JP7168252B2 - Mobile device, biometric authentication control method and biometric authentication control program - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile device, a biometric authentication control method, and a biometric authentication control program, and more particularly to a mobile device, a biometric authentication control method, and a biometric authentication control program for controlling the security level of biometric authentication used to unlock the mobile device. Regarding.

In recent years, mobile devices such as smartphones, mobile phones, tablet terminals, and mobile notebook PCs (Personal Computers) have become more sophisticated and come to handle various important information. Security measures for preventing leakage of information to the outside have become important.

For this reason, as a technique for preventing spoofing and more reliably authenticating the identity of the user, for example, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-224251 "Terminal device and control program" of Patent Document 1, Recent mobile devices are equipped with unlocking mechanisms based on biometric authentication such as fingerprint authentication and face authentication. A mechanism has been adopted in which the lock can be released by confirming the

JP 2017-224251 A

As described in Patent Document 1 and the like, the current technology related to the present invention seems to adopt a technology for unlocking a mobile device using biometric authentication such as fingerprint authentication or face authentication. is becoming

However, for example, when fingerprint authentication is used as biometric authentication, there are many cases where the fingerprint authentication fails and the lock cannot be unlocked due to the user's finger being wet or the user's skin condition. . Also, even when face authentication is used, if facial features cannot be sufficiently acquired due to wearing a mask or the like, face authentication fails and the lock cannot be released.

In other words, in current biometric authentication, a predetermined level is fixedly set as a security level that indicates the authentication threshold for determining the success or failure of authentication. The release mechanism may not work at all. As a result, the user cannot use the target mobile device, and the usability is greatly impaired, which is a problem to be solved.

(Object of the present invention)
An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile device, a biometric authentication control method, and a biometric authentication control program having a mechanism for varying the biometric security level.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, a mobile device, a biometric authentication control method, and a biometric authentication control program according to the present invention employ the following characteristic configurations.

(1) A mobile device according to the present invention comprises:
A mobile device that determines whether to unlock based on a user's biometric authentication result,
Pairing is performed with a wearable device worn by a user to mutually authenticate each other as a communication partner, and according to the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device that has been paired, the user Set the authentication threshold of the security level related to biometric authentication to variable,
unlocking when biometric authentication of the user performed by applying the set authentication threshold is successful;
It is characterized by

(2) The biometric authentication control method according to the present invention is
A biometric authentication control method for determining whether or not to unlock a mobile device based on a user's biometric authentication result,
The mobile device
Pairing is performed with a wearable device worn by a user to mutually authenticate each other as a communication partner, and according to the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device that has been paired, the user an authentication threshold variable setting step of variably setting the authentication threshold of the security level related to biometric authentication;
an unlocking step of unlocking when biometric authentication of the user performed by applying the set authentication threshold is successful;
characterized by having

(3) The biometric authentication control program according to the present invention is
A biometric authentication control program that causes a computer of the mobile device to determine whether to unlock the mobile device based on a user's biometric authentication result,
The mobile device
Pairing is performed with a wearable device worn by a user to mutually authenticate each other as a communication partner, and according to the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device that has been paired, the user an authentication threshold variable setting step of variably setting an authentication threshold of a security level related to biometric authentication;
an unlocking step of unlocking when biometric authentication of the user performed by applying the set authentication threshold is successful;
characterized by having

According to the mobile device, the biometric authentication control method, and the biometric authentication control program of the present invention, mainly the following effects can be obtained.

In the current biometric authentication technology for unlocking the mobile device, there are many cases where the biometric authentication operation cannot be performed normally, greatly impairing the usability of the user using the mobile device. On the other hand, in the present invention, it is possible to variably set the security level, that is, the authentication threshold, applied to biometric authentication in a mobile device based on the strength of received radio waves from the wearable device that the user always wears. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of failures of biometric authentication due to factors unintended by the user, and improve usability.

1 is a connection configuration diagram showing an example of connection configuration of a mobile device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the mobile device shown in FIG. 1;

Preferred embodiments of a mobile device, a biometric authentication control method, and a biometric authentication control program according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a mobile device and a biometric authentication control method according to the present invention will be described, but the biometric authentication control method may be implemented as a computer-executable biometric authentication control program, or It goes without saying that the biometric authentication control program may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. In addition, it goes without saying that the reference numerals attached to each drawing below are added to each element for convenience as an example to aid understanding, and are not intended to limit the present invention to the illustrated embodiments. stomach.

