Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20060000895?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2015-10-09 00:30:58
Document Index: 57609128

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 8']

Patent US20060000895 - Method and system for facial recognition biometrics on a smartcard - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsThe present invention discloses a system and methods for biometric security using facial scan biometrics in a smartcard-reader system. The biometric security system also includes a facial scan sensor that detects biometric samples and a device for verifying biometric samples. In one embodiment, the biometric...http://www.google.com/patents/US20060000895?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20060000895 - Method and system for facial recognition biometrics on a smartcardAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS20060000895 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 10/710,311Publication dateJan 5, 2006Filing dateJul 1, 2004Priority dateJul 1, 2004Publication number10710311, 710311, US 2006/0000895 A1, US 2006/000895 A1, US 20060000895 A1, US 20060000895A1, US 2006000895 A1, US 2006000895A1, US-A1-20060000895, US-A1-2006000895, US2006/0000895A1, US2006/000895A1, US20060000895 A1, US20060000895A1, US2006000895 A1, US2006000895A1InventorsDavid Bonalle, Glen SalowOriginal AssigneeAmerican Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (29), Referenced by (37), Classifications (11), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and system for facial recognition biometrics on a smartcard
FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the use of integrated circuit cards, or “smartcards,” for commercial transactions and, more particularly, to methods and system for using biometrics with a smartcard in the context of a distributed transaction system. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The term “smartcard” refers generally to wallet-sized or smaller cards incorporating a microprocessor or microcontroller to store and manage data within the card. More complex than magnetic-stripe and stored-value cards, smartcards may be characterized by sophisticated memory management and security features. A typical smartcard may include a microcontroller embedded within the card plastic which may be electrically connected to an array of external contacts provided on the card exterior. A smartcard microcontroller generally may include an electrically-erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) for storing user data, random access memory (RAM) for scratch storage, and read only memory (ROM) for storing the card operating system. Relatively simple microcontrollers may be adequate to control these functions. Thus, it may be not unusual for smartcards to utilize 8-bit, 5 MHZ microcontrollers with about 8K of EEP-ROM memory (for example, the Motorola 6805 or Intel 8051 microcontrollers). A number of standards have been developed to address general aspects of integrated circuit cards, e.g.: ISO 7816-1, Part 1: Physical characteristics (1987); ISO 7816-2, Part 2: Dimensions and location of the contacts (1988); ISO 7816-3, Part 3: Electronic signals and transmission protocols (1989, Amd. 1 1992, Amd. 2 1994); ISO 7816-4, Part 4: Inter-industry commands for interchange (1995); ISO 7816-5, Part 5: Numbering system and registration procedure for application identifiers (1994, Amd. 1 1995); ISO/IEC DIS 7816-6, Inter-industry data elements (1995); ISO/IEC WD 7816-7, Part 7: Enhanced inter-industry commands (1995); and ISO/IEC WD 7816-8, Part 8: Inter-industry security architecture (1995). These standards may be hereby incorporated by reference. Furthermore, general information regarding magnetic stripe cards and chip cards may be found in a number of standard texts, e.g., Zoreda & Oton, “Smart Cards” (1994), and Rankl & Effing, “Smart Card Handbook” (1997), the contents of which may be hereby incorporated by reference. While some smartcard systems have streamlined the transaction process and provided a system for managing more information, smartcard technology has still not adequately addressed some of the authentication issues related to transactions. Moreover, while biometric technology exists with respect to certain access systems and limited financial systems, the use of biometric security in association with smartcards remains underdeveloped and scarce. As such, a need exists to integrate biometric technology advances with smartcard technology. Additionally, despite advances in information technology and process streamlining with respect to travel arrangements, the modern traveler may be often subjected to unnecessary delays, petty inconveniences, and oppressive paperwork. These travel burdens may be most evident in the airline, hotel, and rental car industries, where arranging and paying for services and accommodations may involve significant time delays due to miscommunication, poor record-keeping, and a host of other administrative inefficiencies. As such, a need also exists to expand the use of smartcards into travel-related applications. SUMMARY OF INVENTION The smartcard system is configured with a biometric security system. The biometric security system includes a smartcard and a reader communicating with the system. The biometric security system also includes a biometric sensor that detects biometric samples and a device for verifying biometric samples. In yet another embodiment, the present invention discloses methods for proffering and processing biometric samples to facilitate authorization of transactions. The present invention may provide methods and apparatus for a smartcard system which securely and conveniently integrates important travel-related applications with biometric security, thereby overcoming the limitations of the prior art. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a smartcard system may comprise a cardholder identification application and various additional applications useful in particular travel contexts; for example, airline, hotel, rental car, and payment-related applications. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a smartcard system further may comprise space and security features within specific applications which provide partnering organizations the ability to construct custom and secure file structures. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a dynamic smartcard synchronization system comprises access points configured to initiate a transaction in conjunction with a smartcard, an enterprise data collection unit, and a card object database update system, along with a biometric security system. An exemplary dynamic synchronization system (DSS) preferably comprises various smartcard access points, a secure support client server, a card object database update system (CODUS), one or more enterprise data synchronization interfaces (EDSI), an update logic system, one or more enterprise data collection units (EDCUs), and one or more smartcard access points configured to interoperably accept and interface with smartcards. In an exemplary embodiment, DSS comprises a personalization system and an account maintenance system configured to communicate with CODUS. In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, personalization of multi-function smartcards is accomplished using a biometric security system and a security server configured to generate and/or retrieve cryptographic key information from multiple enterprise key systems during the final phase of the smartcard issuance process. These features and other advantages of the system and method, as well as the structure and operation of various exemplary embodiments of the system and method, are described below.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, an exemplary smartcard system suitable for practicing the present invention may now be described. A smartcard 100 generally may comprise a card body 102 having a communication region 108 for providing contact or non-contact communication between an external device (e.g., a card reader) and an integrated circuit 110 encapsulated within card body 102. Communication region 108 preferably may comprise six conductive pads 106 whose placement and size conform to ISO-7816-2. More particularly, a communication region 108 in conformance with ISO-7816-2 preferably may comprise VCC contact 106(a) (power supply), RST contact 106(b) (reset), CLK contact 106(c) (external clock), GND Contact 106(d) (ground), VPP contact 106(e) (programming voltage), and I/O contact 106(f) (data line). VCC 106(a) may suitably provide power to IC 110 (typically 5.0 V�10%). CLK 106(c) may be suitably used to provide an external clock source which acts as a data transmission reference. RST 106(b) may be suitably used to transmit a reset signal to IC 110 during the booting sequence. VPP contact 106(e) may be used for programming of EEPROM 212 in IC 110. As may be known in the art, however, this contact may be generally not used since modern ICs typically incorporate a charge pump suitable for EEPROM programming which takes its power from the supply voltage (VCC 106(a)). I/O 106(f) may suitably provide a line for serial data communication with an external device, and GND 106(d) may be suitably used to provide a ground reference. Encapsulated integrated circuit 110 may be configured to communicate electrically with contacts 106 via any number of known packaging techniques, including, for example, thermosonically-bonded gold wires, tape automated bonding (TAB), and the like. While an exemplary smartcard is discussed above in the context of a plurality of external contacts, it may be appreciated that contactless cards may also be utilized to practice this invention. That is, non-contact communication methods may be employed using such techniques as capacitive coupling, inductive coupling, and the like. As may be known in the art, capacitive coupling involves incorporating capacitive plates into the card body such that data transfer with a card reader may be provided through symmetric pairs of coupled surfaces, wherein capacitance values may be typically 10-50 Pico farads, and the working range may be typically less than one millimeter. Inductive coupling may employ coupling elements, or conductive loops, disposed in a weakly-coupled transformer configuration employing phase, frequency, or amplitude modulation. In this regard, it may be appreciated that the location of communication region 108 disposed on or within card 100 may vary depending on card configuration. For additional information regarding non-contact techniques, see, for example, contactless card standards ISO/IEC 10536 and ISO/IEC 14443, which are hereby incorporated by reference. Smartcard body 102 may be preferably manufactured from a sufficiently rigid material which may be resistant to various environmental factors, e.g., physical deterioration, thermal extremes, and ESD (electrostatic discharge). Materials suitable in the context of the present invention may include, for example, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrol), PET (polyethylene terephthalate), or the like. In an exemplary embodiment, chip card 100 may conform to the mechanical requirements set forth in ISO 7810, 7813, and 7816. Body 102 may comprise a variety of shapes, for example, the rectangular ID-1, ID-00, or ID-000 dimensions set forth in ISO-7810. In an exemplary embodiment, body 102 may be roughly the size and shape of a common credit card and substantially conforms to the ID-1 specification. Referring now to FIG. 2, IC 110 preferably may comprise regions for Random Access Memory (RAM) 216, Read-Only Memory (ROM) 214, Central Processing Unit (CPU) 202, data bus 210, Input/Output (I/O) 208 and Electrically-Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) 212. RAM 216 may comprise volatile memory which may be used by the card primarily for scratch memory, e.g., to store intermediate calculation results and data encryption processes. RAM 216 preferably may comprise at least 256 bytes. EEPROM 212 may provide a non-volatile memory region which may be erasable and rewritable electrically, and which may be used to store, inter alia, user data, system data a smartcard identifier and application files. In the context of the present invention, EEPROM 212 may be suitably used to store a plurality of files related to cardholder information, including general cardholder information, payment information and/or other transaction information. In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, EEPROM 212 may be suitably used to store travel-related information (discussed in greater detail below in conjunction with FIG. 3). EEPROM 212 preferably may comprise at least 8K bytes. A smartcard identifier, as used herein, may include any account number, Card Production Life Cycle (CPLC) data, and/or identifier