JPH08329010A - Computer network system, its access administrating method, and individual authorization device used for same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perform a processing for deciding whether or not a user has access right speedily at a user's access request by using physical body feature data and to securely maintain secrecy protection. CONSTITUTION: At the access request, the physical body features of the user are measured by feature measurement units 14-1, 14-2, and 14-3, and further processed by data degeneration units 13-1, 13-2, and 13-3 as feature data having linear projection, etc., degenerated. Computer systems 11-1 and 11-2 send the feature data to a collation server 15 through a communication network 12. The collation server 15 performs a collation process according to feature data previously stored in a file system 16. It is judged from the collation result whether or not the user has the access right, and the access allowed/disallowed state is sent to computer systems 11-1 and 11-2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer network system configured by connecting a plurality of computer systems to each other via a communication network, an access management method in this computer network system, and this computer network system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a personal authentication device used in the computer network system, a computer network system that performs security processing using the physical characteristic data of the user, an access management method in the computer network system, and a personal authentication device used in the computer network system. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a computer network system in which a plurality of computer terminals (systems) are mutually connected by a communication network, in order to protect security, a user is identified in accordance with an access request to the network system to determine whether or not the user has an access right. It is necessary to perform a determination process, that is, an access permission determination process.

As a method of identifying a user, a method of inputting a password as a user identifier from a keyboard of a computer terminal is most commonly used. However, in this method, only the password entered from the keyboard is the criterion for user identification, so even a non-registered user can access the network as long as the password is known, and unauthorized access cannot be completely prevented. .

Therefore, in order to improve the security, measures are taken such as making the password complicated and setting a dedicated password individually when each computer system in the network accesses another computer system. However, this method requires the user to memorize a plurality of complicated passwords, and the password input operation is very time-consuming, which imposes a heavy burden on the user.

[0005]

As described above, in the computer network system, the conventional method of accessing the network system or the computer system by using the password makes it difficult to completely protect the confidentiality of the user and There is a problem that the operation is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and by using the physical characteristic data, it is possible to perform the processing for determining the presence or absence of the access right at high speed in response to the access request from the user. An object of the present invention is to provide a computer network system capable of maintaining security securely.

Further, according to the present invention, by using the physical characteristic data in the computer network system, it is possible to perform the processing for determining the presence or absence of the access right at high speed in accordance with the access request from the user, and It is an object of the present invention to provide an access control method capable of reliably maintaining confidentiality.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a personal authentication device used in a computer network system, which can perform a reliable authentication process by an easy operation and reduce the burden on the user.

[0009]

A computer network system according to the present invention is a computer network system comprising a plurality of data processing means and a communication means for interconnecting the plurality of data processing means. The data processing means of measuring the physical characteristics of the user, generating means for degenerating the measured physical characteristics to generate characteristic data, and the communication means using the characteristic data as a user identifier. And a data transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving data via the Internet.

In the computer network system, the plurality of data processing means send out the user identifier in response to an access request, are connected to the communication means, and receive the user identifiers received through the communication means. It is characterized by comprising a collating means for collating with a user identifier registered in advance to determine whether or not an access request can be made.

An access management method according to the present invention is an access management method in a network system having a plurality of data processing means and a communication means for interconnecting the plurality of data processing means, and
Measuring the physical characteristics of the user, degenerating the measured physical characteristics to generate characteristic data, and transmitting / receiving the characteristic data as a user identifier via the communication means. It is characterized by doing.

The access management method further comprises the step of collating the user identifier transmitted and received via the communication means with a user identifier registered in advance, and whether or not the access request is permitted according to the collation result of the collating step. And a step of determining.

In the above computer network system or access control method, the characteristic data obtained by extracting the physical characteristics of the human, for example, the characteristics of the finger, depends on the fingerprint and is unique to each individual. is there. Therefore, if this characteristic data is used as a user identifier to determine whether or not there is an access right to the network system, it is possible to secure the confidentiality more securely than the use of a password against the access by another person who does not have the characteristic data registered. And since it does not require complicated input operation,
The burden on the user in the access operation is reduced.

Further, the feature data used in this system is degenerated data, which is about 1/10 of the amount of data as compared with the one using a general fingerprint image, and the data is transmitted through the communication network on the network. It is possible to perform the processing such as the forwarded transfer and the matching in the matching server at high speed. Similarly, the file system capacity required for collation processing is about 1
1/0 is enough.

Further, in such a computer network system, when access to the network is once granted, the finger feature data is used as a user identifier when accessing from one computer system to another. As a result, the cumbersome procedure required for accessing another computer system as in the past is simplified.

In addition, each of the plurality of data processing means has a means for collating the user identifier with a pre-registered user identifier in response to an access request and determining whether or not the access request can be made. Good. Furthermore, each of the plurality of data processing means receives a user identifier from the data processing means of the access request source in response to an access request from another data processing means, and collates it with the previously registered user identifier. It may be configured to have a means for determining whether or not the access request can be made.

The generated characteristic data is degenerated data such as one-dimensional projection. Further, the measuring unit has a linear electrode array, and the generating unit detects a distribution of resistance values of adjacent linear electrodes when the user's finger is placed on the linear electrode array. It may be configured to.

