WO2022065059A1

WO2022065059A1 - Authentication system

Info

Publication number: WO2022065059A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/033179
Authority: WO
Inventors: 稔常田
Original assignee: グローリー株式会社
Priority date: 2020-09-28
Filing date: 2021-09-09
Publication date: 2022-03-31
Also published as: JP2022054997A

Abstract

This authentication system is provided with: an information management unit for managing registration information including biometric information and person identification information, which are associated with one another; a first image capturing unit for generating first facial information of a person being authenticated at a store entrance (first location); an extracting unit for extracting the registration information associated with the person being authenticated, from the information management unit, on the basis of the first facial information; an information holding unit for holding the registration information corresponding to the person being authenticated; a second image capturing unit for acquiring second facial information of the person being authenticated at a second location; and an authentication processing unit for executing authentication processing of the person being authenticated, on the basis of the registration information of the person being authenticated, held by the information holding unit, and the second facial information.

Description

Authentication system

This disclosure relates to an authentication system capable of performing authentication such as biometric authentication.

A biometric authentication system that authenticates a person to be authenticated by using biometric information such as a face image, a vein pattern, a voice print, a fingerprint, and an iris is widespread. Patent Document 1 discloses a purchased product price settlement system that can automatically settle the price of a purchased product using face recognition in a large-scale retail store such as a supermarket without the intervention of a staff member. ..

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-31968

In general biometric authentication, pre-registered registered biometric information is collated with new biometric information generated in real time, and the degree of matching between the registered biometric information and the new biometric information is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value. If is, it is judged that the authentication is successful. Since the biometric information used for biometric authentication is information with a relatively large amount of data such as images and sounds, the registered biometric information and the new biometric information are collated, and the registered biometric information or the new biometric information network is used. It is easy to take time to send and receive.

For example, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the product purchaser sets the credit card in the card reading device, the face registration information registered in advance is collated with the newly taken face image. In large-scale retail stores that develop chains of multiple stores nationwide, the number of customers is enormous, so the amount of pre-registered biometric information data is also enormous. In such a case, it is expected that it will take more time to extract biometric information that matches the new biometric information from the enormous amount of registered biometric information.

The purpose of this disclosure is to provide an authentication system that can reduce the time required for authentication in biometric authentication.

The authentication system of the present disclosure includes an information management unit that manages registration information including biometric information and personal identification information associated with each other, and a first biometric information that generates a first biometric information of a person to be authenticated at a first place. A generation unit, an extraction unit that extracts registration information corresponding to the authentication target person from the information management unit based on the first biometric information, and an information holding unit that holds registration information corresponding to the authentication target person. In the second biometric information generation unit that generates the second biometric information of the authentication target person at the second place, and the registration information and the second biometric information of the authentication target person held in the information holding unit. Based on the above, the authentication processing unit that executes the authentication processing of the authentication target person is provided.

According to this disclosure, the time required for authentication can be reduced.

The figure for demonstrating an example of the structure of the authentication system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this disclosure. A sequence diagram for explaining an operation example of the authentication system according to the first embodiment. A sequence diagram for explaining an operation example of the authentication system according to the first embodiment. The figure for demonstrating an example of the structure of the authentication system which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this disclosure.

Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed explanations than necessary, such as detailed explanations of already well-known matters and duplicate explanations for substantially the same configuration, may be omitted. In addition, the following description and referenced drawings are provided for those skilled in the art to understand the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

<First Embodiment>
First, the authentication system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of the authentication system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the authentication system 100 has a configuration in which a store device 10 and a management device 20 are connected to each other by a network N so as to be communicable with each other.

(Store device 10)
The store device 10 includes a first image pickup unit 11, a terminal information acquisition unit 12, a position information acquisition unit 13, a second image pickup unit 14, a payment processing unit 15, and a store communication unit 16.

The store device 10 is a device provided in retail stores such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and various specialty stores. For convenience of explanation, in the present embodiment, the store device 10 will be described as one device, but in the store device 10 of the present disclosure, each component is actually installed at various positions in the store. These components are connected to each other so as to be communicable.

The first image pickup unit 11 and the second image pickup unit 14 are equipped with a camera and are image pickup units for photographing the face of a customer in a store. The first imaging unit 11 and the second imaging unit 14 have different installation locations in the store. Specifically, the first image pickup unit 11 is installed near the store entrance, for example, and the second image pickup unit 14 is installed near the cash register where payment is made at the time of product purchase. In addition, in this specification, a customer is a person who is a member of a store, for example, and refers to a person whose information about the customer such as personal information of the customer is registered in the authentication system 100 in advance.

The first imaging unit 11 is an example of the first biometric information acquisition unit of the present disclosure. Further, the second imaging unit 14 is an example of the second biometric information acquisition unit of the present disclosure.

Customers who enter the store can be subject to certification by the certification system 100. The customer who can be the target of the certification of the certification system 100 corresponds to the person to be certified of the present invention. The first imaging unit 11 generates a facial image of the customer who is the authentication target each time the customer enters the store.