for an account (e.g., credit, charge debit, checking, savings, reward, loyalty, travel or the like) which may be maintained by a transaction account provider (e.g., payment authorization center) and which may be used to complete a transaction. The smartcard identifier may include financial transaction information, CPLC data, and or other information, such as, for example, a passport number, a driver's license number, a social security number, and/or any other indicator used to facilitate identification, access and/or any other type of transaction. A typical account number (e.g., account data) may be correlated to a credit or debit account, loyalty account, travel or rewards account maintained and serviced by such entities as American Express, Visa and/or MasterCard or the like. For ease in understanding, the present invention may be described with respect to a credit card account. However, it should be noted that the invention may be not so limited and other accounts permitting an exchange of goods and services for an account data value may be contemplated to be within the scope of the present invention. In addition, the account number (e.g., account data) may be associated with any device, code, or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow the consumer to interact or communicate with the system, such as, for example, authorization/access code, personal identification number (PIN), Internet code, digital certificate, biometric data, and/or other identification indicia. The account number may be optionally located on a rewards card, charge card, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card, and/or the like. The account number may be distributed and stored in any form of plastic, electronic, magnetic, and/or optical device capable of transmitting or downloading data to a second device. A customer account number may be, for example, a sixteen-digit credit card number, although each credit provider has its own numbering system, such as the fifteen-digit numbering system used by American Express. Each company's credit card numbers comply with that company's standardized format such that the company using a sixteen-digit format will generally use four spaced sets of numbers, as represented by the number “0000 0000 0000 0000”. In a typical example, the first five to seven digits are reserved for processing purposes and identify the issuing bank, card type and etc. In this example, the last sixteenth digit may be used as a sum check for the sixteen-digit number. The intermediary eight-to-ten digits are used to uniquely identify the customer. The account number stored as Track 1 and Track 2 data as defined in ISO/IEC 7813, and further may be made unique to smart card 102. Track 1 and Track 2 data may be described in more detail below. In an exemplary embodiment, CPU 202 may implement the instruction set stored in ROM 202, handles memory management (i.e., RAM 216 and EEPROM 212), and coordinates input/output activities (i.e., I/O 208). ROM 214 preferably contains, or may be “masked” with, the smart card operating system (SCOS). That is, the SCOS may be preferably implemented as hard-wired logic in ROM 214 using standard mask design and semiconductor processing methods well known in the art (e.g., photolithography, diffusion, oxidation, ion implantation, etc.). Accordingly, ROM 214 cannot generally be altered after fabrication. The purpose of such an implementation may be to take advantage of the fast access times provided by masked ROMs. ROM 214 suitably may comprise about 4K-20K bytes of memory, preferably at least 16K bytes. In this regard, it may be appreciated that alternate memory devices may be used in place of ROM 214. Indeed, as semiconductor technology progresses, it may be advantageous to employ more compact forms of memory, for example, flash-EEPROMs. The SCOS controls information flow to and from the card, and more particularly facilitates storage and retrieval of data stored within EEPROM 212. As with any operating system, the SCOS may operate according to a well-defined command set. In this regard, a variety of known smart card operating systems may be suitable for the purpose of this invention, for example, IBM's Multi-Function Card (MFC) Operating System 3.51, the specification of which are hereby incorporated by reference. While the IBM MFC operating system may employ the standard tree structure of files and directories substantially in accordance with ISO 7816-4 (as detailed below), it may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other operating system models would be equally suitable for implementation of the present invention. Moreover, it may be advantageous to allow certain aspects of operating system functionality to exist outside the card, i.e., in the form of blocks of executable code which may be downloaded and executed by the smartcard during a transaction (for example, Java applets, ActiveX objects, and the like). Given the general characteristics of smartcard 100 as outlined above, it may be apparent that a wide range of microcontrollers and contact-based smartcard products known in the art may be used to implement various embodiments of the present invention. Suitable smartcards may include, for example, the model ST16SF48 card, manufactured by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, which incorporates a Motorola 6805 microcontroller with 16K ROM, 8K EEPROM, and 384 bytes of RAM. It may be appreciated, however, that particular embodiments of the present invention might require more advanced microcontrollers with greater EEPROM capacity (i.e., in the range of about 12-16K). Such systems may be well known in the art. In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, the smartcard identifier and/or any other account number or data may be stored in magnetic stripe format. For example, where the account number may be in magnetic stripe format, the account number portions are governed by the International Standards Organization ISO/IEC 7811, et al. standard, which are hereby incorporated by reference. The standard requires the magnetic stripe information to be encoded in three “tracks” (i.e., track 1, track 2, and track 3). Data stored in track 1 may be typically used to verify the user's identity. Track 1 may be reserved for encoding the transaction account identifier, the name of the accountholder and at least the expiration date of the transaction account or the transaction dev