Patent Issued for Access Control Based On Rhythmic Pattern Repetition (USPTO 10,269,196)

2019 MAY 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventor Fernandez, Amanda S. (San Antonio, TX), filed on May 10, 2018, was published online on May 6, 2019.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,269,196 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Organizations and individuals that operate and/or manage computing systems may implement various security measures to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing secure physical spaces, devices, applications, and/or data. Traditionally, a user may provide one or more credentials to gain access to a computing system, such as a username, password, and/or personal identification number (PIN). Credentials such as a PIN, keycard, or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may also be used to access a secure area, e.g., by swiping a keycard through a scanner to open a door to the area. By comparing the supplied credentials with previously established credentials for the user, a determination may be made whether to permit or deny the requested access.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “Implementations of the present disclosure are generally directed to authentication and/or controlling access to a secure area or secure information. More specifically, implementations are directed to controlling access to a secure area and/or secure information based on rhythmic pattern repetition.

“In general, innovative aspects of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include actions of: receiving, from a user device, an access request to access a secure area and, in response, sending a first pattern to be output through the user device, the first pattern including a plurality of pulses; receiving, from a pattern entry device, a second pattern that is entered through the pattern entry device as an attempt to repeat the first pattern; and based at least partly on a correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern, approving the access request and sending an access signal to provide access to the secure area.

“Implementations can optionally include one or more of the following features: the first pattern is output on the user device as one or more of a haptic output and an audio output; the pattern entry device includes a touch interface; the second pattern is generated by the individual tapping on a touch interface; the actions further include determining a differential between the first pattern and the second pattern; the actions further include determining the correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern based on the differential being at or below a threshold value; the first pattern includes a plurality of groups of pulses; the second pattern includes a sequence of a plurality of numbers that each corresponds to a number of pulses in one of the plurality of groups; the access request is to access the secure area that is secured by a door; sending the access signal instructs a door controller to open the door; the access request is to access at least a portion of an application; sending the access signal enables the individual to access at least the portion of the application; the user device is a wearable computing device in physical contact with the individual; and/or the first pattern is output by the user device as a haptic output that is perceivable by the individual.

“Other implementations of any of the above aspects include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs that are configured to perform the actions of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices. The present disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium coupled to one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations in accordance with implementations of the methods provided herein. The present disclosure further provides a system for implementing the methods provided herein. The system includes one or more processors, and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations in accordance with implementations of the methods provided herein.

“Implementations of the present disclosure provide one or more of the following technical advantages and/or technical improvements over previously available solutions. By providing access based on the individual’s repetition of a rhythm pattern received at a portable computing device, implementations provide an access control technique that is unobtrusive and easy from the perspective of the individual requesting access, with minimal effort required from the individual. This provides a more positive user experience compared to traditional techniques in which the individual may be required to remember and enter a personal identification number (PIN) and/or other credential(s) that were previously assigned to the individual. Implementations may be especially helpful to children, individuals with memory impairment, and/or other individuals who may have difficulty remembering traditional credentials such as a password or PIN. Implementations also provide a more positive user experience compared to traditional techniques that may require the individual to carry a cardkey, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, or other physical token to gain access to a physical space, given that such tokens may be cumbersome to carry and may be readily lost or stolen. Implementations provide a more secure access control system compared to systems that require traditional user credentials (e.g., password, PIN, etc.), given that such traditional credentials may be guessed or stolen. By playing a rhythmic pattern that is dynamically generated when the individual is requesting access, and by requiring the individual to reproduce the pattern at an access touchpad or through their mobile device, implementations provide an access control technique that is more secure and less vulnerable to spoofing or theft compared to traditional access control methods.

“Implementations provide further technical improvements and advantages over traditional access control systems. Because traditional access control systems may require users to accurately remember and enter user credentials (e.g., PIN, etc.), traditional systems are susceptible to failed access requests caused by wrong, mistyped, or forgotten credentials. By providing an access control technique that does not require the user to accurately remember and enter credentials, implementations may reduce or eliminate failures. Accordingly, implementations avoid the expenditure of processing capacity, memory, storage space, network bandwidth, and/or other computing resources that traditional systems need to expend to recover from failed access attempts. Moreover, implementations also provide an advantage over authentication based on biometric data (e.g., identification based upon physical characteristics). Because biometric data may change slowly, or not change over time (e.g., as with fingerprints), acquisition of the biometric data may enable an unauthorized user to gain access to systems by pretending to be the authorized user. Because the rhythm pattern may vary with each instance, authentication based on repeating the pattern may be less vulnerable to impersonation than traditional authentication modes.