In the following description, the information including the face image generated by the first imaging unit 11 is referred to as the first face information. The first imaging unit 11 may constantly photograph the entrance of the store to create a moving image, and extract a face image from the moving image each time the customer enters the store to use it as the first face information of the customer. Alternatively, when the first image pickup unit 11 detects that a new customer enters from the store entrance by a sensor or the like (not shown), the first image pickup unit 11 may take a picture of the customer's face and generate a first face image.

On the other hand, the second imaging unit 14 generates a facial image of the customer when the customer brings the product to be purchased in the store to the cash register and tries to settle the price of the product. In the following description, the information including the face image generated by the second imaging unit 14 will be referred to as the second face information.

The terminal information acquisition unit 12 is installed near the store entrance, and when a customer who is an authentication target enters the store, the identification information of the mobile terminal is acquired from the mobile terminal held by the customer. In the following description, the identification information of the mobile terminal will be referred to as the terminal identification information. Examples of mobile terminals include mobile phones, smartphones, tablet terminals, PCs (Personal Computers) and the like. The terminal identification information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 12 from the customer's mobile terminal may be any information that can identify the mobile terminal (for example, an ID number assigned in advance for each mobile terminal), and the specific contents thereof. Is not particularly limited in this disclosure.

The location information acquisition unit 13 is installed near the store entrance, and when a customer who is the authentication target enters the store, the location information of the mobile terminal is acquired from the mobile terminal held by the customer. In the following description, the location information of the mobile terminal will be referred to as the terminal location information. The terminal position information acquired by the terminal information acquisition unit 12 from the customer's mobile terminal may be information generated by the mobile terminal indicating the position of the mobile terminal (for example, GPS (GrobalPositiongSystem) information), and is specific thereof. The content is not particularly limited in this disclosure.

In the present embodiment, the terminal information acquisition unit 12 and the position information acquisition unit 13 are described as having an independent configuration, but in the present disclosure, for example, the terminal identification information and the terminal position information are the customer's mobile terminal. Therefore, it may be acquired at a time by one configuration.

The payment processing unit 15 is installed near the cash register and setstles the price of the product that the customer wants to purchase. More specifically, when the payment processing unit 15 detects that the customer is about to start the payment of the product price, the second imaging unit 14 causes the second imaging unit 14 to generate the second face information of the customer and the second face information. The store communication unit 16 transmits an authentication request including the above to the management device 20. When the management device 20 authenticates the customer based on the authentication request and the authentication is successful, the payment processing unit 15 makes a payment by a predetermined payment method. More specifically, the payment processing unit 15 setstles the product price in cooperation with an external payment server (not shown) or the like corresponding to the payment method.

Examples of payment methods include online payments such as credit card payments, electronic money payments, and bar code payments.

The method for the payment processing unit 15 to detect that the customer intends to start the payment of the product price is not limited, but as an example, in the case of a manned cash register, the clerk who performs the cash register operation performs a predetermined operation. It suffices if the method of doing is adopted. In the case of an unmanned cash register where the customer himself operates the cash register, for example, when the product is placed on a table on which the product to be purchased is placed and the table detects the weight of the product above a predetermined value, the payment processing unit 15 May determine that the customer is about to initiate payment for the goods. In addition, a person proximity sensor, a contact sensor, or the like is provided at the cash register, and when the sensor detects that the customer is close to or touches the cash register, the payment processing unit 15 starts the customer to settle the product price. You may decide that you are trying.

The store communication unit 16 transmits and receives various information between each configuration in the store device 10 and the management device 20 outside the store device 10 via a predetermined network N. The predetermined network N is, for example, a public communication network or a local network. An example of a public communication network is, for example, the Internet.

As described above, among the store devices 10, the first imaging unit 11, the terminal information acquisition unit 12, and the position information acquisition unit 13 are arranged near the entrance of the store. On the other hand, a second imaging unit 14 is arranged near the cash register of the store. The payment processing unit 15 and the store communication unit 16 may be installed at appropriate locations in the store.

Each time a customer enters the store, the first face information generated by the first imaging unit 11, the terminal identification information generated by the terminal information acquisition unit 12, and the terminal position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 13 are stored in the store. It is transmitted to the management device 20 by the communication unit 16. At this time, the store communication unit 16 transmits the store location information indicating the location of the store to the management device 20 in association with each other, together with the first face information, the terminal identification information, and the terminal location information. In the following description, the first face information, the terminal identification information, the terminal position information, and the store position information transmitted by the store communication unit 16 to the management device 20 are collectively referred to as extraction information.

(Management device 20)
As shown in FIG. 1, the management device 20 includes an information management unit 21, an extraction unit 22, an information holding unit 23, a position determination unit 24, a service providing unit 25, an authentication processing unit 26, and an authentication communication unit. 27 and. The management device 20 is a server device capable of communicating with the store device 10 via the network N.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, only one store device 10 is connected to the management device 20, but in reality, a plurality of store devices installed in a plurality of stores are managed by one. It is connected to the device 20.

The information management unit 21 manages the registration information for each customer of the store in which the store device 10 is installed. The information management unit 21 is, for example, a storage device that realizes a database for managing registered information. The registration information is pre-registered information about the customer. The registration information includes, for example, a customer's face image, customer identification information for identifying a customer, terminal identification information of a mobile terminal owned by the customer, payment method information indicating a payment method when the customer makes a payment at the store, and the like. , Included in a state of being associated with each other. The facial image is an example of the biological information disclosed in the present disclosure. Further, the customer identification information is an example of the person identification information of the present disclosure.