The matching means or the matching step aligns the user identifier with the pre-registered user identifier, and the aligned user identifier and the pre-registered user identifier. Calculate the difference between
It is preferable to determine the accessibility by comparing the calculated degree of difference with a preset threshold value.

Further, the computer network system according to the present invention is a workflow system for sending arbitrary data to the plurality of data processing means in a preset order, and each of the plurality of data processing means includes:
Only when the user identifier matches the user identifier registered in advance, there is provided a means for accepting the approval / disapproval determination in response to the reception of the arbitrary data.

Therefore, in a workflow system that operates a series of work flows set on a computer network system, a finger that has been registered in advance is subjected to a judgment process for judging approval / disapproval based on a preset condition. By making it possible to perform the determination process only when the feature data of 1 and the feature data of the finger input at the time of determination match, it is possible to perform an easy and reliable electronic approval.

The measuring unit and the generating unit described above extract the characteristics of the finger from the distribution of the resistance value between the adjacent electrodes due to the contact of the finger of the user along the array direction of the linear electrode array, and extract the characteristics of the finger. Outputs one-dimensional feature extraction data along the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the amount of feature data is significantly smaller than that of a fingerprint sensor that detects a fingerprint as a two-dimensional image, so that transfer on a computer network system and matching processing with registered feature data can be performed at high speed. Therefore, it is possible to quickly perform personal authentication.

The personal identification device according to the present invention is a personal identification device in a network system in which a plurality of data processing devices are interconnected, and is arranged along the array direction of a linear electrode array arranged one-dimensionally on a substrate. Feature extraction means for outputting feature data based on a distribution of resistance values between adjacent electrodes of the linear electrode array when the finger of the person to be authenticated comes into contact with the feature data output from the feature extraction means. Differences between alignment means for performing alignment processing with registered feature data, and dissimilarity calculation means for calculating the dissimilarity between the feature data aligned by this alignment means and the registered feature data, And a judging unit for judging the authentication of the person to be authenticated by comparing the difference calculated by the degree calculating unit with a preset threshold value. To.

As a result, the amount of characteristic data is significantly smaller than that of a fingerprint sensor that detects a fingerprint as a two-dimensional image, and therefore transfer on a computer network system or collation processing with registered characteristic data is performed. It is possible to perform high-speed and quick personal authentication, and even if the relative position of the finger of the person to be authenticated and the linear electrode array is slightly different from that at the time of registration, the features extracted by performing the alignment process The data and registered characteristic data can be accurately compared and collated.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, first to fourth embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer network system 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a plurality of computer systems 11 (11-1 to 11-3) are connected to each other via a communication network 12. Each computer system 1
1 data reduction unit 13 (13-1 to 1
3-3), the characteristic measuring unit 14 (14-1 to 14-3) for measuring the physical characteristic (characteristic data) of the user.
Are connected respectively. This data reduction unit 1
The physical features of the user are extracted as electrical signals by the 3 and the feature measuring unit 14.

In this embodiment, the characteristic measuring unit 14 measures fingerprint information of the user's finger as the physical characteristic of the user, as will be described later. The physical characteristic is information relating to the human body and means a characteristic peculiar to each individual. Although three computer systems 11 are connected to the computer network system 10 shown in FIG. 1, the number of computer systems connected is not limited to this.

The communication network 12 is further connected to a collation server 15 for identifying whether or not the user has an access right to the computer network system based on the characteristic data measured by each characteristic measuring unit 14. The collation server 15 uses the degenerate feature data (hereinafter,
Whether or not the user, that is, the authenticated person has an access right, by collating the extracted feature data) with the feature data of the finger registered in advance in this computer network system (hereinafter referred to as registered feature data). To judge.

The registered feature data is held in the file system 16 in this embodiment. Next, as shown in FIG.
The physical feature extraction processing by the data degeneracy unit 13 and the feature measurement unit 14 shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. As described above, the characteristic measuring unit 14 measures the fingerprint information of the finger of the user who is the identification target.
The data degeneracy unit 13 calculates the fingerprint information measured by the feature measuring unit 14 as an extracted feature data by an electric signal. At this time, filtering processing, analog / digital conversion processing, and the like are performed. The extracted feature data obtained by the data degeneracy unit 13 is degenerate data such as one-dimensional projection that has a smaller amount of information than the data showing the surface image of the finger.

Here, the degenerate data will be described. Usually, measurement data obtained when measuring physical characteristics such as a fingerprint image, a face image, a voice, and a retina of an eye includes a plurality of characteristics. For example, the secondary image is composed of a plurality of primary images. Of the plurality of features, some features are deleted by arithmetic processing or converted to values equivalent to other features to reduce the information amount of the entire data as degenerate or degenerate processing, and degenerate data and Indicates data subjected to such processing.

The above arithmetic processing corresponds to data processing and calculation by a dedicated circuit, or measurement by a dedicated device (electrode array, optical arithmetic unit, etc.). Therefore, the filtering process can also be regarded as the data degeneracy process.

Such degeneration processing includes one-dimensional projection (two-dimensional projection in the case of a three-dimensional image), contour extraction, vector (vector motion) extraction, Fourier transform, feature extraction, smoothing and the like.