(Features of the present invention)
Before describing the embodiments of the present invention, the outline of the features of the present invention will be described first. The present invention unlocks a mobile device (smartphone, mobile phone, tablet terminal, portable notebook PC (Personal Computer), etc.) paired with the wearable device by using the wearable device that the user always wears. The main feature is to variably control the security level applied to Therefore, according to the present invention, the lock of the mobile device can be easily released while maintaining the security of the mobile device and without impairing the usability.

Here, wearable devices worn by users at all times are information devices such as wristwatches (smartwatches), pedometers, blood pressure/pulse meters, eyeglasses, goggles, headsets, and IC recorders. These information devices are worn in a wristband type, a spectacle type, a clip type, and the like. When you unlock one of your own wearable devices and set it to a usable state, you can send and receive information with other information devices using communication functions such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and Wi-Fi. It is possible.

The features of the present invention will be described in more detail as follows. It is assumed that the user wears a wearable device such as a wristwatch (smartwatch) that he or she is wearing with authentication processing already performed and the lock released. Then, when the user tries to use a mobile device such as a smartphone, for example, the user is wearing an authenticated wearable device such as a smart watch and the mobile device to be used. Then, by performing a pairing operation for mutually authenticating the devices, both devices are set to a state in which wireless communication can be performed with each other. In the present invention, the term "pairing" is not used as a term specific to Bluetooth communication, but is used not only for Bluetooth communication but also for other wireless communication such as Wi-Fi communication. It means that both the device and the mobile device perform operations to authenticate each other as correct communication partners.

As a result, when the mobile device transitions to a state in which it can identify and receive radio waves from the wearable device, the mobile device, based on the radio wave intensity of the radio waves received from the wearable device, A distance between the user wearing the wearable device and the own mobile device is determined. Then, the mobile device variably sets the security level used for unlocking the mobile device according to the distance from the determined user (the user who is going to use the mobile device).

In other words, as a result of determining the received signal strength from the wearable device that has already been paired, the distance to the user who is trying to use the mobile device is short, and the user is in the immediate vicinity of the mobile device. is confirmed, it can be determined that there is no security problem even if the security level for unlocking is set to a certain low level. Therefore, if the distance from the user who intends to use the own mobile device is close, the security level for unlocking the own mobile device is lowered, and if the user is far away, the security level is variably controlled to be raised.

(Configuration example of embodiment)
Next, an example of an embodiment of the mobile device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a connection configuration diagram showing an example of the connection configuration of a mobile device according to the present invention, and shows the connection state between a wearable device that is always worn by a user who intends to use the mobile device. . In other words, in FIG. 1, the user 3, who is always wearing the wearable device 2, is going to use the mobile device 1 and is going to perform biometric authentication using the biometric information (for example, fingerprint) of the user 3. is schematically shown. The wearable device 2 shown in FIG. 1 is worn by a user who performs biometric authentication to unlock the mobile device 1. For example, a wristband device such as a wristwatch (smart watch) is used. A case of using is shown as an example. That is, in the example of FIG. 1, it is assumed that the wearable device 2 is worn on the arm of the user 3 .

In FIG. 1, a wearable device 2 worn by a user 3 at all times has already been authenticated, and wireless communication (for example, Bluetooth communication or It is assumed that information can be transmitted and received by Wi-Fi communication). Furthermore, between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1, a pairing operation in wireless communication such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi has already been performed to mutually authenticate each other's device as a communication partner. It is set to be able to send and receive information.

The mobile device 1 also includes a control unit 10 that controls the overall operation, and includes a biometric authentication control unit 11 that performs biometric authentication of the user 3 as one of the control units 10 . The biometric authentication control unit 11 has a function that can variably set the security level when performing biometric authentication. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the security level related to biometric authentication is set to "low", "medium", or "low" according to three strength levels of "strong", "medium", and "weak" of the strength of the radio wave received from the wearable device 2. It shows an example that can be set by switching to three levels of "high".