The face information included in the registration information is information including a customer's face image generated when the customer becomes a member of the store, for example.

Customer identification information includes customer's personal information such as customer's name, address, age, and telephone number, and is information for identifying one customer from a plurality of customers. The personal information included in the customer identification information is, for example, information transmitted to the store by the customer himself / herself when the customer becomes a member of the store. The customer identification information is an example of the person identification information of the present disclosure.

The payment method information includes information indicating the payment method selected by the customer and information required for payment (for example, when the payment method is credit card payment, the credit card number, etc.). The information indicating the payment method is, for example, information set by the customer himself / herself when the customer becomes a member of the store.

Since the information management unit 21 needs to manage the registration information of many customers, it is desirable that the information management unit 21 is composed of a large-capacity and backupable storage medium.

When the authentication communication unit 27, which will be described later, receives new first face information from the store device 10, the extraction unit 22 is included in the registration information registered in the information management unit 21 based on the first face information. From, the registration information including the face image matching the face image of the first face information is extracted.

The information holding unit 23 is a storage device that holds the registration information extracted by the extracting unit 22. The information holding unit 23 may be, for example, a part of the storage area in the same storage device as the information management unit 21, or may be a storage device different from the information management unit 21.

The information held by the information holding unit 23 is registered information including a face image matching the face image of the new first face information, and the registered information includes the face image registered in advance as described above. It includes customer identification information for identifying a customer, payment method information indicating a payment method when a customer makes a payment at the store, and the like.

The information holding unit 23 discards the registered information when a certain period of time has elapsed since it started holding the extracted registration information. That is, the information holding unit 23 only temporarily holds the extracted registration information, and does not permanently store the extracted registration information. Further, the information holding unit 23 only holds a part of the extracted information among the information managed by the information management unit 21. Therefore, the information holding unit 23 may have a smaller storage capacity than the information management unit 21.

The length of a certain period of time in which the information holding unit 23 keeps the registered information may be appropriately set by, for example, the administrator of the authentication system 100. As an example, the fixed time may be set to be slightly longer than the average time spent in the store by the customer (the average time until the customer who enters the store leaves the store). As a result, the information holding unit 23 can hold the registration information while the customer who has entered the store is expected to stay in the store.

Further, when the plurality of store devices 10 provided in each of the plurality of stores are connected to the management device 20, the information holding unit 23 has an independent storage area for each store and enters the same store. Keep registration information about all customers in the same storage area. In the following description, the storage area for each store will be referred to as a store area.

When the authentication communication unit 27, which will be described later, receives new terminal position information and store position information from the store device 10, the position determination unit 24 is a customer who has entered the store based on the terminal position information and the store position information. It is determined whether or not the position of the mobile terminal held by the store matches the position of the store.

When the location determination unit 24 matches the customer's terminal location information with the store location information, the service provision unit 25 executes a service provision process of providing a predetermined service to the customer via the customer's mobile terminal. .. The service is provided, for example, via a public communication network capable of communicating with a mobile terminal. The details of the service provision process will be described later.

The authentication processing unit 26 authenticates the customer based on the registration information about the customer held in the information holding unit 23 when the authentication communication unit 27 described later receives the customer's authentication request from the store device 10. Perform authentication processing for. The details of the authentication process will be described later.

The authentication communication unit 27 transmits and receives various information via the network N between each configuration of the management device 20 and the store device 10.

The configuration of the authentication system 100 according to the first embodiment has been described above. Next, the operation flow of the entire authentication system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

(Operation example)
2 and 3 are sequence diagrams for explaining an operation example of the authentication system 100 according to the first embodiment. In FIGS. 2 and 3, for convenience of explanation, an operation example when one customer enters one store will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, steps S1 to S5 are processes on the store device 10 side. First, in step S1, the first imaging unit 11 detects that the customer has newly entered the store in which the store device 10 is installed. In step S2, the first imaging unit 11 takes a face image of the customer who detected the entry in step S1 and generates the first face information. In step S3, the terminal information acquisition unit 12 acquires the terminal identification information from the mobile terminal owned by the customer. In step S4, the position information acquisition unit acquires the terminal position information from the mobile terminal owned by the customer. In step S5, the store communication unit 16 transmits the extraction information including the first face information, the terminal identification information, the terminal position information, and the store position information to the management device 20.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the case where steps S2, S3, and S4 are performed in this order has been described, but in the present disclosure, for example, the order in which steps S2, S3, and S4 are performed may be interchanged. , Steps S2, S3, S4 may be performed at the same time.

As shown in FIG. 2, after the extraction information is transmitted from the store device 10 to the management device 20 in step S5, the process of steps S6 to S10 is performed in the management device 20.