2 (a) and 2 (b) show configuration examples of the feature measurement and data degeneration unit in which the feature measurement unit 14 and the data degeneracy unit 13 are integrated. 2A shows a side surface when a finger as an identification target is placed on the unit having the integrated structure, and FIG.
(B) shows a placement relationship between a linear electrode described later and a fingerprint of a finger as an identification target.

A linear electrode array 142 is formed on the surface of an insulating substrate 141. This linear electrode array 142
Is a plurality of linear electrodes arranged in a one-dimensional array. As a material for the substrate 141, for example, a glass epoxy or other printed circuit board material, a ceramic plate, or a thin metal plate with an insulating coating is used. As the electrode material of the linear electrode array 142, for example, a Cu thin film,
A conductive material such as an Au thin film, a Ni plating film, a Pt thin film, or a Pd thin film, which is hard to be attacked by body fluid such as perspiration from human skin, is used.

As the electrode material, any material other than an insulator can be used because the object to be measured has a relatively high resistance. For example, ITO (indium tin oxide) or the like can be applied. It may be an oxide film. The method for forming the electrodes is not particularly limited, and any ordinary method such as plating or vapor deposition can be applied.

Since the user's finger is brought into contact with the linear electrode array 142, the electrode interval is a fingerprint pitch of about several hundred μm,
That is, the pitch is made finer than the uneven pitch (about 0.5 mm) forming the fingerprint, for example, about 0.1 mm. Also,
Length of the linear electrode array 142 in the array direction (array length)
Is a length that completely includes the second joint from the tip of the finger. Since the electrode interval is constant, the array length can be adjusted by the number of electrodes.

A lead terminal 144 is connected to each of the electrodes forming the linear electrode array 142. At the time of characteristic measurement, as shown in FIGS.
43 are pressed along the array direction of the linear electrode array 142, ie perpendicular to the individual longitudinal directions of the electrodes.

FIG. 3 shows a value circuit of the data degeneracy unit 13 and the feature measuring unit 14 which are integrated. The characteristic measurement and data degeneracy unit includes a switch circuit 145 connected to the lead terminal 144, a reference resistance Rref,
And a low voltage source Vo, and the linear electrode array 142 shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) (in FIG.
(Shown as 42-1 to 142-n) The resistance value between the adjacent electrodes when the finger is pressed on is sequentially read in the length direction of the finger.

Normally, on the surface of a human finger, the skin is raised to form a fingerprint according to the arrangement of the sweat openings, and the sweat is always naturally radiated from the sweat openings. That is, water containing a small amount of Na or Cl is always diffused from the fingerprint protrusion. Therefore, when a finger is pressed onto the linear electrode array 142,
Moisture (perspiration) diffused from the sweat opening of the fingerprint protrusion reaches the linear electrode immediately below the fingerprint protrusion. At this time, the electric resistance between the electrodes to which the moisture reaches decreases due to the ions depending on the moisture. Therefore, only the portion corresponding to the convex portion of the fingerprint has a lower resistance than the other portions.

In addition to such a low resistance state corresponding to sweating, when the finger of the user to be identified is pressed against the electrode array 142, two adjacent electrodes 142i, 14 are formed.
A convex portion forming a fingerprint enters the space between 2i + 1 (i = 1, 2, ..., N). In this case, the resistance value Ri between the two adjacent electrodes 142i and 142i + 1 is
It also changes depending on the amount of the convex portion of the finger that enters the inter-electrode space. That is, if the amount of protrusions that enter the inter-electrode space is large, the resistance value Ri becomes low accordingly.

A switch circuit 145 is connected to the electrodes 142-1 to 142-n via a lead terminal 144. The switch circuit 145 is an analog switch, more specifically, an analog multiplexer IC (integrated).
circuit). Switch circuit 145
Connects two adjacent electrodes 142i and 142i + 1 to a constant voltage source Vo through a reference resistor Rref.

For example, in the state of FIG. 3, the electrodes 142-1 and 142-2 are connected to the constant voltage source Vo via the reference resistance Rref as shown by the broken line. Reference resistance Vref
The potential difference Vi at both ends of is given by the following equation.

Vi = Rref.multidot.Vo / (Rref + Ri) The switch circuit 145 sets the combinations of two adjacent electrodes 142-1 and 14 for detecting the potential difference Vi.
2-2, 142-2 and 142-3, ... 142-n-1 and 1
The potential difference Vi is sequentially read in the finger length direction by sequentially switching to 42-n. The potential difference V read in this way
When i is plotted in time series, it becomes as shown in FIG. 4, and a pattern equivalent to the multivalued projection of the finger in the longitudinal direction is obtained.
In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents the positions of two adjacent electrodes,
The vertical axis represents the potential difference Vi.

The signal obtained by the above-mentioned processing is further subjected to filtering and analog-digital conversion in the feature measurement and data degeneracy unit. Here, the data output from the data degeneracy unit 13 has a data amount of about 100 bytes when the detection resolution between the electrodes is 8 bits, for example. A signal pattern indicating this data is A (i).

