Patent ID: 8196197

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for controlling user created passwords in a password-protected data processing system to prevent the selection of trivial passwords, the data processing system comprising at least one processor that performs at least one of the steps of the method, the data processing system being configured to receive a proposed password comprising characters corresponding to keys of a keyboard as an input, the method comprising: converting the proposed password into a proposed password pattern according to a coding convention; using the proposed password pattern to compare a relative position of at least one pair of adjacent characters in the proposed password with a corresponding at least one element of a trivial pattern comprising a plurality of elements to determine a value indicative of a degree of similarity of the proposed password pattern to the trivial pattern, the plurality of elements of the trivial pattern representing a plurality of sequences of keys on the keyboard according to the coding convention, the plurality of elements of the trivial pattern comprising a plurality of positional relationships of keys on the keyboard; and disallowing the proposed password if the value exceeds a triviality threshold.