^™ handheld computer described in more detail at www.com.com.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of a portion of PDA 10 with expansion slot 15 having a card 16 partially inserted therein. (The images shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are Hand
The PDA, which is copyrighted by the company Spring and is available as a product intended for use with the present invention, and how the card is constructed in accordance with the present disclosure and used with the PDA. It is shown in each case merely to illustrate what is good and what is not. The inventor does not claim that it is an inventorship regarding the PAD 10 or cradle 11. In accordance with the present disclosure, a biometric device, which in the exemplary embodiment is a fingerprint sensor 18, is located on card 16. In this exemplary embodiment, the fingerprint sensor 18 is centered on the card 16 so that the index finger of one hand naturally and reasonably touches the fingerprint sensor when holding the PDA with the hand, and Located at a distance d from the top. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to the location of the sensor and the type of sensor used. Sensor 18
May detect any biometric data, including body temperature, skin conductivity, audio data, pupil data, etc.

The fingerprint sensor of this exemplary embodiment is a Vericom, Inc. sensor as a model FPS 110 sensor. (Santa Clara, CA). This sensor is particularly suitable for the present invention in that it detects capacitance changes associated with a particular fingerprint as opposed to an optical image. Therefore, omitting the optics simplifies system design and fingerprints cannot be easily forged by print duplication. When the card is inserted into the expansion slot, it electrically interfaces with the PDA's system bus, completing the electrical circuit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a PDA having a biometric sensor constructed in accordance with the present disclosure. The system 20 includes a PDA 10 and a card 16. In accordance with the present disclosure, a wireless transceiver 22 is located on card 16. In this preferred embodiment,
The transceiver 22 is made to operate according to the Bluetooth specification version 1.0A core published in July 1999. The wireless transceiver 22 is connected to an antenna 24 and communicates with a central processing unit (CPU) 26 of the PDA 20 via a bus 25.

In the exemplary embodiment, fingerprint sensor 18 is mounted on a secondary card 21, which is adapted to interface with primary card 16.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of details of the interface between the card and the PDA. In this exemplary embodiment, bus 25 provides 24 address lines and a 16-bit data bus. "Cs slot 0" and "cs slot 1" are control signals, and "CD1" and "CD2" are card detection signals. “Vdock” supplies module charging power from the cradle 11.

Flash memory circuitry is included on card 16 to provide application specific information to the CPU via bus 25. This flash memory is a read only memory (ROM) and contains the module header information and any other applications needed for the module or card 16. The applications stored in memory 16 include drivers for sensors 18 and utilities provided in the developer's kit supplied by the manufacturer, eg Sp provided by Handspring.
"Palm-" included in the ringboard Developer's Kit
It may be created using the "makeROM" utility. In this illustrative embodiment, CPU 26 is a standard Palm ^™ <“Palm” is a registered trademark or “PalmOS”? > Works with the operating system. System 10
After initialization of the fingerprint sensor 18 through the bus 25, the central processing unit 26
Receive biometric data from. See FIG.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that system 20 has various modes of operation. For example, biometric data, ie, fingerprint data in one embodiment, by way of example, may be implemented in hardware (not shown) or software by control software provided by flash memory 28 or internal memory 30 provided within PDA 10. It may be encrypted. The encrypted biometric data may then be transmitted to a remote server for authentication and identification, as shown in the flowchart of Figure 5.

(Cryptographic hardware and software are known to those skilled in the art. See, for example, Rivest et al., 1983, 9 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
See U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829 entitled "Cryptographic Communication System and Method" issued on the 20th of March. As will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, the control software is controlled by the CP via the system bus, generally designated 25.
It also allows U 26 to selectively access and control mobile unit components.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method of using a PDA having a biometric sensor of the present invention. FIG. 5 (a) shows an example of a start-up routine for a card 16, such as the card used by the Visor ^™ PDA sold by Handspring. In step 104, the system 2
0 looks for interrupts indicating module detection. Once the module 16 is detected, then in step 106 the module is slowly powered up. In step 108, the operating system reads the module header and updates the application launcher global. That is, the operating system maps the chip select signal to the default address range, resets the module, and inspects the card header. If the card header is correct, the operating system will register the card or module 16.

