Source: https://patents.justia.com/patent/8242882
Timestamp: 2019-06-25 07:56:32
Document Index: 703696112

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 2008', 'art 103', 'art 102', 'art 103', 'art 103', 'art 105', 'art 105', 'art 105', 'art 110', 'arts 101', 'art 201', 'art 201', 'art 201', 'art 201', 'art 207', 'art 201', 'art 203', 'art 206', 'art 207', 'art 207', 'art 208', 'art 211', 'art 208', 'art 211', 'art 211', 'art 208', 'art 212', 'art 212', 'art 212', 'art 212', 'art 211', 'art 213', 'art 212', 'art 211', 'art 213', 'art 212', 'art 202', 'art 211', 'art 213', 'art 214', 'art 207', 'art 214', 'art 214', 'art 220', 'arts 201']

US Patent for Biometric authentication apparatus and biometric authentication control method Patent (Patent # 8,242,882 issued August 14, 2012) - Justia Patents Search
Justia Patents Image (e.g., Fingerprint, Face)US Patent for Biometric authentication apparatus and biometric authentication control method Patent (Patent # 8,242,882)
Aug 10, 2009 - Fujitsu Limited
A biometric authentication apparatus includes a part to retain first biometric data items extracted from living body parts of a user in correlation with the collation order of the first biometric data items; a part to acquire a second biometric data item from the user, to compare and collate the acquired second biometric data item with the first biometric data items in descending order of their collation priorities based on the collation order, and to determine that the user has been successfully authenticated in response to detecting one of the first biometric data items whose match rate with the second biometric data item exceeds a predetermined value; and a part to change the collation order in response to detecting, from the state of usage of the one of the first biometric data items, that the user has steadied at a change of her/his living body part to use for authentication.
The present application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-228193, filed on Sep. 5, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A certain aspect of the embodiment discussed herein is related to human authentication techniques using biometric information (biometric data) such as fingerprints, finger veins, palm veins, and an iris.
Biometric authentication systems that perform human authentication using biometric data are used in various situations. In the following, a description is given based on, for example, a client/server system where biometric data are acquired on the client side and biometric data for reference are retained and collation is performed on the server side at the time of authentication. However, this does not exclude, as an object of application, a stand-alone system where biometric data are acquired and collated in a single apparatus. Further, a description is given based on, for example, a system where a user specifies her/his identifier (ID) and collation is performed with one or more biometric data items for reference identified by the user's ID at the time of authentication. However, this does not exclude, as an object of application, a system where collation is performed with a group of candidate biometric data for reference without specification of an ID by a user.
Time for this processing is not so conspicuous if a biometric authentication algorithm that enables high-speed processing is employed. For example, if a biometric authentication algorithm is employed that processes one collation at high speed in 1 ms (0.001 s), execution of 1:10 processing does not cause much trouble because the time required for collating one person is 10 ms. Nowadays, however, the number of systems operating on a large scale with tens or hundreds of thousands of people to be processed is also increasing. In such systems, all system users may be subjected to personal authentication substantially at the same time at the start of office hours or at the end of a break. In the case of a fingerprint authentication system recommending ten-finger registration, if the system processes ten thousand people, there is a processing time of 10 ms×ten thousand people=100 s (approximately 1.67 minutes) before completion of the entire processing even with a high-speed biometric authentication algorithm that processes one collation in 1 ms as described above. It is possible to reduce processing time by adding a processing server or improving CPU performance. This, however, incurs apparatus expenses. Further, this is also inefficient in performing collation that is unnecessary in nature.
According to an aspect of the embodiment, a biometric authentication apparatus includes a data retention part configured to retain a plurality of first biometric data items extracted from a plurality of living body parts of a user to be authenticated in correlation with a collation order of the first biometric data items; a collation part configured to acquire a second biometric data item from the user, to compare and collate the acquired second biometric data item with the first biometric data items in a descending order of collation priorities of the first biometric data items based on the collation order, and to determine that the user has been successfully authenticated in response to detecting one of the first biometric data items whose match rate with the second biometric data item exceeds a predetermined value; and a collation order change part configured to change the collation order in response to detecting, from a state of usage of the one of the first biometric data items used in the successful authentication, that the user has steadied at a change of a living body part thereof to use for authentication.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a biometric authentication system according to an embodiment;
According to the above-described technique of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-122529, top priority is not given to the most recently used biometric information, and priorities may be weighted based on determination as to which living body part is most frequently used.
The communication data creation part 103 has the function of creating communication data (data to be communicated) to the server 2 including the ID and authentication biometric data encrypted in the ID and authentication biometric data encryption part 102. The communication data creating part 103 includes a communication data encryption part 103a configured to encrypt the communication data. It is for increasing security by double encryption that encryption of the communication data is performed in addition to encryption of the ID and authentication biometric data. Accordingly, if security is not so much a problem, one or both of the encryptions may be omitted.
The authentication result reception part 105 has the function of receiving communication data including an authentication result from the server 2. The authentication result reception part 105 includes a communication data decryption part 105a configured to decrypt encrypted communication data received from the server 2. The client 1 further includes a control part 110 such as a processor or a central processing unit (CPU) that implements and controls the operations of the above-described parts 101 through 105 by executing a program installed in the client 1.
The ID and authentication biometric data reception part 201 has the function of receiving communication data including an ID and authentication biometric data from the client 1. The ID and authentication biometric data reception part 201 includes a communication data decryption part 201a configured to decrypt encrypted communication data received from the client 1 and an ID and authentication biometric data decryption part 201b configured to decrypt an encrypted ID and authentication biometric data included in the decrypted communication data.
