JPH04311266A - User collation system and hospital information system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily perform personal confirmation for a user by providing a user collating function and collating the user at every specific operation or process, and then, controlling processes and progress of the processes based on the collated results. CONSTITUTION:This user collation system is provided with an information processor 1a, such as workstation, etc., mouse 2a, keyboard 3a, IC card reader 4a, and display device 5a; and sensors for detecting finger information are attached to the switches 22 and 23 or side window 21 of the main body 2 of the mouse 2a. Since the fingers of a user naturally come into contact with the window 21 and switches 22 and 23 when the user operates the mouse 2a, the mechanisms for detecting characteristic information of fingers are provided to such parts and processes or the progress of the processes are controlled based on collated results by collating the user at prescribed time intervals or at every specific operation or process. Therefore, features of finger information of the user can be naturally read during the course of normal operation while the user is unconscious of it.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a user verification method in an information processing system using a computer and a hospital information system using the method.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in an information processing system using a computer, when using the system, the user is personally identified using an ID code and password, and only after the user is confirmed to be a registered user can the system be used. A user confirmation method that allows the activation of the system is common. However, in this method, whether or not a specific program or process can be executed is controlled when the system is started, and therefore there is no collation or checking function once the specific system is started. Therefore, after startup, the ID
Anyone can operate it freely without knowing the code or password. Therefore, in a system where protection of personal privacy and security is important, and in a situation where anyone can freely operate the system after activation, there is a problem that confidentiality cannot be ensured. Conventionally, to solve this problem, a "timeout function" that returns to the initial state after a certain period of inactivity and requires re-entering the ID code and password, and a "timeout function" that continues to hold the ID card while the system is operating. Countermeasures such as adding a "key mechanism" have been proposed. Furthermore, for systems that require a higher degree of security, a method is available in which users' fingerprints are registered and a fingerprint detector is installed in the room or device so that the system can only be activated by fingerprint verification. There is also. Regarding this, see “Measurement and Control” Vol. 25, No. 8 (
"Automatic Fingerprint Identification Technology" on pages 19-24 (August 1986) explains the history, principles, applications, etc. of fingerprint detection technology as a personal identification method. Also, The Proceedings of 10th
International Conference
on Pattern Recognition (ICP
R), pp. No. 761-766, June 1990, a system is disclosed in which personal identification is performed using images of fingers in place of passwords.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, in each of the above-mentioned methods, no matter how strict the checks are when the system is started, no checks are performed after the system starts, so a situation where protection is insufficient can easily occur. The problem cannot be solved. This problem occurs when multiple users share a common resource, and even in systems where the number of users is usually limited, it is important to provide special protection for certain operations, processes, or specific data. It also occurs in cases. For example, information handled in a hospital information system is an example of information that needs to be protected. In a hospital information system, a doctor handles a patient's medical history and other various personal and family medical information through a workstation or the like. Therefore, it can be said that the information contained in these medical records requires protection such as restricting access from the viewpoint of patient privacy. Furthermore, measures to prevent falsification of contents are an important issue both in medical practice and legally. Here, even if the user leaves his/her seat after the system has been started, a situation must not occur where the user can freely refer to, add to, or change the contents. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional technology, and to enable the system to be operated continuously, at regular intervals, or at specific operations or processing intervals during system operation. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a user verification system that allows users to verify their identity. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a user verification system in which personal information detection and confirmation can be carried out naturally without the user being aware of it and with the same operational feeling as in the past. Another object of the present invention is to provide a hospital information system that uses the above-described user verification system to protect information contained in medical records.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The above objects of the present invention are as follows:
In an information system having an information processing device and an information input means connected to the information processing device for inputting operator operations and instruction information, the information input means is equipped with a user verification function or a part thereof, and the information input means is equipped with a user verification function or a part thereof, A user verification system that verifies users at time intervals or for each specific operation or process, and controls processing or progress based on the results, and each of the systems that constitute the hospital information system. This is achieved by a hospital information system characterized in that it is constructed using the above-described information processing apparatuses having the user verification function as terminals, workstations, and other information processing equipment.