In step S6, the authentication communication unit 27 receives the extraction information from the store device 10. In step S7, the extraction unit 22 searches the information management unit 21 using the first face information included in the received extraction information, and extracts the registration information including the face image matching the face image of the first face information. do. More specifically, the authentication communication unit 27 determines that the face image having a degree of matching with the face image of the first face information is equal to or more than a predetermined first threshold value is a matching face image, and includes the face image. Extract the registration information. In step S8, the information holding unit 23 holds the extracted registration information in the store area of the corresponding store for a certain period of time. On the other hand, in step S9, the position determination unit 24 determines whether or not the position of the customer's mobile terminal and the store position information match, based on the terminal position information and the store position information included in the extraction information. When the position of the customer's mobile terminal and the store location information match, in step S10, the service providing unit 25 provides a predetermined service to the customer's mobile terminal based on the terminal identification information included in the extraction information. Perform the service provision process to be provided.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, in step S7, the extraction unit 22 receives from the information management unit 21 a face whose degree of coincidence with the face image of the first face information included in the extraction information is equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold value. The case of extracting the registration information including the image has been described. In step S7, when the extraction unit 22 cannot extract the registered information including the face image whose matching degree with the face image of the first face information is equal to or higher than the first threshold value, the management device 20 newly enters the store. Is not registered and the process ends. Further, in step S7, when a plurality of registered information including the face image whose matching degree with the face image of the first face information included in the extraction information is equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold value is extracted, it is extracted in step S8. The information holding unit 23 may hold all the registered information, or the information holding unit 23 holds only a part of the registered information having a higher degree of matching among the extracted plurality of registered information. You may.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 2, a case where the position determination unit 24 determines that the position of the customer's mobile terminal and the store position information match in step S9 has been described. However, if the position determination unit 24 determines in step S9 that the position of the customer's mobile terminal does not match the store location information, the service provision unit 25 does not execute the service provision process in step S10. That is, in this case, the predetermined service is not provided to the customer via the customer's mobile terminal.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, an example in which steps S7, S8, and S9 are performed in this order has been described. However, in the present disclosure, for example, the determination of the terminal position in step S9 may be performed before the extraction and retention of the registration information in steps S7 and S8. Alternatively, for example, steps S7, S8, and S9 may be performed at the same time.

When the information holding unit 23 holds the extracted registration information in step S8, the management device 20 shifts to the standby state for a certain period of time. In this standby state, the management device 20 waits for payment to be started at the store while holding the registration information used for authentication of the customer who has entered the store in the information holding unit 23 of the management device 20. It is a state. The management device 20 appropriately executes the service provision process for the customer's mobile terminal in steps S9 and S10 even after the transition to the standby state in step S8.

Next, move on to the explanation in Fig. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, steps S11 to S13 are processes on the store device 10 side. In step S11, the payment processing unit 15 detects that the customer who brought the product to be purchased to the cash register is about to start payment. In step S12, the second imaging unit 14 takes a new face image of the customer and generates the second face information. In step S13, the store communication unit 16 transmits an authentication request including the second face information to the management device 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, steps S14 to S16 are processes on the management device 20 side. In step S14, the authentication communication unit 27 receives the authentication request. When the authentication request is received in step S14 within a certain period of time from the start of holding the registration information in step S8 of FIG. 2, the management device 20 releases the standby state. In step S15, the authentication processing unit 26 performs authentication processing using the second face information included in the authentication request and the registration information held in the information holding unit. If the authentication is successful, in step S16, the authentication communication unit 27 obtains the information indicating the authentication result in step S15 and the authentication result information including the customer identification information and the payment method information included in the registration information in the store device. Send to 10.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, the case where the authentication is successful as a result of the authentication process in step S15 has been described. If the authentication fails as a result of the authentication process in step S15, the management device 20 uses the second face information to select the face image of the second face information from the registered information managed by the information management unit 21. The process of extracting the registration information including the matching face image again is performed. If the registration information including the matching face image can be extracted as a result of the processing, the management device 20 proceeds with the subsequent processing assuming that the authentication is successful. If the registration information including the matching face image cannot be extracted as a result of the process, the management device 20 ends the process and notifies the store device 10 that the authentication has failed. In this case, the payment processing unit 15 of the store device 10 notifies the customer that the authentication has failed, and requests payment by another payment method.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, steps S17 and S18 are processes on the store device 10 side. In step S17, the store communication unit 16 receives the authentication result information. In step S18, the payment processing unit 15 performs payment processing for the customer when the authentication result is successful.

By the process as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the customer enters the store, the registration information used for the authentication of the customer is extracted from the information management unit 21 and temporarily held in the information holding unit 23. In other words, the registration information of the customer is extracted and temporarily held while the customer enters the store and selects a product in the store. Then, when the customer tries to start the payment, the authentication process is performed using the temporarily held registration information. Therefore, the time from the start of payment to the completion of payment can be reduced as compared with the case where the customer tries to start payment and then starts extracting the registration information of the customer.

In particular, in a large-scale retail store that has a large number of registered customers, a huge amount of registered information is managed by the information management unit 21, and the extraction unit 22 obtains a face image that matches the customer's face image taken in real time. It may take a lot of time to extract the registration information including. Further, since the face image included in the extraction information has a large amount of data, it may take time to transmit from the store device 10 to the management device 20. In the present disclosure, by the processing as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the information for extraction and the extraction of the registration information can be completed while the customer is selecting the product, so that the information for extraction can be transmitted. , And, the time from the start of payment to the completion of payment can be substantially shortened by the amount of time required for extracting the registration information.