Since the size (data amount) of the feature data obtained here is about one digit smaller than that of a general fingerprint image, the communication network on the computer network shown in FIG. 1 is used. There is a great advantage that the processing such as the transfer via 12 and the matching in the matching server 15 can be performed at high speed.

For example, in a fingerprint image of a human finger, even if the fingerprint image is compressed, the data amount is usually about 1 Kbyte. In the present application, by degenerating human physical features as described above, fingerprint information may be about 100 bytes, which is about one-tenth the data amount of a fingerprint image. Similarly, the capacity of the file system 16 required for the matching process may be about 1/10 of the conventional capacity.

Next, the collation server 15 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the matching server 15. The collation server 15 is composed of a position alignment processing unit 151, a dissimilarity calculation unit 152, and a comparison unit 153.

The registration processing unit 151 registers the signal pattern A (i) representing the extracted characteristic data extracted by the characteristic measuring unit 14 and the data degeneracy unit 13 and the registered characteristic data read from the file system 16. Positioning with the signal pattern Ad (i) is performed.

The registered characteristic data stored in the file system 16 is characteristic data obtained when the finger is placed on the linear electrode array 142 in a certain state in the characteristic measuring unit 14. However, when measurement is performed to perform the matching process, that is, the state in which the user puts his / her finger on the feature measurement unit 14 when obtaining the extracted feature data is not always the same as when the registered feature data was obtained. . That is, it is expected that the position where the finger is placed is slightly different.

Therefore, the alignment processing unit 151 performs the alignment processing so that the extracted feature data becomes the data obtained in the same position state as when the registered feature data was obtained.
By this processing, matching can be performed more reliably. A specific method of the alignment process will be described later.

The dissimilarity calculator 152 calculates the dissimilarity between the extracted feature data and the registered feature data from the output signal of the alignment processor 151. As a matter of course, the smaller the difference is, the higher the possibility that the person to be authenticated whose characteristics are extracted in the characteristic measuring unit 14 and the data degeneracy unit 13 is the user himself / herself who is registered in the file system 16 in advance. It will be.

The comparing unit 153 compares the difference calculated by the difference calculating unit 152 with a certain threshold value TH to determine whether the person to be authenticated is the registered person, that is, the user who has the access right. Or not.

In the above-described configuration of the first embodiment, a user who attempts to access the computer network system 10 via the computer system 11 first uses the characteristic measuring unit connected to the computer system 11. Enter the characteristics of your finger. The extracted feature data obtained by the feature measurement unit 14 and the data degeneracy unit 13 is transmitted via the communication network 12 to the above-mentioned FIG.
Is transferred to the collation server 15 having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 and is compared and collated with the registered characteristic data registered in the file system 16 in advance in this collation server 15. By this comparison and collation, the presence or absence of the access right of the user is determined.

The collation processing in the collation server 15 is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the alignment processing unit 151 performs alignment processing. That is, the signal pattern A (i), which is the extracted feature data sent from the computer system 11 requesting access, is input (step S11). Furthermore, this signal pattern A
(I) and the registration signal pattern Ad that is the registration feature data read from the file system 16 by the matching server 15.
Using (i), the squared error between the signal pattern A (i + m) obtained by shifting A (i) by m and the registered signal pattern Ad (i) is added over a predetermined range (step S1).
2).

If this added value is S (m), this is m
Either of the following expressions (1) and (2) depends on the range of the value of. Note that m ≧ 0 corresponds to a state in which the finger is shifted in the fingertip direction, and m <0 corresponds to a state in which the finger is shifted in the opposite direction, that is, in the root direction.

[0054]

[Equation 1]

This added value S (m) is the sum of A (i + m) and A (i + m).
This is a parameter indicating the degree of coincidence with d (i), and this S
It is indicated that the smaller the value of (m) is, the closer the agreement is. By changing m in a predetermined range, m when the value of S (m) becomes the minimum is defined as the positional deviation amount M, and the pattern A (i) shifted by this positional deviation amount M, that is, the pattern A (i + M )
It is determined that alignment can be performed in step S1 (step S1).
3). Next, in the dissimilarity calculation unit 152, the dissimilarity E is obtained by the following equations (3) and (4) (step S1).
4).

[0056]

[Equation 2]

The dissimilarity E obtained by such an equation is obtained by adding the squared error of the registered input signal pattern A (i + M) and the registered signal pattern Ad (i) over a predetermined range and within the same range. Registration signal pattern Ad
(I) shows the value normalized by the sum of squares. The difference E represents the difference between the registered input signal pattern A (i + M) and the registered signal pattern Ad (i).
The larger the value of, the larger the difference between the two signals, and the smaller the value, the more similar the signals.

Next, the comparing unit 153 compares the difference E with a predetermined threshold value TH (step S1).
5, S16), and if E ≦ TH, both signals match,
When the access is used, the person to be authenticated, who is the user, is judged to be the person himself and the collation processing is ended (step S17). Also,
If E> TH, it is determined that the two signals do not match, it is determined that the person to be authenticated is another person, and the collation process ends (step S).
18).