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile device 1 stores the security level registration table 12 in the ROM (Read-Only Memory) of the non-volatile storage area mounted in the control unit 10, which is received from the wearable device 2. Correspondence relationships between radio field strength and security levels related to biometric authentication are set and registered in advance. Here, in the received radio field strength column 12a of the security level registration table 12, when the received radio field strength from the wearable device 2 is higher (strong) than the strength threshold a, it is lower (weak) than the strength threshold a. ) is higher (strong) than the strength threshold b, but is lower (weak) than the strength threshold b, but higher (strong) than the strength threshold c, which is the limit at which biometric authentication becomes impossible. In the case of "strength", the case of "non-target strength" which is lower (weak) than the strength threshold c, which is the limit at which biometric authentication becomes impossible, is registered.

Then, in the security level column 12b of the security level registration table 12, security levels related to biometric authentication are entered in formats corresponding to "strong," "medium," "weak," and "untargeted" in the received radio wave intensity column 12a. "authentication threshold A" indicating "low level", "authentication threshold B" indicating "medium level", "authentication threshold C" indicating "high level", and "biometric authentication disabled" indicating that biometric authentication is impossible. "Possible" is registered in advance.

In the mobile device 1, the biometric authentication control unit 11, which performs biometric authentication of the user 3 who intends to use the mobile device 1, receives radio waves from the paired wearable device 2 worn by the user 3. Based on the strength, the setting contents of the security level registration table 12 are referred to. Then, when the intensity of the received radio wave from the wearable device 2 is “strong”, which is higher (strong) than the intensity threshold value a, the user 3 wearing the wearable device 2 is located near the own mobile device 1. Therefore, it is possible to obtain more accurate biometric authentication information from the user 3 for unlocking the mobile device 1, so even if the number of check parts to be checked as biometric authentication targets is set to be small, it is not necessary for security reasons. It is judged that the problem of is small. Then, as a security level, an "authentication threshold A" indicating a "low level" in which the number of checks to be confirmed as a biometric authentication target is reduced so that authentication can be completed reliably and quickly is used. Perform biometric authentication on user 3 .

Further, when the intensity of the received radio wave from the wearable device 2 is lower (weak) than the intensity threshold a and higher (strong) than the intensity threshold b, the user 3 wearing the wearable device 2 is a mobile user. The user 3 is located a short distance from the device 1, and biometric authentication is performed on the user 3 using the "authentication threshold B" indicating "middle level" as the security level.

In addition, when the received radio wave intensity from the wearable device 2 is lower (weak) than the intensity threshold b and higher (strong) than the intensity threshold c of the biometric authentication limit value (strong), the wearable device 2 is worn. The user 3 is located far away from the mobile device 1, and biometric authentication is performed on the user 3 using the "authentication threshold value C" indicating "high level" as the security level.

Further, when the strength of the radio wave received from the wearable device 2 is lower (weaker) than the strength threshold value c of the limit value of biometric authentication, it is determined that the biometric authentication cannot be used. Instead, it switches to an authentication mode that performs password authentication, for example.

(Explanation of operation example of embodiment)
Next, the operation of the mobile device 1 shown in FIG. 1 as an embodiment according to the present invention will be described using the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the mobile device 1 shown in FIG. An example of the operation|movement regarding the biometric authentication control part 11 to perform is shown. In addition, the user 3 who is going to use the mobile device 1 always wears the wearable device 2, and the wearable device 2 is set to be authenticated and unlocked. It is assumed that the mobile device 1 and other devices are in a state capable of transmitting and receiving information.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2, when the biometric authentication control unit 11 of the mobile device 1 receives a use request from the user 3, first, pairing with the wearable device 2 worn by the user 3 has already been performed. It is checked whether or not there is (step S1). That is, it is checked whether the pairing operation in which the mobile device 1 and the wearable device 2 mutually authenticate each other as communication partners has already been performed. If it is not possible to confirm that pairing with the wearable device 2 has been completed (No in step S1), the wearable device 2 of the other party is registered in the mobile device 1 as a communication partner. If the device (i.e., the device that is the correct communication partner of the mobile device 1) is not, or if the wearable device 2 has stopped operating even if it is a registered device, or if the wearable device 2 is not worn by the user 3. or the pairing operation with the mobile device 1 has not been performed even if the user 3 is wearing the device, or the like. It is determined that it is in the state, and the process proceeds to step S11 in order to move to an operation of performing authentication by a password, for example.

On the other hand, if it is confirmed that pairing with the wearable device 2 has been completed and that information can be transmitted and received with the mobile device 1 by radio waves (step Yes in S1), the process proceeds to step S2, and the radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device 2 is measured (step S2). As described above, the wearable device 2 is in the unlocked state and is in a state of constantly transmitting radio waves.