“It is appreciated that aspects and features in accordance with the present disclosure can include any combination of the aspects and features described herein. That is, aspects and features in accordance with the present disclosure are not limited to the combinations of aspects and features specifically described herein, but also include any combination of the aspects and features provided.

“The details of one or more implementations of the present disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A method performed by at least one processor, the method comprising: receiving, by the at least one processor, from a first user device, a request to access secure information through the first user device and, in response, sending a first pattern to be output through a second user device, the first pattern including a plurality of pulses; receiving, by the at least one processor, from the first user device, a second pattern that is entered through the first user device as an attempt to repeat the first pattern output through the second user device; and based at least partly on a correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern, communicating, by the at least one processor, an access signal to the first user device indicating authorization to access the secure information through the first user device.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access signal indicates authorization to access at least one secure portion of an application that executes on the first user device.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one secure portion of the application includes a secure feature to request a transaction.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the secure information is stored on the first user device; and the access signal indicates authorization to access the secure information on the first user device.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first pattern is output through the second user device as one or more of a haptic output and an audio output.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first user device includes a touch interface; and the second pattern is generated through user input to the touch interface on the first user device.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the at least one processor, a differential between the first pattern and the second pattern; and determining, by the at least one processor, the correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern based on the differential being at or below a threshold value.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first pattern includes a plurality of groups of pulses; and the second pattern includes a sequence of a plurality of numbers that each corresponds to a number of pulses in one of the plurality of groups.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein: the second user device is a wearable computing device in physical contact with a user of the first user device; and the first pattern is output by the second user device as a haptic output that is perceivable by the user.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user device and the second user device are communicatively coupled over a wireless network.

“11. A system comprising: at least one processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a first user device, a request to access secure information through the first user device and, in response, sending a first pattern to be output through a second user device, the first pattern including a plurality of pulses; receiving, from the first user device, a second pattern that is entered through the first user device as an attempt to repeat the first pattern output through the second user device; and based at least partly on a correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern, communicating an access signal to the first user device indicating authorization to access the secure information through the first user device.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the access signal indicates authorization to access at least one secure portion of an application that executes on the first user device.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one secure portion of the application includes a secure feature to request a transaction.

“14. The system of claim 11, wherein: the secure information is stored on the first user device; and the access signal indicates authorization to access the secure information on the first user device.

“15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first pattern is output through the second user device as one or more of a haptic output and an audio output.

“16. The system of claim 11, wherein: the first user device includes a touch interface; and the second pattern is generated through user input to the touch interface on the first user device.

“17. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising: determining a differential between the first pattern and the second pattern; and determining the correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern based on the differential being at or below a threshold value.

“18. The system of claim 11, wherein: the first pattern includes a plurality of groups of pulses; and the second pattern includes a sequence of a plurality of numbers that each corresponds to a number of pulses in one of the plurality of groups.

“19. The system of claim 11, wherein: the second user device is a wearable computing device in physical contact with a user of the first user device; and the first pattern is output by the second user device as a haptic output that is perceivable by the user.

“20. One or more non-transitory media storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a first user device, a request to access secure information through the first user device and, in response, sending a first pattern to be output through a second user device, the first pattern including a plurality of pulses; receiving, from the first user device, a second pattern that is entered through the first user device as an attempt to repeat the first pattern output through the second user device; and based at least partly on a correspondence between the first pattern and the second pattern, communicating an access signal to the first user device indicating authorization to access the secure information through the first user device.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Fernandez, Amanda S. Access Control Based On Rhythmic Pattern Repetition. U.S. Patent Number 10,269,196, filed May 10, 2018, and published online on May 6, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,269,196.PN.&OS=PN/10,269,196RS=PN/10,269,196

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)