Further, in the operation example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the case where the authentication request in step S14 is received within a certain time after the information holding unit 23 starts to hold the registered information in step S8 has been described. If the authentication request is not received from the store device 10 even after a certain period of time has elapsed from the start of holding the registration information in step S8, the information holding unit 23 discards the held registration information and manages the management device. The processing after step S15 in 20 is terminated.

As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the registration information of a plurality of customers is accumulated in the information holding unit 23 and the storage capacity of the information holding unit 23 is compressed. When the customer tries to start payment after the registration information about a certain customer is deleted from the information holding unit 23, the store communication unit 16 makes an authentication request including the second face information generated by the second imaging unit 14. When the information is transmitted to the management device 20, the management device 20 re-extracts the registration information corresponding to the customer from the information management unit 21 based on the second face information, and performs the authentication process. Therefore, as in the operation example described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, in the management device 20, the time is compared with the case where the authentication request is received within a certain time after the registration information is first held in the information holding unit 23. However, the authentication process itself can be performed without any problem.

The overall operation example of the authentication system 100 has been described above. As described above, FIGS. 2 and 3 show an operation example of the authentication system 100 for only one customer. In reality, a plurality of customers often stay in the same store at the same time, and in such a case, the information holding unit 23 holds registration information corresponding to the plurality of customers at the same time. Therefore, when a plurality of customers stay in the store at the same time, the authentication processing unit 26 collates the face image included in the plurality of registered information held in the information holding unit 23 with the face image included in the authentication request. The authentication process will be performed. Even in such a case, the registered information to be collated is compared with the case where all the registered information managed by the information management unit 21 is collated with the face image included in the authentication request to perform the authentication process. Since the number is significantly smaller, the time from the start of payment to the completion of payment can be substantially shortened.

Further, when a plurality of store devices 10 provided in each of the plurality of stores are connected to the management device 20, as described above, the information holding unit 23 has an independent storage area for each store and is the same. The registration information about all the customers who entered the store is retained in the same storage area (store area). When the authentication processing unit 26 performs authentication processing for a certain customer, it only needs to collate with the registration information in the store area corresponding to the store in which the customer entered, so that the period from the start of payment to the completion of payment is completed. The time can be substantially reduced.

Next, the details of the authentication process and the service provision process will be described.

(Authentication processing)
The authentication process of the authentication processing unit 26 in step S15 of FIG. 3 will be described. When the authentication processing unit 26 receives the authentication request from the store device 10 via the authentication communication unit 27, the face image of the second face information included in the authentication request and the registration information held in the information holding unit 23 are displayed. Matches with the included face image. As a result of the collation, if the degree of matching is equal to or higher than the predetermined second threshold value, the authentication processing unit 26 determines that the authentication is successful.

In step S7 of FIG. 2 prior to step S15 of FIG. 3, the extraction unit 22 together with the face image of the first face information based on the first face information included in the extraction information received from the store device 10. The registered information including the face image whose matching degree is equal to or higher than the first threshold value is extracted. The first threshold value and the second threshold value may be the same value, but different values, for example, the second threshold value may be larger than the first threshold value. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the probability that erroneous authentication will occur when the registration information is extracted by the extraction unit 22, so that the management device 20 as a whole can perform the authentication process with higher accuracy.

According to the authentication process described above, the authentication result can be obtained only by obtaining the degree of matching between the face image included in the authentication request and the face image included in the registration information held in the information holding unit 23. That is, in such an authentication process, it is not necessary to collate the face image included in the authentication request with the face image included in the registration information of a large number of customers one by one. The time can be greatly reduced.

(Service provision process)
The service provision process in the service provision unit 25 will be described. In the service providing unit 25, the extraction unit 22 extracts the registration information including the face image whose degree of matching with the face image included in the customer's extraction information is equal to or higher than the first threshold value from the information management unit 21, and the position determination unit 24 When the location of the customer's mobile terminal and the store match, the service provision process is performed. The service provided by the service providing unit 25 may be executed by the service providing unit 25 itself, or the service providing unit 25 may perform the service in cooperation with an external service providing server or the like.

The service provided by the service providing unit 25 will be described with a specific example. One example is a service that proposes a change in payment method. More specifically, when a customer has registered a plurality of payment methods in advance and the customer newly enters the store, the service providing unit 25 causes the customer to select whether or not to change the payment method. Display the message on the customer's mobile terminal. When the customer selects to change the payment method via the mobile terminal, the service providing unit 25 displays the payment method information included in the registration information held in the information holding unit 23 as the payment method indicating the changed payment method. Overwrite with information.

In recent years, there are various payment methods among cashless payments such as credit cards, electronic money, and bar code payments, and the amount of points accumulated may differ depending on the payment method. There is a request to change. The services described above will enable us to meet such demands.

A service that proposes a change in payment method can be developed into, for example, a shopping agency service. For example, as the payment method of the shopping agent, the payment method of the shopping agent is registered in the information management unit 21 in advance, and when the shopping agent enters the store as a customer, the shopping agent requests the payment method. Change to the payment method specified in advance by the person. Then, before requesting the shopping, the shopping requester previously provides the authentication system 100 with information indicating the validity of the shopping agent so that the shopping agent can make a payment using the payment method of the shopping agent. Register. By such a method, when the shopping agent requests the shopping agent to shop and the shopping agent makes the payment for the requested shopping at the store, the shopping agent uses the payment method specified by the shopping agent. You can make a payment. At this time, the requester associates the contact information of his / her mobile terminal with the payment method and registers it in the authentication system 100, and when the shopping agent makes a payment at the store, the mobile terminal of the shopping requester and the shopping requester The payment amount may be notified to another designated mobile terminal, and it may be possible to select whether or not to allow the payment.

Another example is a service that uses a customer relationship management (CRM) method to propose products that match the customer's past shopping trends or customer preferences. More specifically, for example, based on the purchasing behavior information of a customer, that is, various information such as the product name, price, genre, etc. of the product that the customer purchased in the past, when the customer newly enters the store, the service is provided. The providing unit 25 uses the information to display a proposal such as a recommended product on the customer's mobile terminal. The service providing unit 25 may, for example, access an external database or the like that stores the purchasing behavior of the customer at a plurality of stores to acquire the purchasing behavior information of the customer. By such a method, the product that the store wants to recommend to the customer or the product that the customer is expected to want can be notified to the customer through the mobile terminal when the customer enters the store, so that the customer's purchasing behavior is promoted. You will be able to.

Another example is a service that presents a shopping list registered by a customer in advance to the customer's mobile terminal. More specifically, before a customer visits a store, for example, a shopping list generated using a mobile terminal or the like is registered in an external shopping list providing server or the like, and when the customer newly enters the store, the shopping list is registered. The service providing unit 25 acquires the shopping list from the shopping list providing server and displays it on the mobile terminal. This is useful because the customer can reduce forgetting to buy at the store.

<Second embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of the authentication system 200 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the authentication system 100 according to the first embodiment, the information holding unit 23 that temporarily holds the registration information extracted from the information management unit 21 and the authentication processing unit 26 that performs the authentication processing using the registration information manage the information. It was provided in the device 20. In the authentication system 200 according to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, an information holding unit 17 and an authentication processing unit 18 are provided in the store device 10. The operation of each configuration of the store device 10 and the management device 20 other than the information holding unit 17 and the authentication processing unit 18 is substantially the same as the operation of the first embodiment described above. Hereinafter, an operation different from that of the first embodiment of the information holding unit 17, the authentication processing unit 18, and other configurations provided in the store apparatus 10 will be described.

The information holding unit 17 is a storage device provided in the store device 10, and holds customer registration information received from the management device 20 via the store communication unit 16. Since the information holding unit 17 in the second embodiment is provided in the store device 10, the information holding unit 17 in the first embodiment does not have to have a store area for each store. It is different from the part 23. Since the information holding unit 17 only needs to hold the registration information corresponding to the customer staying in the store at a certain timing, the information holding unit 17 and the information holding unit 23 in the first embodiment having store areas of a plurality of stores. In comparison, a small storage capacity is sufficient.

When the payment processing unit 15 detects the start of the customer's payment, the authentication processing unit 18 performs authentication processing related to the customer's authentication based on the registration information about the customer held in the information holding unit 17. Execute. The specific content of the authentication process is the same as the authentication process performed by the authentication processing unit 26 of the first embodiment.

An operation example of the authentication system 200 according to the second embodiment is as follows. When the first imaging unit 11 detects that the customer has newly entered the store in the store device 10, the first image pickup unit 11 takes a face image of the customer who has entered the store and generates the first face information. The terminal information acquisition unit 12 of the store device 10 acquires the terminal identification information from the mobile terminal owned by the customer, and the location information acquisition unit acquires the terminal position information from the mobile terminal owned by the customer. The store communication unit 16 transmits the extraction information including the first face information, the terminal identification information, the terminal position information, and the store position information to the management device 20.

When the authentication communication unit 27 receives the extraction information from the store device 10 in the management device 20, the extraction unit 22 searches the information management unit 21 using the first face information included in the received extraction information, and the second (1) Extract registration information including a face image in which the degree of matching of the face information with the face image is equal to or higher than a predetermined first threshold value. The authentication communication unit 27 transmits the extracted registration information to the store device 10. On the other hand, the position determination unit 24 determines whether or not the position of the customer's mobile terminal and the store location information match, and if they match, the service provision unit 25 performs a service provision process.

In the store device 10, when the store communication unit 16 receives the registration information from the management device 20, the information holding unit 17 holds the received registration information. In this state, when the payment processing unit 15 detects the start of payment by the customer, the authentication processing unit 18 authenticates the customer using the registration information held in the information holding unit 17. If the authentication is successful, the payment processing unit 15 performs payment processing for the customer by a preset payment method.

With such a configuration, the authentication process necessary for making a customer payment is performed in the store device 10. Therefore, after the registration information has been transmitted from the management device 20 to the store device 10, even if communication between the store device 10 and the management device 20 cannot be performed due to a malfunction of the network N, for example, the payment process is performed. You will be able to do it.

<Action, effect>
The authentication system 100 (200) of the present disclosure includes an information management unit 21 that manages registration information including biometric information and person identification information associated with each other, and a first person to be authenticated at a store entrance (first place). The first imaging unit 11 that generates face information, the extraction unit 22 that extracts the registration information corresponding to the authentication target person from the information management unit 21 based on the first face information, and the registration information corresponding to the authentication target person. The information holding unit 23 (17) holding the information holding unit 23 (17), the second imaging unit 14 for acquiring the second face information of the authentication target person at the second place, and the authentication target person held in the information holding unit 23 (17). The authentication processing unit 26 (18) that executes the authentication processing of the authentication target person based on the registration information and the second face information of the above is provided.

With such a configuration, when a customer enters the store, the registration information used for authentication of the customer is extracted from the information management unit 21 and temporarily held in the information holding unit 23 (17). Then, when the customer tries to start the payment, the authentication process is performed using the temporarily held registration information. In other words, the registration information of the customer is extracted and temporarily held while the customer enters the store and selects a product in the store. Therefore, the time from the start of payment to the completion of payment can be reduced as compared with the case where the customer tries to start payment and then starts extracting the registration information of the customer.

That is, since the transmission of the extraction information for extracting the registration information and the extraction of the registration information can be completed while the customer is selecting the product, the transmission of the extraction information and the extraction of the registration information can be completed. The time from the start of payment to the completion of payment can be substantially shortened by the amount of time required for payment.

<Modification example>
The

authentication systems

100 and 200 described in the first and second embodiments described above are examples of the authentication system of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is adapted to the environment in which the authentication system is used, its purpose, usage mode, and the like. Appropriate changes are possible. Hereinafter, a modified example of the authentication system of the present disclosure will be described.

In the above-described embodiment, the registration information is extracted from the information management unit 21 using the customer's face image, and the authentication process using the extracted registration information is performed. In the present disclosure, not only face authentication but also various biometric authentications may be used to extract registered information from the information management unit 21 and perform authentication processing using the extracted registered information. Examples of various biometrics include facial images, vein patterns, voiceprints, fingerprints, irises, how to move the body when walking, and the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the extraction unit 22 extracts the registered information from the information management unit 21 and the authentication processing unit 26 (18) performs the authentication processing using only the customer's face image. However, in the present disclosure, the extraction and the authentication process may be performed using both the face image and the terminal identification information at the time of the extraction by the extraction unit 22 or the authentication process by the authentication processing unit 26. By performing the extraction and authentication processing based on the plurality of elements in this way, it becomes possible to perform the extraction and authentication processing with higher accuracy. Examples of the plurality of elements include not only the two elements of the face image and the terminal identification information, but also a combination of three or more elements such as a combination of a plurality of types of biometric information.

On the contrary, in this disclosure, authentication may be performed even if the customer does not have a mobile terminal. For example, when the terminal identification information and the terminal position information cannot be obtained from a newly entered customer, the first face information and the second face information generated at the store, the face image of the pre-registered registration information, and the face image of the pre-registered information are used. It is also possible to make a payment by a pre-registered payment method using only.

In the above-described embodiment, the store position information is included in the extraction information and is transmitted from the store device 10 to the management device 20, and is used by the position determination unit 24 to determine the position of the mobile terminal. However, for example, when the management device 20 holds the store position information of a plurality of stores in advance and receives the extraction information from the store device 10 of a certain store, the position determination unit 24 uses the store position information of the source store. It may be read out and the position of the portable terminal may be determined.

In the above-described embodiment, an authentication system that authenticates a customer in order to make a payment at a store has been described. However, this disclosure can be applied to any form of an authentication system for authenticating a certain person in a system in which information of a large number of people is registered in advance. For example, at an event venue such as a concert, the first face information of the attendee is acquired at the entrance of the facility where the venue is located, and the registration information is extracted by the time the attendee arrives at the venue. It is also possible to apply it to a form in which the second face information is acquired again and collated with the extracted registration information to perform authentication when the person enters the venue.

<About more accurate face recognition>
In face recognition when a large number of face images of a person are registered in advance, erroneous recognition becomes a problem. For example, when face images for 10,000 people are managed, even if the rate of false authentication is as low as 1 in 1,000,000, the simple calculation shows that the rate of false authentication is 1 in 100 face recognition. Authentication will occur. In addition, erroneous authentication means that the authentication of the person who should be registered does not succeed, or the other person is authenticated as the person.

When misrecognition occurs with a certain probability, it is important to reduce the population parameter of the face image to be collated in order to reduce the number of misrecognitions. In the following, face recognition that can improve the authentication accuracy by reducing the population parameter of the face image to be collated in advance will be described.

Consider the case where a huge number of customer face images are registered in the face recognition database in advance. In order to improve the authentication accuracy, a small number of face images that are likely to match the face image of the customer to be authenticated are selected in advance from the face recognition database. In the following description, a small number of face images that are likely to match the customer's face image will be referred to as a face template. The number of face images included in the face template does not have to be one, and may be smaller than the number of face images registered in the original face recognition database. However, considering the authentication accuracy and efficiency, it is better that the number of face images included in the face template is small to some extent.