After measuring the radio wave intensity of the radio wave from the wearable device 2, the biometrics control unit 11 refers to the security level registration table 12 and registers the received radio wave intensity in the mobile device 1 from the wearable device 2 to the security level registration table 12. is compared with the registered contents of the received radio wave intensity column 12a. Then, when the received radio field strength in the mobile device 1 from the wearable device 2 is "strong strength" higher than the strength threshold a in the received radio field strength column 12a (Yes in step S3), the corresponding security level is set to security level. In order to set the "authentication threshold A" of "low level" set in the security level column 12b of the level registration table 12 and perform biometric authentication according to the set security level, the process proceeds to step S9 ( step S4).

In addition, when the received radio field strength in the mobile device 1 from the wearable device 2 is lower than the strength threshold a in the received radio field strength column 12a (No in step S3), but is "medium strength" higher than the strength threshold b (Yes in step S5), the "authentication threshold B" of the "middle level" set in the security level column 12b of the security level registration table 12 is set as the corresponding security level, and the authentication is performed according to the set security level. In order to perform biometric authentication, the process proceeds to step S9 (step S6).

In addition, although the received radio field strength in the mobile device 1 from the wearable device 2 is lower than the strength threshold b in the received radio field strength column 12a (No in step S5), it is higher than the strength threshold c, which is the limit value for biometric authentication. strength" (Yes in step S7), the "authentication threshold value C" of "high level" set in the security level column 12b of the security level registration table 12 is set as the corresponding security level, In order to perform biometric authentication according to the set security level, the process proceeds to step S9 (step S8).

Furthermore, when the received radio wave intensity in the mobile device 1 from the wearable device 2 is lower than the intensity threshold c in the received radio wave intensity column 12a (No in step S7), the authentication operation using the biometric information of the user 3 is performed. It is determined that it is impossible to do so, and the process moves to step S11 in order to move to the operation of performing authentication using a password, for example.

When moving to step S9, the authentication threshold ("authentication threshold A", "authentication threshold B", or "authentication threshold C") related to the security level set in any of steps S4, S6, and S8 is applied, User 3 is biometrically authenticated (step S9). Then, it is determined whether or not the biometric authentication of the user 3 has succeeded at the set authentication threshold value (that is, whether or not authentication permitting unlocking has been obtained) (step S10). If the biometric authentication of the user 3 is successful (Yes in step S10), the process proceeds to step S13 to unlock the mobile device 1. FIG. On the other hand, if the biometric authentication of the user 3 is not successful (No in step S10), an authentication mode other than biometric authentication is used to perform the authentication operation of the user 3 again (for example, password authentication). ), the process proceeds to step S11.

In step S11, when biometric authentication cannot be performed or biometric authentication fails, a message prompting user 3 to enter a password for authentication is output, and the password for authentication is entered. and perform authentication using a password (step S11). If the authentication using the password is successful (Yes in step S12), the process proceeds to step S13 to unlock the mobile device 1. FIG. On the other hand, if the authentication using the password is also unsuccessful (No in step S12), the user 3 is notified that the authentication has failed, and the biometric authentication control unit 11 ends.

When the process proceeds to step S13, the user 3 is notified that the authentication has succeeded, and the lock state of the mobile device 1 is released (step S13). The operation of the part 11 ends.

In the above description, the distance between the wearable device 2 that the user 3 always wears and the mobile device 1 (i.e., the distance between the user 3 and the mobile device 1) is defined as the wireless communication from the wearable device 2. A case has been described in which determination is made based on the value of the strength of the radio wave received by the mobile device 1 . However, the present invention is not limited to such a case. ) and other positional information (latitude and longitude information) may be used in combination. In other words, the intensity of the received radio wave from the wearable device 2 is combined with information indicating the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the own mobile device 1, and the authentication threshold applied as the security level is variably set. Also good.