When it is determined in step S17 that the person to be authenticated is the person in question, the collation server 15 gives access permission to the person to be authenticated, that is, the user. The collation server 15 is set with access conditions on all networks, and when a computer system in the network requests access to another computer system (service) in the same network, as described above. The extracted feature data can be collated / determined by using the user identifier.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the feature data obtained by extracting the feature indicating the physical feature of the human being (fingerprint in the first embodiment) is used. The presence or absence of the access right to the network system is determined by comparing and collating with the characteristic data registered in advance as the person identifier.

As a result, it is possible to realize more reliable security protection than the use of a password against access by another person whose characteristic data is not registered. Further, for extracting the characteristic data, the user may perform a simple operation such as pressing a finger on the linear electrode array as described in the embodiment, and requires a complicated input operation such as password input. Therefore, the burden on the user in the access operation can be greatly reduced.

Further, the feature data used in the first embodiment is degenerated data, and the data amount is about 1/10 of that in the case of using a general fingerprint image. Communication network on computer network 12
It is possible to perform the processing such as the transfer via the server and the matching in the matching server 15 at high speed. Similarly, the capacity of the file system 16 required for the collation processing is about 1/10 of the conventional capacity.
Good.

In order to extract the characteristic data, various processes as shown in FIG. 7A are required in the conventionally applied optical method. First, a finger image that is two-dimensional information is captured by the optical sensor, and pixel information in the lateral direction of the finger of the captured finger image is added (step S21,
S22). After that, the high-frequency component and the low-frequency component of the added information are removed by using the bandpass filter and output as feature data (steps S23 and S24).

On the other hand, in the method using the electrode array described above, as shown in FIG. 7B, the resistance value distribution of the finger is detected (step S31), and the high frequency component and the low frequency component are removed (step S32). ) And the characteristic data are output (step S33), and the characteristic data can be output with less processing than the conventional optical method. Therefore, the data degeneration unit 13 and the feature measurement unit 14 connected to each computer system 11 can quickly extract the feature data.

In the first embodiment, the one-dimensional projection of the fingerprint of the finger is used as the degenerated characteristic data indicating the physical characteristics of the human, but in addition to this, the contour of the finger or the Fourier transform is used. It is also possible to apply the fingerprint information obtained by the above.

Further, once the access to the network is permitted in this way, the finger feature data is used as a user identifier when accessing from another computer system to another computer. It is possible to simplify a troublesome procedure such as inputting a plurality of types of passwords that is conventionally required when accessing the system.

In the above-mentioned electrode array type, the feature measuring unit and the degeneration unit are integrated. However, for example, an optical device that detects a one-dimensional projection may be applied. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8A, the feature measurement unit and the data degeneration unit can be configured by different units. As shown in the figure, the feature measuring unit is composed of an optical fingerprint measuring device, and the data degeneracy unit is composed of a one-dimensional projection calculating unit and a filtering / A / D converting unit.

The optical fingerprint image measuring device measures a two-dimensional fingerprint image as shown in FIG. 8 (b) and sends the measured image information to the one-dimensional projection calculating unit. The one-dimensional projection calculation unit calculates two-dimensional image information into one-dimensional information, and performs filtering processing and A / D conversion to output degenerate data including the extracted features.

In the above-described first embodiment, the computer system 11 and the characteristic measuring unit 14 are connected via the data reducing unit 13, but the data reducing unit 13 and the characteristic measuring unit 14 are connected.
May be incorporated in the computer system 11. For example, a characteristic measuring unit having the same function as the characteristic measuring unit 14 may be arranged on the keyboard of the computer system 11.

As described above, when the data degeneracy unit 13 and the feature measuring unit 14 are incorporated into the computer system 11 as the feature extracting unit, the above-mentioned computer network system has a configuration as shown in FIG.

Here, as in the first embodiment described above, a plurality of computer systems 21 (21-1 and 21-2 are provided.
1-3) are mutually connected via the communication network 22.
Each computer system 21 includes a feature extraction unit 27 (27-1 to 27-1) that extracts a physical feature (feature data) of the user.
27-3) are incorporated respectively. The function of the feature extraction unit 27 is similar to the function of the feature measurement unit 14 and the data degeneracy unit 13 described above, and the extracted feature data is degenerated data.

The communication network 22 is further connected to a collation server 25 for identifying whether or not the user has an access right to the computer network system based on the characteristic data measured by each characteristic measuring unit 24.

The operation of the computer network system 20 shown in FIG. 9 is the same as the operation of the first embodiment described above, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted. or,
Also in the computer network system 20, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

Next, a second embodiment of the computer network system according to the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the present invention is applied to a workflow system.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the processing of the workflow according to the second embodiment. The computer network system according to the second embodiment has the same configuration as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

This computer network system is a workflow system that operates a series of work flows set on the work system, and is used to extract physical characteristics in the computer system 11 that performs processing that requires electronic approval. A data degeneracy unit 13 and a feature extraction unit 14 are connected, and feature data (for example, fingerprint information of a finger) and processing conditions of a person who has an approval right are registered in the file system 16 of the verification server 15.

The flow of processing will be specifically described below with reference to FIG. Note that, here, fingerprint information of a human finger is applied as the feature data as in the first embodiment described above.