The biometric data comparison and reference part 207 has the function of comparing and collating the authentication biometric data (item) of a user acquired from the client 1 in the ID and authentication biometric data reception part 201 with the multiple comparison and reference biometric data items of the user acquired in the comparison and reference biometric data acquisition part 203 in descending order of the collation priorities of the comparison and reference biometric data items acquired in the collation order reference part 206, and determining that the user has been successfully authenticated in response to the match rate exceeding a predetermined value (predetermined match rate). The biometric data comparison and reference part 207 includes a usage state update part 207a configured to update the usage state (such as the number of times used in succession, the number of times used on a period-by-period basis, the number of times used in succession on a time-by-time basis, or the number of times used on a time-by-time and period-by-period basis) retained in the usage state retention part 208 in accordance with the collation order change system.
The collation order change determination part 211 has the function of determining whether to change the collation order based on whether it has been determined that a user has steadied at a change of a living body part to use for authentication, referring to the usage state retention part 208, in accordance with the collation order change system. The collation order change determination part 211 includes a successive use number/use number clearance part 211a configured to clear the number of times used in succession or the number of times used retained in the usage state retention part 208 in response to the determination that the collation order be changed.
The collation order change system determination part 212 has the function of determining the collation order change system in the case where the system has multiple collation order change systems. The collation order change system determination part 212 includes a collation order change system definition part 212a configured to retain a collation order change system preselected by an administrator. Modes corresponding to individual collation order change systems are predefined in the server 2. The collation order change system determination part 212 sets the mode of the determined collation order change system, so that the collation order change determination part 211 and the collation order change part 213 perform processing corresponding to the mode. Further, if the number of system users is less than a predetermined number, the collation order change system determination part 212 does not change the collation order, and may prevent the determination process in the collation order change determination part 211 and the change process in the collation order change part 213 from being performed. In this case, a flag that indicates whether to change the collation order is defined (with FALSE meaning “not to change the collation order and TRUE meaning “to change the collation order”). The collation order change system determination part 212 determines whether the number of system users is less than a predetermined number by counting the number of IDs in the comparison and reference biometric data retention part 202, and sets the flag in accordance with the result of the determination. The collation order change determination part 211 and the collation order change part 213 do not perform processing if the flag is FALSE, and perform processing if the flag is TRUE. In the case where the number of system users is less than a predetermined number, the amount of time for collation is not much affected by not considering the collation order. Therefore, further reduction in time can be achieved by eliminating the time for changing the collation order.
The authentication result returning part 214 has the function of returning the result of authentication (success/failure) by the collation conducted in the biometric data comparison and reference part 207 to the client 1. The authentication result returning part 214 includes an authentication result encryption part 214a configured to encrypt communication data including the authentication result. The communication data including the authentication result are encrypted in order to prevent cheating with fake communication data, because coming to and leaving work is registered in accordance with the authentication result. The server 2 further includes a control part 220 such as a processor or a central processing unit (CPU) that implements and controls the operations of the above-described parts 201 through 214 by executing a program installed in the server 2.
a data retention part configured to retain a plurality of first biometric data items extracted from a plurality of living body parts of a user to be authenticated in correlation with a collation order of the first biometric data items;
a collation part configured to acquire a second biometric data item from the user, to compare and collate the acquired second biometric data item with the first biometric data items in a descending order of collation priorities of the first biometric data items based on the collation order, and to determine that the user has been successfully authenticated in response to detecting one of the first biometric data items whose match rate with the second biometric data item exceeds a predetermined value; and
a collation order change part configured to change the collation order in response to detecting, from a state of usage of the one of the first biometric data items used in the successful authentication, that the user has steadied at a change of a living body part thereof to use for authentication.
2. The biometric authentication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collation order change part is configured to count a number of times used in succession of the one of the first biometric data items and change the collation priority of the one of the first biometric data items to first in the collation order in response to the counted number of times exceeding a predetermined value.
an encryption part configured to encrypt the second biometric data item included in communication data to pass through a path through which the second biometric data item is acquired from the user at a time of the authentication.
10. The biometric authentication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
an encryption part configured to encrypt communication data to pass through a path through which the second biometric data item is acquired from the user at a time of the authentication.
11. The biometric authentication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
an encryption part configured to encrypt communication data to pass through a path for transmitting a result of the authentication.
12. A biometric authentication control method, comprising:
retaining a plurality of first biometric data items extracted from a plurality of living body parts of a user to be authenticated in correlation with a collation order of the first biometric data items;
acquiring a second biometric data item from the user;
comparing and collating the acquired second biometric data item with the first biometric data items in a descending order of collation priorities of the first biometric data items based on the collation order;
determining that the user has been successfully authenticated in response to detecting one of the first biometric data items whose match rate with the second biometric data item exceeds a predetermined value; and
changing the collation order in response to detecting, from a state of usage of the one of the first biometric data items used in the successful authentication, that the user has steadied at a change of a living body part thereof to use for authentication.
13. The biometric authentication control method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said changing counts a number of times used in succession of the one of the first biometric data items and changes the collation priority of the one of the first biometric data items to first in the collation order in response to the counted number of times exceeding a predetermined value.
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Patent Publication Number: 20100060411
Inventor: Jun Ikegami (Kawasaki)
Application Number: 12/461,383
Current U.S. Class: Image (e.g., Fingerprint, Face) (340/5.53); Using A Combination Of Features (e.g., Signature And Fingerprint) (382/116); Using A Fingerprint (382/124); Biometrics (340/5.82); Authentication (e.g., Identity) (340/5.8)
International Classification: G05B 19/00 (20060101); G05B 23/00 (20060101); G06K 9/00 (20060101);