In addition, based on the distance between the wearable device 2 that the user 3 always wears and the mobile device 1 (further information combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1), the security level related to biometric authentication is determined. Although a case has been described where the authentication threshold is set by switching between three levels of "low", "medium", and "high", the number is not limited to three, and may be less than three, or three. The authentication threshold may be further increased, and the authentication threshold can be set to an arbitrary number of steps. Furthermore, an authentication threshold indicating a security level related to biometric authentication is defined as a function of the received radio wave intensity from the wearable device 2 (further information combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1), and the received radio wave intensity ( Further, the authentication threshold value may be continuously changed in accordance with changes in (information obtained by combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1). In other words, the result of combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1 may also be included, but the stronger the received radio wave intensity from the wearable device 2, the lower the security level of the authentication threshold value. should be set to

Furthermore, in the above description, based on the distance between the wearable device 2 worn by the user 3 and the mobile device 1 (further information combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1), Although the authentication threshold value applied to biometric authentication has been described as the variably set security level, the authentication mode to be applied is not limited to biometric authentication. For example, if the authentication mode for unlocking is switched to password authentication when biometric authentication fails, the security level may be set variably even in the password authentication. That is, when performing password authentication, based on the distance between the wearable device 2 worn by the user 3 and the mobile device 1 (further information combining the positional relationship between the wearable device 2 and the mobile device 1) Therefore, the number of digits of the password used for unlocking may be changed to an arbitrary number.

(Description of effects of the embodiment)
As described in detail above, the present embodiment provides the following effects.

That is, in the current biometric authentication technology for unlocking the mobile device 1, there are many cases where the biometric authentication operation cannot be performed normally, and the usability of the user 3 using the mobile device 1 is greatly reduced. I was at a loss. In contrast, in the present embodiment, the security level applied to biometric authentication in the mobile device 1, that is, the authentication threshold, is variably set based on the received radio wave intensity from the wearable device 2 that the user 3 always wears. This makes it possible to reduce biometric authentication failures due to factors unintended by the user 3, thereby improving usability.

For example, when the user 3 is located near the mobile device 1 and the intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device 2 is higher than the preset intensity threshold a, the authentication threshold applied to biometric authentication is set to "low level". Unintended authentication failures can be reliably reduced by setting the authentication threshold A to .

The configuration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, it should be noted that such embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and do not limit the present invention in any way. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications can be made for a particular application without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 Mobile device 2 Wearable device 3 User 10 Control unit 11 Biometrics control unit 12 Security level registration table 12a Received radio wave intensity column 12b Security level column

Claims (10)

Pairing with a wristwatch-type wearable device that the user wears and has successfully authenticated the user, and the security level related to facial recognition using a mask-wearing user image according to the received radio wave strength of radio waves. set to variable,
Based on the result of face authentication applying the set security level, determine whether unlocking is possible,
Unlock if you decide to unlock,
mobile device. If there is no pairing with the wearable device, determining whether to unlock based on password authentication,
Unlock if you decide to unlock,
A mobile device according to claim 1 . setting the security level related to face authentication of the user image to a value that lowers the security level as the strength of the received radio wave from the wearable device increases;
3. A mobile device according to claim 1 or 2. The number of check items for the user image is reduced as the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave from the wearable device is stronger.
4. A mobile device according to claim 3. If the strength of the received radio wave from the wearable device is lower than the strength threshold, which is the limit value of face authentication using the user image, determining whether to unlock based on password authentication,
The mobile device according to any one of claims 1-4 . The security level is variably set by combining the strength of the radio waves received from the wearable device and information indicating the positional relationship between the wearable device and the own mobile device.
The mobile device according to any one of claims 1-5 . When determining whether to unlock based on the password authentication, the wearable device is based on the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device, or the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave from the wearable device. variably set the number of digits of the password based on the result of combining information indicating the positional relationship between the mobile device and the mobile device;
6. A mobile device according to claim 2 or 5 . variably setting an authentication threshold of a security level related to face authentication using the user image according to the received radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the wearable device that has already been paired;
Determining unlocking when authentication using the user image performed by applying the set authentication threshold is successful;
A mobile device according to any one of claims 1-7 . Pairing with a wristwatch-type wearable device that the user wears and has successfully authenticated the user, and the security level related to facial recognition using a mask-wearing user image according to the received radio wave strength of radio waves. variably setting ;
a step of determining whether or not unlocking is possible based on the result of face authentication applying the set security level ;
unlocking if unlocking is determined;
A biometric authentication control method. Pairing with a wristwatch-type wearable device that the user wears and has successfully authenticated the user, and the security level related to facial recognition using a mask-wearing user image according to the received radio wave strength of radio waves. variably set processing;
a process of determining whether or not unlocking is possible based on the result of face authentication applying the set security level ;
a process of unlocking if unlocking is determined;
A biometric authentication program that causes a computer to run

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