When an approval procedure request is generated in the set work flow, the computer system 11 of the requested user receives the approval procedure request via the communication network 12 (step S41). The approver displays the received request procedure on the terminal and inputs the feature of the finger through the feature measuring unit 14 (step S42). The extracted characteristic data is transmitted to the matching server 15 via the communication network 12.

The collation server 15 performs the collation processing described with reference to FIG. As a result, if the characteristic data registered in advance in the file system 15 as an authorized right qualified person and the transmitted extracted characteristic data match, the approval / non-approval procedure can be executed. Permission is given to 11 (step S43). After the approval procedure processing is executed, the processing data is sent to the computer system 11 corresponding to the next processing via the communication network 12 (steps S44, S4).
5).

Although the approval procedure has been described here, the present invention can be similarly applied to other processes such as calculation and document addition when it is desired to limit the process performers.

Furthermore, if the present invention is applied to a workflow system that operates a series of work flows set on a computer network system, when a judgment process for judging approval / disapproval according to preset conditions,
Since the determination process can be performed only when the characteristic data of the finger registered in advance and the characteristic data of the finger input at the time of determination match, reliable electronic approval can be performed by a simple operation.

In the finger feature extraction means of the present invention, the finger feature is extracted from the distribution of the resistance value between the adjacent electrodes caused by the user's finger touching along the array direction of the linear electrode array. , The one-dimensional feature extraction data along the longitudinal direction of the finger is output, the fingerprint is
Compared with a fingerprint sensor that detects a three-dimensional image, the amount of feature data is extremely small, so transfer on a computer network system and collation processing with registered feature data can be performed at high speed, thus speeding up. It becomes possible to perform personal authentication.

Next, a third embodiment of the computer network system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. In the computer network system 30 shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of computer systems 31 (31-1 to 31-3) are connected to each other via a communication network 32. Each computer system 31 has a data degeneration unit 33 (33-1 to 33-3).
A characteristic measuring unit 34 (34-1 to 34-3) for measuring the physical characteristic (characteristic data) of the user is connected to each of the above. The data degeneracy unit 33 and the feature measurement unit 34 extract the physical features of the user as an electric signal.

In this embodiment, the extracted physical characteristics are not particularly limited, but for example, fingerprint information (one-dimensional projection) of the user's finger can be obtained as in the first embodiment described above. Measurement may be performed, and in addition to this, degenerate feature data obtained by Fourier transform or contour extraction can be applied. Further, the number of connected computer systems is not limited to this, as in the first embodiment.

The first point different from the computer network system 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a collation server 15 for collating physical features, and a file system 16 for storing registered feature data referred to by this collation server. Has not been made. The second difference is that each computer system 31 connected to the communication network 32 has a file system 35 (35-1 to 35-1).
35-3) is connected.

The file system 35 stores the registered characteristic data referred to in the collation processing for determining the presence or absence of the access right, and various file data to be processed. Therefore, in the third embodiment, first, each computer system 3 is selected according to the extraction of the characteristic data.
In step 1, the collation process for determining the presence or absence of the access right can be performed.

Next, the file access operation of the computer network system 30 of the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS.

In the computer network system 30, when a file access request is generated in an arbitrary computer system 31, the computer 31 requests the physical measurement unit 34 to input a physical characteristic, for example, a fingerprint of a finger. To be done. Here, when the user's finger or the like is placed on the characteristic unit 34, the characteristic data degenerated by the characteristic measurement unit 34 and the data degeneracy unit 33 is extracted in the same manner as the processing in the first embodiment described above. (Steps S51 and S52).

Extracted characteristic data (extracted characteristic data)
Is added to the date and time when the access request is made and the user identifier such as a password (step S53). It should be noted that it is possible to use only the degenerated extracted feature data without giving an identifier such as a date and time or a password.

Next, the computer system 31 determines whether or not the access-requested file is stored in the file system 35 connected to this computer system 31 (step S54). Here, if the file requested to be accessed is stored in the file system 35, a matching process is performed to determine whether the registered characteristic data stored in the file system 35 is the same as the extracted characteristic data and the user identifier. (Step S56).

The collating process performed here is the same as the above-mentioned first step.
The collation processing and the like in the embodiment can be applied. If the result of the matching process is a match,
File access is permitted (step S57). If they do not match, after the notification that the file access is impossible, etc., the process according to the file access request ends.

In step S54, if the file requested to be accessed is not stored in the file system 35, the computer system 31 sends the extracted feature data and the user identifier together with the file name of the file requested to be accessed to the communication network. It is sent to another computer system via 32 (step S58). After that, the response from the computer system of the destination to which the extracted characteristic data and the like is transmitted is received, and the above-described processing is performed according to the availability of access (step S59).

As will be described later, when the file is accessible, the file requested for access is sent, so that processing such as storing this in the file system 35 is also performed. Next, the processing of the computer system 31 that receives the various data sent in step S58 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the computer system 31 receives the extracted feature data and the user identifier together with the file name of the file requested to be accessed from the other computer system, the file requested to be accessed is connected to its own computer system 31. It is determined whether or not the file is stored in the existing file system 35 (step S6).
1, S62). Here, if the requested file is not stored in the file system 35, this is notified to the requesting computer system (step S6).
3).