In step 110, the operating system looks for a “setup app” signal that indicates the presence of the application on module 16. If the application does exist, then in step 112 the operating system creates a copy and executes the application. In step 114, if the "welcome app" signal is present, step 1
At 16, the welcome application is executed directly from the module memory 28. In either case, in step 118, all applications appear on the application launcher, and this implementation method continues in FIG. 5 (b).

FIG. 5 (b) illustrates a method of using the fingerprint sensor of the example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), the system 20 waits in standby mode for biometric data in steps 120 and 122. Once the data is available, it is encrypted at step 124 and transmitted at step 126.

One of ordinary skill in the art should understand that, as an alternative, the system 20 may be authenticated. In this case, the secure resource provided by the PDA is made accessible. The system and method according to this embodiment is of March 31, 2000, entitled "Systems and Methods for Secure Biometric Identification," by the inventor Martin Morris, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. Co-pending US Patent Application No. 09 / 531,720
(Attorney Docket Number WIDC-012 / 00US) disclosed and claimed.

As yet another alternative to fingerprint validation, a key or other message may be transmitted via a wireless link to a remote device or network. In any case, it is envisioned that more than one fingerprint may be stored for each individual user.

Thus, the present invention has been described herein with reference to a particular embodiment for a particular application. Those skilled in the art who have the disclosure of the present invention will understand additional modifications, applications, and examples within the scope of the present invention.

Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such applications, variations and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a PDA suitable for use in combination with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of a portion of a PDA with an expansion slot with a card partially inserted therein.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a PDA having a biometric sensor configured in accordance with the present disclosure.

[Figure 4]   3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of interface details between a card and a PDA.

FIG. 5 (a) is a flow chart illustrating a method of using a PDA with a biometric sensor of the present invention, which is an example of a start-up routine for a card used in an example embodiment PDA. .

FIG. 5 (b) is a flow chart illustrating a method of using a PDA having a biometric sensor of the present invention, the method of using a fingerprint sensor of an example embodiment.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, I T, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE, TR), CA, C N, DE, FI, GB, JP, MX, SE

Claims (34)

[Claims] 1. A device for use in an identification system for security, comprising:   A processor,   A biometric sensor operably connected to the processor,   Wireless transmitter operatively connected to the sensor A device including and. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is a wireless transceiver. 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth enabled transceiver. 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the sensor is a fingerprint sensor. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a computer wherein the processor is a central processing unit. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the computer is a handheld computer. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the computer is a personal digital assistant. 8. A device for use in a security identification system, the device including a handheld computer and a biometric sensor electronically connected to the handheld computer. 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the biometric sensor is a fingerprint sensor. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a wireless transceiver. 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the handheld computer is a personal digital assistant. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the computer comprises a central processing unit. 13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a system bus electrically connected to the computer. 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the handheld computer has an expansion slot. 15. The device of claim 14, wherein the device further comprises a first card adapted to physically engage the expansion slot. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transceiver is located above the first card. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a second card adapted to be electrically connected to the first card. 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the fingerprint sensor is mounted on the second card. 19. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the fingerprint sensor and the transceiver are electrically connected to the system bus when the first and second cards are installed in the expansion slot. 20. A device for use in a security identification system, the wireless transceiver being disposed on a first card, a fingerprint sensor attached to the first card, and the card. A personal digital assistant having an expansion slot adapted to accept electrical communication between the sensor, the personal digital assistant, and the transceiver. 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the personal digital assistant includes a central processing unit. 22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a system bus electrically connected to the personal digital assistant. 23. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a second card adapted to be electrically connected to the first card. 24. The device of claim 23, wherein the fingerprint sensor is mounted on the second card. 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the fingerprint sensor and the transceiver are electrically connected to the system bus when the first and second cards are installed in the expansion slot. 26. A device for use in an identification system for security, comprising first means for providing biometric data and second means for transmitting said data via a wireless link. apparatus. 27. The second means is a wireless transceiver.
6. The device according to 6. 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth enabled transceiver. 29. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the first means is a fingerprint sensor. 30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first and second means are operably connected to a personal digital assistant. 31. A method of identification for security, comprising:   Supplying biometric data,   Transmitting said data via a wireless link Method including and. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the transmitting step further comprises transmitting the data via a Bluetooth enabled transceiver. 33. The method of claim 31, wherein providing the biometric data comprises providing biometric data with a fingerprint sensor. 34. The method of claim 31, wherein the steps of providing the data and transmitting the data are performed by a personal digital assistant.