Face templates are selected by, for example, the following methods. As one example, there is a method in which the threshold value of the degree of matching when collating face images is set low, and all face images of similar faces, not the same face, are selected as face templates.

Another method is to read the membership card, etc. with a reader when the customer enters the store, and select the face image associated with the member ID stored in the membership card as a face template. Can be mentioned.

As another method, when a customer enters the store, a simple question such as the prefecture of origin or date of birth is asked to the customer by screen display or automatic voice, and the face is based on the answer result of the question. An example is a method of searching for personal information associated with an image and selecting a matching face image as a face template. By having the answer given by voice, the customer's voiceprint may be collected, a matching voiceprint may be searched for, and the face image associated with the detected voiceprint may be selected as a face template.

As yet another method, there is a method of having the customer sign a sign when the customer enters the store and selecting the face image based on the shape of the sign. The shape of the signature may be acquired by scanning the lecherousness performed on paper or the like with a camera, or by having the signature performed on the touch panel.

Using the face template selected in this way, when authentication is actually required, the face image of the customer is taken again and face authentication is performed by collating with the face template. As a result, the number of face images to be collated can be reduced as compared with the case where matching face images are extracted from the face recognition database at one time during face authentication, so that the time and load required for authentication can be reduced. , The accuracy of authentication can be improved.

The face template selected as described above is no longer needed after the customer's face recognition is performed. Therefore, by deleting the face template under the following conditions, the storage area for storing the face template can be released.

For example, when a customer leaves the store, the face of the customer may be photographed, and if there is a face template containing a similar face, the face template may be deleted. The customer's exit may be detected, for example, by the customer passing through the exit gate provided at the exit of the store.

In addition, a membership card reader is provided at the exit gate, and by reading the membership card with the reader at the time of exit, the face including the face image associated with the member ID stored in the membership card is included. You may delete the template.

Furthermore, the time since the customer entered the store may be measured, and the face template for the customer may be deleted when a certain time has passed since the customer entered the store.

Furthermore, when the customer's face authentication is completed, the customer's face template may be deleted.

In the above explanation, more accurate face authentication has been described, but by adopting the same method for biometric authentication other than face authentication, more accurate biometric authentication can be realized.

The disclosures of the specification, drawings and abstract contained in the Japanese application of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-162324 filed on September 28, 2020 are all incorporated herein by reference.

This disclosure is useful for an authentication system that can quickly authenticate when the information of a large number of people is registered in advance.

100,200 Authentication system 10 Store equipment 11 1st imaging unit 12 Terminal information acquisition unit 13 Position information acquisition unit 14 2nd imaging unit 15 Payment processing unit 16 Store communication unit 20 Management device 21 Information management unit 22 Extraction unit 23 Information retention unit 24 Position determination unit 25 Service provision unit 27 Authentication communication unit 17 Information retention unit 18 Authentication processing unit

Claims

An information management unit that manages registration information including biometric information and personal identification information associated with each other,
The first biometric information generation unit that generates the first biometric information of the person to be authenticated at the first place,
An extraction unit that extracts registration information corresponding to the authentication target person from the information management unit based on the first biometric information, and an extraction unit.
An information holding unit that holds registration information corresponding to the person to be authenticated, and
A second biometric information generation unit that generates the second biometric information of the person to be authenticated at the second place,
An authentication processing unit that executes authentication processing of the authentication target person based on the registration information of the authentication target person and the second biometric information held in the information holding unit.
Authentication system with.
In the first place, a terminal information acquisition unit for acquiring the first terminal identification information of the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal held by the authentication target person is further provided.
The information management unit manages the registration information including the terminal identification information corresponding to the person identification information.
The extraction unit extracts registration information corresponding to the authentication target person from the information management unit based on the first biological information and the first terminal identification information.
The authentication system according to claim 1.
In the first place, a position information acquisition unit that acquires terminal position information which is the position information of the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal held by the authentication target person, and
A position determination unit for determining whether or not the position indicated by the terminal position information is included in the position indicated by the facility location information, which is the location information of the facility including the first location.
The authentication system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising.
When the position determination unit determines that the position indicated by the terminal position information is included in the position indicated by the facility position information, the service providing a predetermined service to the authentication target person via the mobile terminal. Further prepare for the department,
The authentication system according to claim 3.
Further provided is a payment processing unit that performs payment processing for the authentication target person by a predetermined payment method when the authentication processing of the authentication target person is successful in the authentication processing unit.
The authentication system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The information management unit manages the registration information including the payment method information indicating the payment method corresponding to the person identification information.
The payment processing unit performs payment processing for the authentication target person by using the payment method information included in the registration information of the authentication target person held in the information holding unit.
The authentication system according to claim 5.
When a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of holding the registration information of the authentication target person, the information holding unit discards the registration information of the authentication target person.
The authentication system according to any one of claims 1 to 6.
The first place and the second place are different places in the same facility.
The authentication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
The facility is a store,
The authentication system according to claim 8.
The first place is near the entrance of the store.
The second place is in the vicinity of the place where the payment is made.
The authentication system according to claim 9.
The information management unit and the authentication processing unit are connected via a public communication network.
The authentication system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.
The information management unit and the information holding unit are connected via a public communication network.
The authentication system according to claim 11.