When the file requested to be accessed is stored in the file system 35 at the step S62, the user who has made the request has the file access right by using the extracted characteristic data and the user identifier received at the step S61. Collation processing is performed to determine whether or not (steps S64 and S65). If the collation results show a match, the computer system of the request source is notified that the computer system has the access right, and the file requested for access is sent (step S66). If the verification results do not match, the requesting computer system is notified that there is no file access right (step S).
67).

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the characteristic data obtained by extracting the characteristic indicating the physical characteristic of the human is compared as the user identifier with the previously registered characteristic data. By collating, it is determined whether or not there is an access right to the network system. As a result, it is possible to realize more reliable confidentiality protection than the use of a password against access by others whose characteristic data is not registered.

In particular, in the third embodiment, in each computer system connected to the communication network 32, first, the access right presence / absence determining process in response to the file access request is independently performed, and the access request is issued. Only when the file is not stored in the file system, the access right presence / absence determination process is performed in another computer system via the communication network 32. Therefore, it is not necessary to send and receive data via the communication network 32 every time the access right presence / absence determination process is performed, and the communication efficiency of data on the communication network 32 can be improved.

Further, the feature data used in the third embodiment is degenerated data as in the first embodiment, and has a data amount larger than that of a general fingerprint image. Can be saved. Therefore, data transfer and processing can be performed at high speed.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the computer network system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15.
Will be described with reference to. Since the computer network system 40 shown in FIG. 14 is basically the same as the computer network system 10 shown in FIG. 1, detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, the computer network system 40 has a file system 47 (47) for each computer system 41 connected to the communication network 42, as in the third embodiment.
-1 to 47-3) are connected.

However, this file system 47 stores only various file data to be processed. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the extracted feature data is sent to the matching server 45 in response to the feature data extraction. Then, this collation server 45
In, a collation process for determining the presence or absence of the access right is performed.

This computer network system 4
The processing of the computer system 41 and the collation server 45 according to the file access at 0 is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In the computer network system 40, when a file access request is issued by an arbitrary computer system 41, the computer 41 requests the input of a physical feature, for example, a finger fingerprint, using the feature measuring unit 44. To be done. Here, when the user's finger or the like is placed on the characteristic unit 44, the characteristic data degenerated by the characteristic measurement unit 44 and the data degeneracy unit 43 is extracted as in the processing in the first embodiment described above. (Steps S71, S72).

Extracted characteristic data (extracted characteristic data)
Is added to the date and time when the access request is made and a user identifier such as a password, and sent to the verification server 45 via the communication network 42 (steps S73, S74). It should be noted that it is possible to use only the degenerated extracted feature data without giving an identifier such as a date and time or a password.

Next, the collation server 45 receives the extracted characteristic data and the user identifier, and then the file system 4
Collation processing is performed to determine whether the registered characteristic data stored in No. 5 is the same as the extracted characteristic data and the user identifier (steps S75, S76). As the matching process performed here, the matching process or the like in the above-described first embodiment can be applied. If the result of the collation process is a match, the user is permitted to access the file and is notified of this (steps S77 and S78). If they do not match, it is determined that there is no file access right, and this is notified (steps S79, 78).

According to the fourth embodiment described above, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. That is, since the presence or absence of the access right is determined by using the characteristic data obtained by extracting the characteristic indicating the physical characteristic of the human as the user identifier, the password is used for the access by the other person whose characteristic data is not registered. More reliable security can be achieved. Also, the feature data used is degenerated data as in the first embodiment, and the amount of data can be saved as compared with that using general fingerprint images. Therefore, data transfer and processing can be performed at high speed.

[0106]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, by using the physical characteristic data in the computer system, the processing for determining the presence or absence of the access right according to the access request from the user can be performed at high speed. In addition, the security can be surely maintained.

Further, according to the present invention, in the personal authentication device used in the computer network system, reliable authentication processing can be performed by an easy operation, and the burden on the user can be reduced.

In particular, the presence / absence of the access right to the network system is determined by comparing and collating the characteristic data obtained by extracting the characteristic indicating the physical characteristic of a human with the previously registered characteristic data. It
As a result, it is possible to realize more reliable confidentiality protection than the use of a password against access by others whose characteristic data is not registered. Further, for extracting the characteristic data, the user may perform a simple operation such as pressing a finger on the linear electrode array as described in the embodiment, and requires a complicated input operation such as password input. Therefore, the burden on the user in the access operation can be greatly reduced.