[0005]

[Operation] In the user verification system (hereinafter referred to as "system") according to the present invention, a user performs initial operations from a workstation (hereinafter referred to as "WS") to which the above-mentioned information input means is connected. That is, the ID code and personal characteristic information are input from the above-mentioned information input means as an operation equivalent to inputting an ID code in a manner similar to the conventional method. The system performs personal verification processing using this ID code and personal characteristic information. This process is equivalent to the initial operation in the conventional method, apart from differences in the means and method of verification. Furthermore, the objects that require protection, the degree of protection, etc., and the relationship with users are determined in advance. That is, whether or not to control the processing based on the above-mentioned verification depends on the object to be used. The above verification operation after the system is started is executed at predetermined intervals or for each specific operation or process. This function makes it possible to constantly check the user while the system is in operation, and to prevent further processing from proceeding if the check is not performed. For example, even if the user leaves the seat after the system is started, the subsequent processing cannot be executed unless the personal characteristic information matches. Note that the user verification system according to the present invention is characterized in that the above-mentioned check is performed naturally without the user being particularly conscious of it. Further, the standard pattern of the feature information for verification (including a plurality of patterns with different conditions) is held in a personally managed medium such as a card, together with personal ID information and the like. Therefore, there is no need to prepare a user's reference pattern on the device or system side. Furthermore, by using the above-described user verification system, it is possible to construct a hospital information system that is effective in realizing the protection of information included in medical records.

[0006]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information processing system including a user verification system according to the present invention. In the figure, 1a is an information processing device such as a workstation, 2a is a mouse, 3a is a keyboard, and 4a is an information processing device such as a workstation.
indicates an IC card reader, and 5a indicates a display device. Furthermore, 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, and 5b are similar parts of other workstations, etc., and these are connected by a network 100. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the above-mentioned mouse 2a. In the figure,
2 is the mouse body, and 22 and 23 indicate switches. The features of the mouse shown in this embodiment include the switch 22,
23 or a window 21 provided on the side of the mouse, a sensor for detecting finger information is attached. Here, an example is shown in which a sensor is attached to a window 21 provided on the side surface of the mouse body 2. When operating a mouse, the user's finger naturally touches the window 21 or the switches 22 and 23 provided on the side of the mouse, so providing a function to detect characteristic finger information in these areas would make it easier for the user to use the mouse. The characteristics of finger information can be read naturally during normal operations without being particularly conscious.

FIG. 3 shows the operating state of the mouse. That is, the thumb 210 touches the window 21 provided on the side surface of the mouse body 2, the index finger 220 touches the switch 22, and the middle finger (not shown) touches the switch 23 in a natural manner. Here, the above-mentioned sensors can be attached to specific keys of the keyboards 3a and 3b in addition to the mice 2a and 2b in FIG. 2. The mice 2a and 2b are used in an information processing system as shown in FIG. An example of the detection principle when detecting a fingerprint as finger information is shown in FIG. 4(a). This detection method is called a prism method, and 211 is a prism and 212 is a light source. From the light source 212 to the prism 21
Light is incident on the window 21 of No. 1 at an angle of total reflection, and the reflected light modulated by the finger 210 touching the prism 211 is detected by the detector 213. An example of a pattern detected in this way is shown in FIG. 4(b). In the finger information detection section that uses the above detection principle, by making the part that touches the finger a concave structure, it is possible to always detect the pattern of almost the same part of the finger, which improves detection accuracy. Effective for improvement.

