Patent Publication Number: US-2004041020-A1

Title: Data storage system and method with fingerprint identification for access authorization

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of Invention  
       [0002] The invention relates to a data access system and method. More particularly, it is a kind of system and method applied to a plug and play (PnP) portable data storage device, which connects to a PC terminal, utilizing an executable computer program for executing user authorization of data access and access administration.  
       [0003] 2. Related Art  
       [0004] With the coming of the age of mobile commerce, mobile commodities such as mobile phones, hand-hold personal digital assistance (PDA) and portable laptops emphasize the need for small and lightweight size, full-functions and portability. The development of personal mobile commodities does not remain stagnant but makes great progress toward pluralistic applications. One of the hottest topics among currently developed mobile commodities is the portable data storage device, which, relying on its convenience of usage, plays an indispensable role in today&#39;s mobile commerce and further creates another new trend in the m-commerce world.  
       [0005] For providing complete convenience of usage, currently used portable data storage devices usually employ their PnP characteristics to enable users to easily connect with another PC terminal for further data access. Therefore, there is no particular prevention mechanism for controlling data security. Some portable data storage devices apply data methods such as encrypting, encoding and compressing during data storage to prevent data from being obtained from others while the device is lost. Although these methods maintain some security, they still cause considerable inconvenience to users accessing data. For instance, it is inefficient for a user to have to pass through complicated data procedures like decrypting, decoding, decompressing, and strict mechanisms of declassifying passwords before s/he retrieves required data. There have been some troublesome problems of conventional password mechanisms that hinder data access, including overlapping password with others, passwords being forgotten and stolen, etc. This causes inconvenience to users, as they need to memorize groups of passwords that correspond to various password mechanisms. It also causes a user to be unwilling to use portable data storage devices, and makes them less popular.  
       [0006] Therefore, combining developed computer software/hardware technology with current portable data storage devices with matured and simplified identity recognition technology in order to establish a complete and secure data access control mechanism for the portable data storage devices will heighten usage willingness and popularization of portable data storage devices.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007] In view of the aforementioned problems, the object of the invention is to provide a data storage system and method with fingerprint identification applied for different access authorization. The invention aims at achieving user authorization for data access and access administration through authorization-setting by processing an executable computer program on a PC terminal, which is connected to a data storage device. To achieve the aforementioned objects, the disclosed data storage system and method with fingerprint identification applied for different access authorization consists of : a data storage module, a transmission interface module, a fingerprint identification module, and a control module.  
       [0008] Furthermore, the data storage system and method with fingerprint identification applied for different access authorization consists of the following steps: firstly, connecting the data storage device with the said terminal, receiving a fingerprint image for executing the identification operation, automatically programming access administration and generating a user operation interface, retrieving content from a corresponding data list to start up and display a corresponding access item for an authorized user, and finally , executing data storage/retrieval of a corresponding item selected by the user.  
       [0009] The detailed content and technology of the invention is depicted by the following figures and descriptions. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is the systematic structure of the disclosed data storage system and method with fingerprint identification applied for different access authorization according to the invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 2- a  is a flowchart of data access and administration of the disclosed system and method; and  
     [0012]FIG. 2- b  is a flowchart of data access and administration of the disclosed system and method. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0013] The invention is a kind of data storage system and method with fingerprint identification applied for different access authorization. It applies fingerprint identification to the data storage device  200  to establish different authorization mechanisms of data access and access administration among different users through the assistance of an executable computer program on a connected terminal  100 , which connects to the said data storage device. It enables personal data to be maintained at higher levels of security and confidentiality. All communication messages and data transfer operations between the data storage device  200  and the connected PC terminal  100  are carried out through their transmission interface modules  110  and  210 , respectively. FIG. 1 illustrates the systematic structure of the disclosed system and method. Details are provided as follows:  
     [0014] (1) The transmission interface module  210  processes data transfer from a data storage module  240  and delivers messages of user access administration from the PC terminal  100 .  
     [0015] (2) A control module  220  enables the control of access functions for data transfer according to an access control command generated by a fingerprint identification module  230 . It further transfers an access administration program to the connected PC terminal  100  for execution and controls message delivery of data access administration from the connected terminal  100  by a user&#39;s operation.  
     [0016] (3) The fingerprint identification module  230  receives a fingerprint image from the user to process the identification operation. It further generates an access control command to the control module  220  and allows the user to access data after the user is identified through the identification operation. The fingerprint identification module  230  further consists of the following modules:  
     [0017] (a) A data module  231  stores all legally identified user data (i.e. recognized fingerprint data) in the data storage device  200 .  
     [0018] (b) An identification module  232  retrieves fingerprint characteristics inputted by a user to be contrasted, one by one, with all recognized data stored in the data module  231 .  
     [0019] (c) A sensor module  233  receives a fingerprint image from a user and transfers the image to the identification module  232  for subsequent processing.  
     [0020] (4) The data storage module  240  stores all data content of authorized users and further stores an executable computer program, which is provided for users to process data access administration by the disclosed invention, and a corresponding data list. The said executable access administration program is transferred from the control module  220  to be executed by the connected terminal  100  after a user passes through the identification process. After the program execution a user operation interface  120  is generated for displaying all corresponding access items related to the user for him/her to process the operation of selection (including adding a corresponding access item, modifying a corresponding access item and deleting a corresponding access item).  
     [0021] Subsequently, the data access and administration flow are shown in FIGS.  2 - a  and  2 - b . Details are described as follows.  
     [0022] First, the data storage device  200  must connect with another connected PC terminal  100  (step  300 ) before a user can process data access from the data storage device  200 . After connection, the data storage device  200  automatically enters into an input/retrieval mode and starts receiving an inputted fingerprint before executing identity recognition (step  310 ). Following the identity recognition process, the system further verifies whether the user is an authorized user (step  320 ). If NO, the system shows relevant error messages (step  330 ); otherwise, it shows that the user is an authorized user. The flow then goes into step  340 . The control module retrieves the access administration program from the data storage module  240  and transfers it to the connected PC terminal  100  for program execution. The user operation interface  120  is then generated from the connected terminal  100 . The system then reads recorded content on the corresponding data list and starts up, one by one, all corresponding access items that belong to the user, i.e., access authorization of corresponding access items, to be shown to the user through the user operation interface  120  (step  350 ). If the user wants to process any access administration, the flow goes into process A, which will be further described below. Otherwise, if the user simply wants to process access to his/her previous stored data, s/he can directly select corresponding access items shown on the user operation interface  120  for executing the respective processes of data access (e.g. adding, modifying, deleting, moving, copying, etc.) (step  400 ). Herein, the main flow of whole data access process is completed.  
     [0023] Process A mainly describes the steps while a user is processing access administration. First, the system verifies whether the user wants to process access administration operations (step  360 ). If NO, it goes back to step  400 , and the user can directly select corresponding access items shown on the user operation interface  120  for executing the respective processes of data access. If YES, the system provides the functions of access administration (including adding a corresponding access item, modifying a corresponding access item and deleting a corresponding access item) for the user&#39;s selection (step  370 ). If the user chooses the adding function (step  371 ), s/he must input a corresponding access item name that s/he wants to add (step  372 ). If the user chooses the modifying function (step  373 ), s/he must choose a corresponding access item that s/he wants to modify before inputting its content name (step  374 ). If the user chooses the deleting function (step  375 ), s/he can simply choose a corresponding access item (step  376 ). After input or selection is done, the system further confirms whether the user wants to execute that function (step  380 ). If the user does not reply for confirmation, the flow goes back to step  370  to re-start access administration for selection; or, the system carries out another user identification operation, that is, retrieving inputted fingerprint data of the user and executing identity recognition (step  310 ). The system, through the identification operation, verifies whether the user is an authorized user (step  320 ). If NO, the system shows the relevant error message (step  330 ); otherwise, it executes the update of recorded content corresponding to the data list according to access administration content processed by the user. The updated columns include a corresponding item name, pointer of the corresponding item name, an authorized user name and identification data pointer of the authorized user. In the meantime, the system instantly displays the updated result on the user operation interface (step  390 ).  
     ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE INVENTION  
     [0024] The invention is a kind of a data storage system and method with fingerprint identification technology for different access authorization. It not only applies to plug and play (PnP) portable data storage devices utilizing fingerprint identification technology for processing user identity recognition, but also establishes mechanisms of data access and access administration to enable different users of the same device to maintain data confidentiality among them, so as to achieve higher data security and confidentiality.  
     [0025] Moreover, the executable program on the connected PC terminal to the data storage device enables different users to process personalized and simplified data access and access administration under the same user operation interface. It further increases the convenience of using portable data storage devices.  
     [0026] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.