Further, the characteristic data is degenerated data, and the data amount is about 1/10 of that of the general fingerprint image, and the data is transferred through the communication network on the computer network. In addition, it is possible to perform a matching process at a matching server or the like at high speed. Similarly, the file system capacity required for the matching process may be about one tenth of the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a feature measurement and data degeneracy unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an equivalent circuit of the feature measurement and data degeneracy unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of distribution of resistance values between adjacent electrodes, which is a characteristic pattern of a degenerated finger detected by the feature measurement and data degeneracy unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a matching server according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the matching server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for comparing processing in a conventional optical method for extracting characteristic data with processing in the electrode array method in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a case where an optical one-dimensional projection detection device is applied to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification of the computer network system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining workflow processing according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer network system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing of a computer system that has issued a file access request in the computer network system of the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing of a computer system that has received a file access request from another computer system in the computer network system of the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer network system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing processing of a computer system and a collation server in the computer network system of the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 20, 30, 40 ... Computer network system, 11 (11-1 to 11-3), 21 (21-1)
21-3), 31 (31-3 in 31-1), 41 (4
1-1 to 41-3) ... Computer system, 12, 2
2, 32, 42 ... Communication network, 13 (13-1 to 13-
3), 33 (33-1 to 33-3), 43 (43-1 to 3)
43-3) ... Data degeneration unit, 14 (14-1 to 1)
4-3), 34 (34-1 to 34-3), 44 (44-
1 to 44-3) ... Feature measuring unit, 15, 25, 45
... collation server, 16, 26, 35 (35-1 to 35-35)
3), 46, 47 (47-1 to 47-3) ... File system, 27 (27-1 to 27-3) ... Finger feature extraction unit, 51 ... Optical fingerprint image measuring device, 52 ... One-dimensional projection Calculation unit, 53 ... Filtering / A / D conversion, 141 ... Substrate, 142 ... Linear electrode array, 143 ... Finger, 144 ... Terminal, 145 ... Switch circuit, 151 ... Alignment processing unit 152 ... Dissimilarity calculation unit, 153 … Comparison section.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A computer network system comprising a plurality of data processing means and a communication means interconnecting the plurality of data processing means, wherein each of the plurality of data processing means measures a physical characteristic of a user. And a data transmitting / receiving unit that transmits / receives the characteristic data as a user identifier via the communication unit. Computer network system. 2. The plurality of data processing means send out the user identifier in response to an access request, are connected to the communication means, and are registered in advance with the user identifier received via the communication means. 2. The computer network system according to claim 1, further comprising collating means for collating with a user identifier to determine whether or not an access request can be made. 3. The computer network system is a workflow system for sending arbitrary data to the plurality of data processing means in a preset order, wherein each of the plurality of data processing means has the user identifier. 3. A means for accepting a determination of approval / non-approval in response to reception of the arbitrary data only when it matches with a user identifier registered in advance.
The computer network system described. 4. The computer network system is a workflow system for sending arbitrary data to the plurality of data processing means in a predetermined order, connected to the communication means, and received via the communication means. The user identifier registered in advance is collated with a user identifier registered in advance to determine whether or not the access request can be made. The plurality of data processing units respectively send out the user identifier in response to the access request. 2. The computer network system according to claim 1, further comprising means for accepting the approval / disapproval judgment according to the reception of the data only when the collating means judges that the access request is possible. 5. Each of the plurality of data processing means comprises:
2. The computer network system according to claim 1, further comprising means for collating the user identifier with a user identifier registered in advance according to an access request to determine whether or not the access request is possible. 6. Each of the plurality of data processing means comprises:
In response to an access request from another data processing means, it has a means for receiving a user identifier from the data processing means of the access request source, and collating with the previously registered user identifier to determine whether or not the access request can be made. The computer network system according to claim 5, wherein 7. The computer network system according to claim 1, wherein the generated feature data is a one-dimensional projection. 8. The measuring means has a linear electrode array, and the generating means is for measuring the resistance value of each adjacent linear electrode when a finger of the user is placed on the linear electrode array. The computer network system according to claim 1, wherein the distribution is detected. 9. The collating means includes the user identifier and
Aligning with the pre-registered user identifier, calculating the degree of difference between the aligned user identifier and the pre-registered user identifier, and the calculated degree of difference and preset 3. The computer network system according to claim 2, wherein access is determined by comparing with a threshold value. 10. An access management method in a network system having a plurality of data processing means and a communication means for interconnecting the plurality of data processing means, wherein a physical characteristic of a user is measured according to an access request. Access management, the step of degenerating measured physical characteristics to generate characteristic data, and the step of transmitting and receiving the characteristic data as a user identifier via the communication means. Method. 11. A step of collating the user identifier transmitted and received via the communication means with a user identifier registered in advance, and a step of determining whether or not an access request is possible according to the collation result of the collating step. The access management method according to claim 10, further comprising: 12. The access management method according to claim 10, wherein the characteristic data generated by the generating step is a one-dimensional projection. 13. The matching step includes a step of aligning the user identifier with the pre-registered user identifier, the aligned user identifier and the pre-registered user identifier 12. The access management method according to claim 11, further comprising: a step of calculating a dissimilarity degree between and, and a step of comparing the calculated dissimilarity degree with a preset threshold value. 14. A personal identification device in a network system in which a plurality of data processing devices are interconnected, wherein a finger of a subject is arranged along the array direction of a linear electrode array arranged one-dimensionally on a substrate. Feature extraction means for outputting feature data based on a distribution of resistance values between adjacent electrodes of the linear electrode array by contact, feature data output from the feature extraction means, and feature data registered in advance Position adjusting means for performing the position aligning process, difference degree calculating means for calculating the degree of difference between the feature data registered by the position aligning means and the registered feature data, and the difference degree calculating means An individual authentication apparatus comprising: a determination unit that compares the degree of difference with a preset threshold value to determine the authentication of the person to be authenticated.