[0008] The personal verification operation using the above detection means is as follows:
This will be explained with reference to the operation flow diagram shown in FIG. The detection pattern shown in FIG. 4(b) is subjected to preprocessing such as noise removal and interpolation, and then feature detection is performed (steps 51 to 54). That is, the position, type, direction, etc. of the end of a ridge or a branch point (called a "minutia") is detected. Judgments are made by comparing these features with registered reference patterns (
Step 55). Usually, there are about 100 of the above-mentioned feature points in one fingerprint.
It is said that if a representative number of about 10 of these points match, it is safe to judge that the person is the real person. Depending on the object, it may be sufficient to further reduce the degree of matching. According to the above embodiment, the characteristics of the finger information are naturally read during normal operations without the user being particularly conscious, and the user's verification check is performed, so the operation feeling is similar to that of the conventional one. It is possible to realize a user verification system that can be executed naturally within the system. Note that the detection and verification processing in the verification operation described above do not need to be executed by the same device. That is, if several WSs in the system are connected via a network,
An effective method is to detect personal information using a mouse or the like of each WS, and to execute the verification process using a specific device. For example, it is also possible to configure a large number of WSs in the network to have input means only for the detection section, and one verification processing server to perform all verifications. Further, the standard pattern (reference information) of characteristic information for verification can be configured to be held in a personally managed medium such as a card, together with personal ID information, etc. In this case, This has the effect that there is no need to prepare a user's reference pattern on the device or system side.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a hospital information system to which the present invention is applied. Here, an example of a model system configuration regarding information within a hospital is shown. In Figure 6, 6
0 is the host computer, 62 is the host computer 6
0 is a database of all hospital information managed, 61 is medical, accounting, pharmacy, etc. departments, 71 and 72 are outpatient departments,
73 is an examination room, 80 is an inpatient ward, and 90 is a radiology department. The information processing devices in each department are connected by a local area network 110 for each department, and further connected by a higher level network 100. The systems within each department include workstations (WS), terminals (T), and inspection equipment (CT, M
It also includes files (R), files (F), databases (IDB), etc. Each of these devices is
used by each person. For example, full-time staff in the reception and accounting departments, doctors and nurses in the outpatient department, radiologists in the radiology department, laboratory technicians in the examination room, etc.
etc. For example, as mentioned above, many people from many departments are involved in the information of one patient. Some patient information should be restricted from being referenced, and some should not be freely added or modified. Therefore, it is necessary to predetermine the range of use of each user's information and to control the use of the information within that range. Therefore, each information processing device in the system shown in FIG. By checking the range and restricting usage to a predetermined range, it is possible to create a system that completely protects privacy and security.

[0009] Each of the above embodiments shows an example of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention should not be limited thereto. For example, when a tablet and a stylus pen are used as the input means, one example is to provide a window for attaching the sensor for detecting finger information as described above where the finger of the stylus pen is located.

0010

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a user verification system is realized that can be executed naturally without the user being particularly conscious of it and with the same operational feeling as conventional ones. This has the remarkable effect of being able to Furthermore, this user verification system is particularly effective for systems such as hospital information systems in which many people are inevitably involved in information that is important to protect both privacy and security. Furthermore, by storing the personal characteristic patterns (reference information) for verification in a medium such as a card that the user carries and manages, the verification processing device does not need to store the reference patterns of many users. It is practical.

[0011]

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a mouse equipped with a sensor for detecting finger information, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an information system connected by a network to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a mouse operation situation in the example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of fingerprint information and its detection principle.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a matching operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a hospital information system to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b: Workstation, 2a, 2b: Mouse, 21: Finger information detection sensor, 22, 23: Switch, 2
10,220: Finger, 3a, 3b: Keyboard, 4a, 4
b: IC card reader, 5a, 5b: display device, 60:
Host computer, 61: Medical accounting system department, 6
2: Database, 71, 72: Outpatient department, 73: Examination room, 80: Ward, 90: Radiology department, 100: Core LA
N, 110: LAN, 611: Terminal, 711, 721,
811, 911: Workstation, 731: Inspection system.

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1. An information system comprising an information processing apparatus and an information input means connected to the information processing apparatus for inputting operator operations and instruction information, wherein the information input means is provided with a user verification function or a part thereof. 1. A user verification method system, comprising: verifying a user at all times, at predetermined time intervals, or for each specific operation or process; and controlling the process or progress based on the results. 2. The user verification function uses finger information such as a fingerprint as personal information, uses a mouse as the input means, and the mouse is equipped with a means for detecting the finger information. The user verification method according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. A user verification system, wherein the reference in the user verification function is stored in a medium such as a card that each user carries and manages. 4. A hospital information system constructed using the information processing device having the user verification function according to claims 1 to 3 as each terminal, workstation, and other information processing equipment constituting the system. A hospital information system characterized by: