Electronic apparatus with segmented guiding function and small-width biometrics sensor, and guiding method thereof

An electronic apparatus comprises a body, a human-machine interface device, a small-width biometrics sensor and a processing module. The human-machine interface device is disposed on the body. The small-width biometrics sensor is disposed on the body. The processing module, disposed on the body and electrically connected to the small-width biometrics sensor and the human-machine interface device, cooperates with the human-machine interface device and the small-width biometrics sensor to guide different physical portions of a finger of a user to directly contact or approach the small-width biometrics sensor according to indications of the human-machine interface device, so that the small-width biometrics sensor senses the finger to capture partial physical patterns of the finger. A guiding method of the electronic apparatus is also disclosed.

This application claims priority of No. 102140970 filed in Taiwan R.O.C. on Nov. 12, 2013 under 35 USC 119, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an electronic apparatus and a guiding method thereof, and more particularly to an electronic apparatus with a segmented guiding function and a small-width biometrics sensor, and a guiding method thereof.

2. Related Art

An electronic apparatus having a biometrics sensor (e.g., a fingerprint sensor) can provide the fingerprint recognition function, and thus provide a more robust authentication method than the password protection for the information security. Thus, the electronic apparatus has the growing business opportunity in the market. More particularly, the mobile device/smart mobile phone has gradually represented the personal consumer platform, and the mobile payment, such as near field communication (NFC), constructed on the device also becomes the development trend.

In order to make the commercially financial behavior, constructed on the mobile device, become more secure, the authentication mechanism is unavoidable, and the best method is the biometrics authentication technology. The fingerprint sensor has become the optimum means based on the stability and uniqueness of the identification characteristics and the slim and small dimensional requirements of the biometrics sensor because the sensor needs to be integrated into the mobile device.

Due to the requirements on the outlook and the size of the mobile device, the fingerprint sensor suitable for the mobile device is not the full-width sensor (e.g., the sensor for collecting the criminal's fingerprint has the area of about 2.54 cm×2.54 cm). Thus, the small area-type sensor (having the area smaller than 1 cm×1 cm) and the sweep type sensor (having the width smaller than 1 cm) have become two possible choices. However, the common feature of all biometrics sensors is to have the lower false access rate (FAR) when the larger image is captured, and to have the lower false rejection rate (FRR) when used by himself/herself. Thus, the small-area and small-width sensors contravene the low FAR/FRR.

The invention is provided to solve the problem of the too high FAR/FRR induced by the utilization of the small area-type sensor and the small-width sweep-type sensor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an electronic apparatus having a segmented guiding function and a small-width biometrics sensor to provide the user the segmented guiding function and facilitate the enrolling operation of the fingerprint.

To achieve the above-identified object, the invention provides an electronic apparatus comprising a body, a human-machine interface device disposed on the body, a small-width biometrics sensor disposed on the body, and a processing module. The processing module is disposed on the body, is electrically connected to the small-width biometrics sensor and the human-machine interface device, and cooperates with the human-machine interface device and the small-width biometrics sensor to utilize the human-machine interface device to guide different physical portions of a finger of a user to directly contact or approach the small-width biometrics sensor according to indications of the human-machine interface device, so that the small-width biometrics sensor senses the finger to capture partial physical patterns of the finger.

The invention also provides an electronic apparatus comprising a processing module, a human-machine interface device and a small-width biometrics sensor. The human-machine interface device is electrically connected to the processing module. The small-width biometrics sensor is electrically connected to the processing module. The processing module executes a positioning algorithm and cooperates with the human-machine interface device to utilize the human-machine interface device to provide a human-machine interface to provide an initial intelligent guide to guide different physical portions of a finger of a user to directly contact or approach the small-width biometrics sensor, so that the small-width biometrics sensor senses the finger to capture partial physical patterns of the finger.

The invention further provides a guiding method of an electronic apparatus with a segmented guiding function, the electronic apparatus comprising a human-machine interface device and a biometrics sensor, the guiding method comprising the steps of: utilizing the biometrics sensor to capture a first partial physical pattern of a finger; utilizing a positioning algorithm to calculate a geometric position of the finger according to the first partial physical pattern; and performing a subsequent intelligent guide according to the geometric position of the finger to utilize the biometrics sensor to capture a second partial physical pattern of the finger.

According to the electronic apparatus with the segmented guiding function and the small-width biometrics sensor and the guiding method thereof, it is possible to utilize a small-area small-width biometrics sensor to work in conjunction with the human-oriented segmented guiding so as to keep the beauty of the electronic apparatus and enable the user to perform the biometrics characteristic authentication to protect the data and the access right of the electronic apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The main feature of the invention is to combine a small area-type sensor/small-width sweep-type sensor (hereinafter referred to as a small-width sensor) with a positioning algorithm, and to utilize a processing module of a mobile device, which usually comprises a central processing unit (CPU) and the desired computation memory and storage memory, to execute the positioning algorithm, which is usually stored in the storage memory in advance. In addition, an intelligent guide and a human-machine interface displayed on a screen are utilized to achieve the desired function, the intelligent guide is to utilize the computation result of the positioning algorithm to guide the user to place different physical portions of a finger (or other biometrics portions, such as the palm, eye and the like) according to the indications (e.g., the screen indications or sound indications) to approach the small-width biometrics sensor according to different virtual portion indications, defined on the human-machine interface on the screen. Thus, the small-width biometrics sensor senses different physical portions of the finger to capture partial physical patterns with overlaps or without overlaps. Because the conventional area-type fingerprint sensor has the issues of large area and high cost and affects the outlook of the electronic apparatus, using the small-width sensor and the method of the invention can completely solve this problem and obtain the FAR/FRR quality the same as that of the large-width sensor, so that the user can use the fingerprint authentication function more conveniently and instinctively.

FIG. 1is a schematic view showing an electronic apparatus100according to a first embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, a mobile device serves as a non-restrictive example for the illustrative purpose, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant or the like. In other embodiments, the electronic apparatus may also be a notebook computer, an entrance security control apparatus or the like. As shown inFIG. 1, the electronic apparatus100comprises a body10, a display20functioning as a human-machine interface device, a small-width biometrics sensor30and a processing module40.

The display20pertaining to the human-machine interface device is disposed on the body10. In another embodiment, a sound output device, such as a speaker, may function as the human-machine interface to achieve the effect of the invention by way of intelligent acoustic guide. The small-width biometrics sensor30is disposed on the body10, and is disposed beside the display20in this embodiment. Alternatively and strictly speaking, the small-width biometrics sensor30is disposed beside an effective region of the display20capable of displaying images. The processing module40is disposed on the body10and electrically connected to the small-width biometrics sensor30and the display20. When the electronic apparatus100is turned on, the display20can display a touch application icon29for the user to execute the touch operation. The small-width biometrics sensor30may sense the fingerprint or the subcutaneous characteristics or even the vein pattern of the finger. Of course, the concept of the invention may also be applied to other types of biometrics sensors. Meanwhile, the position of the biometrics sensor is not restricted to the lateral side of the display, and the biometrics sensor may also be disposed on a lateral side or back side of the body or any location of the body.

The first step of the invention is to construct a human-machine interface on the display. In this embodiment, the human-machine interface comprises, without limitation to, a virtual fingerprint image. Of course, if the biometrics sensor is changed, the virtual fingerprint image is also correspondingly modified into the virtual images corresponding to different biometrics portions. The virtual fingerprint image has a certain percentage of finger size and fingerprint textures. Of course, the invention is not restricted thereto. A true finger image may also be displayed by a real photograph, or the finger's outlook is the true photo but the fingerprint is drawn. Despite this, all the fingerprint images on the display are referred to as a virtual finger and a virtual fingerprint.FIG. 2is a schematic view showing the electronic apparatus100ofFIG. 1at a moment of fingerprint enrolling.FIG. 3is a schematic view showing the electronic apparatus100ofFIG. 1at another moment of fingerprint enrolling. As shown inFIGS. 1 to 3, the processing module40, executing a positioning algorithm, cooperates with the display20and the small-width biometrics sensor30to detect a geometric position, where a small portion of a contact finger F (corresponding to the effective area of the small-width sensor) is located inside the full finger area, to establish an intelligent guiding method. In this embodiment, the intelligent guiding method guides a user to “approach” different physical portions of the finger F to the small-width biometrics sensor30according to the shown image or text indications (i.e., the indications of the human-machine interface) on the display20, so that the small-width biometrics sensor30senses the finger F to capture multiple partial physical patterns83. The so-called “approach” comprises, without limitation to, the sequentially direct contact or the sequentially indirect contact through the air gap. In this example, the small-width biometrics sensor30is disposed on the home key90of the mobile phone. The user can press the home key90to perform the fingerprint enrollment or recognition operation.

Because the area of the small-width biometrics sensor30is small, the complete fingerprint pattern of the user cannot be obtained at a time, and only one partial physical pattern83can be obtained at a time. If only one partial physical pattern83is stored in the electronic apparatus100, the recognition qualities, such as the false rejection rate (FRR) and the false access rate (FAR), are affected. In one example, the effective sensing area of the small-width biometrics sensor is, but not limited to, smaller than 8 mm*8 mm, is preferably equal to 7 mm*7 mm, and more preferably equal to 6 mm*6 mm. In another example, the effective sensing area equal to 5 mm*5 mm may be used; a rectangular sensing area, such as 8 mm*6 mm or 8 mm*4 mm, may be used; or a sweep type sensor having the width ranging from 6 to 8 mm may be used.

Under the situation of the so small sensing area, if the user does not enlarge the enrolled physical pattern, the higher FAR/FRR is caused for the subsequent one-touch touch use (i.e., the finger only contacts the small area-type sensor once or only sweeps across the small-width sweep-type sensor once, hereinafter referred to as one-touch), and this significantly influences the user's desire for use. Thus, the most important topic is to enlarge the total area of the physical patterns stored in the electronics apparatus100by multi-touching enrollment, wherein the total area is equal to or slightly smaller than the product of the sensor area and the touching (or sweeping) counts upon enrollment. The object of the invention is to design an intelligent (smart) judging (also referred to as the positioning algorithm) and guiding method to enlarge the total enrollment area of the physical pattern and decrease the accumulated touching counts during the enrollment. Thus, the user can enroll the fingerprint on the small-width sensor more easily, and the enrolled database becomes more complete to facilitate the subsequent one-touch usage for identification and enhance the FAR/FRR.

In the enrolling mode, the human-machine interface device firstly provides a human-machine interface (i.e., displays a virtual fingerprint image, or guides the user by the text, image, sound or light contrast to place his/her finger on the sensor). Thus, the first partial physical pattern83is captured by the fingerprint sensor. After the first partial physical pattern83is obtained, the processing module executes the positioning algorithm to make the judgement according to the pattern flow of the first partial physical pattern. For example, the fingerprint is composed of fixed helical curves, and the fingerprint patterns of the helical curves have different curvature vectors and pattern densities at different physical portions. Therefore, the positioning algorithm can judge the geometric position of the captured first partial physical pattern83corresponding to the global physical pattern of the finger F, and can map the captured first partial physical pattern83to the virtual fingerprint image on the display, so that a virtual geometric position on the virtual fingerprint image is established, and an enrolled first partial virtual pattern84is displayed. For example, inFIG. 2, the center of the finger F of the user is just located around the center of the small-width biometrics sensor30. So, the processing module40can determine the position of the user's finger F by judging the curvature vectors, pattern density and curvature of the texture of the helical shape of the finger, even by the patterns recognition according to the positioning algorithm, and the position can be displayed on the display20, as shown by the rectangular frame21ofFIG. 2. In another example, when the electronic apparatus allows the enrollments of multiple users, the virtual pattern of a new user may be different form the physical pattern of the fingerprint of the registered user to prevent the user, who finds the electronic apparatus, from stealing the fingerprint data. Next, after the processing module40executes the positioning algorithm and determines the geometric position, an intelligent guide is enabled to indirectly or directly guide the user to move his/her finger to the next position, shown inFIG. 3, according to the indication or indications of the human-machine interface. The detailed descriptions will be made in the following. The processing module40also determines the geometric position and displays, for example, the rectangular frame22ofFIG. 3on the display20. Consequently, the user can perceive the moving direction of the finger. The direct guiding method comprises displaying an arrow directly on the display20. For the indirect guiding method, only the rectangular frames21and22are displayed, and the user will know how to move his/her finger after seeing the rectangular frames21and22. After the first partial virtual pattern84is displayed by the rectangular frame21, the intelligent guide sets a second rectangular frame22displayed on the virtual fingerprint image (i.e., the human-machine interface), and uses the text, image, sound or the like to guide the user to place the finger on the sensor30at the position corresponding to the second rectangular frame22, so that the sensor30captures a second partial physical patterns83′ of the finger. Then, the positioning algorithm is executed to identify the geometric position thereof to identify the validity of the second partial virtual pattern84′ in the second rectangular frame22, and to complete the display or indication of the second partial virtual pattern84′ corresponding to the second partial physical patterns83′.

As mentioned hereinabove, the positioning algorithm, the processing module40and the display20may cooperate with one another to display a global virtual pattern (human-machine interface)82on the display20. The global virtual pattern is a fingerprint pattern of an ordinary finger and preferably but non-limitatively cover the finger profile to provide the orientation sense to the user. Next, the processing module40cooperates with the display20to calculate the position of each partial physical pattern83corresponding to the global virtual pattern82, and to display a partial virtual pattern84, corresponding to each partial physical pattern83, on the display20to guide the user. The virtual area of the partial virtual pattern84is depicted by the rectangular frame21. The partial physical pattern83is depicted by the physical area of the small-width biometrics sensor30. The partial virtual patterns84may be sequentially displayed on the display20with different states, so that the user obtains the positions of the partial physical patterns83. For example, the processing module40cooperates with the display20to display one portion of the partial virtual patterns84according to the position, where the user places the finger, by way of filling-coloring or clearing-wiping to correspondingly show one sensed portion of the partial physical patterns83. Alternatively, a portion of the partial virtual patterns, which has been successfully enrolled, is shown by the highlighted color (e.g., red), and the other portions of the partial virtual patterns are depicted by the lighter color (e.g., light gray). The filling-coloring and clearing-wiping methods comprise, without limitation to, highlight display, blinking foreground or background display, moving boarder, neon light or the like, to enhance the contrast between the foreground and the background to achieve the guiding function. In order to determine the position, the processing module40can determine the position of the partial physical pattern83according to the curvature of the texture of each partial physical pattern83.

Furthermore, the electronic apparatus100may further comprise a sound triggering module50, which is implemented by a speaker, for example. The sound triggering module50also pertains to the human-machine interface device to replace the display to provide the guiding function. The sound triggering module50is disposed on the body10and electrically connected to the processing module40, and outputs directional sound commands to guide (functioning independently) or auxiliarily guide (functioning in conjunction with the display) the user's finger to move. For example, the user's finger is guided to move upwards, downwards, leftwards or rightwards to a predetermined position.

FIG. 4is a schematic view showing a segmented guiding method on the display20of the electronic apparatus100ofFIG. 1.FIG. 5is a schematic view showing the partial physical patterns83.FIG. 6is a schematic view showing a global physical pattern81. As shown inFIGS. 4 to 6, the partial physical patterns83comprise first to N-th partial physical patterns83according to the sensing order, the partial virtual patterns84comprise first to N-th partial virtual patterns84according to the sensing order, and the processing module40cooperates with the display20to firstly display the first partial virtual pattern84, and displays second to N-th partial virtual patterns84to guide the user according to the position or positions of one or both of the first partial physical pattern83and the first partial virtual pattern84, where N is a positive integer greater than 1. For example, inFIGS. 8 to 10to be described later, N is equal to 9. It is to be noted that detailed textures of the global physical pattern81and the global virtual pattern82are not necessarily the same because the global virtual pattern82is only used to provide the guiding function for the relative movement.

It is to be noted that the positioning algorithm may further comprise utilizing the processing module40to form the global physical pattern81by way of logic assembling a plurality of partial physical patterns83, wherein the pattern area of the global physical pattern81is greater than the sensing area of the small-width biometrics sensor30. The global physical pattern81serves as the biometrics database for enrollment or registering. Upon a next usage, the user only has to place the finger in contact with or close to the small-width biometrics sensor30once, so that the partial pattern can be compared with the global physical pattern81. Thus, after the user finishes the enrollment, there is no need for the multiple-touching identification operation that can hinder the long-term using desire for the user. Of course, the intelligent guide may be used to guide the user limitatively or non-limitatively to move the finger on or over the small-width sensor, wherein the limitative guiding represents a predetermined direction or speed, while the non-limitative guiding represents the free movement. Such non-one-time identification touches can enhance the authentication precision and prevent the misjudgment from being made.

FIG. 7is a schematic view showing a physical indicating pattern. As shown inFIG. 7, the electronic apparatus100may further comprise a physical indicating pattern60, which is formed on the body10and disposed adjacent to the small-width biometrics sensor30, and provides the direction indicating guides.

FIGS. 8 to 10show three non-restrictive examples of the segmented guiding method. As shown inFIG. 8, the processing module40cooperates with the display20to display a virtual indicating pattern70, corresponding to the physical indicating pattern60, on the display20to achieve a guiding function. It is to be noted that the block85ofFIG. 7corresponds to one portion of the partial virtual pattern84but not all of the partial virtual patterns84, and is mainly used to show the center position of the partial virtual pattern84.FIGS. 9 and 10show another two virtual indicating patterns71and72. When the processing module40judges that the first sensing position is just located at the upper left corner, the directional guide ofFIG. 9 or 10may be performed. Analogically, when the processing module40judges that the first sensing position is not located at the center position, the segmented guiding, the detailed description of which will be omitted, may be performed according to the similar virtual indicating pattern or the guiding path thereof.

If only the small-width biometrics sensor is used without the assistance of the segmented guiding function of the invention, then the user may spend a lot of time to perform the try-and-error, which does not satisfy the human-oriented design.

FIG. 11is a schematic view showing an operation flow200of the electronic apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention. Please refer toFIGS. 11, and 2 to 4. Firstly, in step201, when the user wants to turn on or wake up the electronic apparatus, the biometrics sensor is enabled by software or firmware or hardware to enter an enrolling mode. Then, in step202, the global virtual pattern, such as a drawn finger pattern, a simple fingerprint pattern or a finger vein pattern, is displayed on the display20. Next, in step203, the initial intelligent guide is performed using the human-machine interface (display)20to guide the user to place different physical portions of his/her finger to directly contact or approach the specific position of the biometrics sensor device by texts, sound or motion pictures. For example, the center of the finger may be guided to align with the biometrics sensor. Of course, one end of the finger may be guided to align with the biometrics sensor. It is to be noted that the step203may be omitted in another embodiment. That is, the initial intelligent guide is not performed so that the user can freely place his/her finger. Alternatively, either the global virtual pattern displayed on the display or indications of “Please place the finger” provided by the speaker can be regarded as the initial intelligent guide. Then, in step204, the biometrics sensor30performs sensing to obtain the partial physical pattern (i.e., the first partial physical pattern). Next, in step205, the processing module40executes the positioning algorithm to perform calculation according to the first fragment fingerprint pattern to obtain the geometric position of the finger. Then, in step206, a virtual geometric position is established, and the processing module40cooperates with the display20to display the global virtual pattern and the first partial virtual pattern corresponding to the partial physical patterns. For example, by analyzing the patterns flow of the finger's fingerprint texture, the geometric position of the first fragment fingerprint pattern corresponding to the true finger can be determined, so that the corresponding geometric position can be displayed on the virtual fingerprint pattern of the display. The display method can be achieved by means of the image contrast, color, flicker or the like.

Next, in step207, the subsequent intelligent guide and capturing processes are performed, and the procedure starts from the displaying of the first virtual pattern (partial virtual pattern) at the corresponding geometric position on the fingerprint pattern of the display. A position of the second virtual pattern (partial virtual pattern) is displayed to guide the user to move his/her finger to enroll the second fragment fingerprint pattern (partial physical pattern). Then, in step208, the processing module40executes the positioning algorithm to judge whether the physical geometric relationship between the obtained second partial physical pattern and the first partial physical pattern is the same as or similar to the virtual geometric relationship between the second partial virtual pattern and the first partial virtual pattern to verify whether the enrollment of the second partial physical patterns (that is, to judge whether the second partial physical pattern is valid according to the subsequent intelligent guide, which means whether the user moves his/her finger according to the subsequent guide or guides) is completed and whether the enrollment of the predetermined number of partial physical patterns is completed. This predetermined region can be adjusted according to the statistics or experience values. If the judged result of the step208is negative, then the process returns to the step207to continue to perform the intelligent guiding and pattern capturing. If the judged result of the step208is affirmative, then the steps207and208are repeated to sequentially display the third partial virtual pattern and capture the third partial physical patterns until the preset overall pattern area has been completed to complete the enrollment of the predetermined number of partial physical patterns. If the overall pattern capture procedure is completed, then the electronic apparatus notifies the user that the capturing operations of the biometrics characteristics have been completed.

FIG. 12is a schematic view showing an electronic apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention.FIG. 13is a schematic view showing a guiding state of the electronic apparatus according to the second embodiment of the invention. As shown inFIGS. 12 and 13, this embodiment is similar to the first embodiment except that the first embodiment provides the area-type sensor for sensing a biometrics characteristic or pattern of the stationary finger placed on the sensor; while the second embodiment provides a sweep-type sensor for sensing a biometrics characteristic or pattern of the finger sweeping across the sensor. The width of the small-width biometrics sensor30′ is insufficient to sense the full-width pattern of the finger, so the electronic apparatus needs to guide the user to perform the longitudinal sweeping and transversal movement. It is possible to sweep the finger longitudinally twice (e.g., first sweeping and second sweeping) and then judge whether the longitudinal fragment image, obtained by the first sweeping, is disposed at middle or biased, and then the rectangular frames21′ or the large rectangular frame21″ combined by the rectangular frames21′ can be used to guide the user to sweep the left portion, middle portion or right portion of the finger. The overall flows are similar to those of the first embodiment, so detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted. Alternatively, the user may also transversally sweep the finger with the longitudinal movement of the finger to complete the biometrics characteristic capturing operation. It is to be noted that the electronic apparatus of each embodiment may also guide the finger to sweep regularly or irregularly until the biometrics characteristic capturing processes are finished. The advantage of this embodiment is that the biometrics sensor may have the smaller area and thus the lower cost.

FIG. 14is a schematic view showing an electronic apparatus according to a third embodiment of the invention. As shown inFIG. 14, this embodiment is similar to the second embodiment except that the biometrics sensor of the electronic apparatus100″ is a hidden sensor, so the user cannot see the biometrics sensor30from the outlook, but the electronic apparatus100″ can interact with the user to guide the user to use the biometrics sensor30. For example, when the user's finger approaches the biometrics sensor, the visual or acoustic triggering is provided to guide the user. The advantage is to make the electronic apparatus100″ have more simple or beautiful outlook.

According to the electronic apparatus with the segmented guiding function and the small-width biometrics sensor and the guiding method thereof, it is possible to utilize a small-area or small-width biometrics sensor to work in conjunction with the human-oriented segmented guiding so as to keep the beauty of the electronic apparatus and enable the user to perform the biometrics authentication to protect the data and the access right of the electronic apparatus.