Patent Issued for Authentication based on through-body signals (USPTO 11798341): United Services Automobile Association

2023 NOV 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Fernandez, Amanda S. (San Antonio, TX, US), Swenson, Rick (Bradenton, FL, US), filed on May 26, 2021, was published online on October 24, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11798341 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, devices, and processes from accessing secured data stored on the systems, gaining control of processes executing on the systems, introducing new (e.g., malicious) processes to the systems, and/or gaining access for other purposes. Traditionally, a user may provide one or more credentials to gain access to a system. Such credentials may include a username, password, and/or personal identification number (PIN). 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. In some instances, tokens such as cryptographic keys may be employed to authenticate an individual and/or verify that an individual or process is authorized to access a system. Cryptographic keys may also be employed to secure communications over a network.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Implementations of the present disclosure are generally directed to authentication of individuals using biometric and/or biologically determined information. More specifically, implementations are directed to determining a body signature for an individual based on the propagation of a signal through an individual’s body, and employing the body signature to authenticate the individual for secure access to a device, stored data, an application, and/or an access-controlled physical space.

“In general, innovative aspects of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include actions of: receiving a signal that is transmitted, through at least a portion of a body of an individual, from a sending device to a receiving device while the sending device and the receiving device are both in physical contact with the individual; determining a body signature for the individual based at least partly on an alteration of the signal that is caused by propagation of the signal through at least the portion of the individual; and providing the body signature to authenticate the individual.

“Implementations can optionally include one or more of the following features: the sending device and the receiving device are included in a body area network (BAN) that is proximal to the individual; the receiving device includes an epidermal patch configured to receive the signal; the epidermal patch communicates the signal to a portable computing device over a wireless network; the receiving device is a portable computing device; the signal is an electrical signal; the signal is a vibrational signal; the sending device is communicatively coupled to a door controller mechanism that controls a door; the operations further comprise: m response to authenticating the individual, sending an access signal to instruct the door controller mechanism to open the door to provide access to the individual; and/or the actions further include, in response to authenticating the individual, sending an access signal to enable the individual to access at least a portion of a client application executing on the sending device, the receiving device, or a computing device that is communicatively coupled to at least one of the sending device or the receiving device.

“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 advantages. By authenticating an individual using their body signature that is determined based on a signal propagated through the individual’s body, implementations provide an authentication technique that is unobtrusive and easy from the perspective of the individual being authenticated, 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 username, password, personal identification number (PIN), answers to knowledge-based questions (e.g., what is your mother’s maiden name?), and/or other credential(s). Moreover, implementations provide an authentication technique that is more secure and less vulnerable to spoofing compared to traditional authentication methods. Traditional user credentials (e.g., password, PIN, etc.) may be guessed or stolen, but a body signature based on signal propagation through the individual’s body would be much more difficult to spoof Implementations further inhibit spoofing by correlating known and ongoing real-time bio-signal analysis from the user and device(s) on in a body area network (BAN) of the user. For example, a user may be wearing a heart rate monitor, as a standalone sensor, fitness tracking device, wearable computer, and so forth. The monitor may communicate current heart rate information to the BAN and, based on this information, a determination may be made that the user is alive and that the determined body signature of the user is not pre-recorded as in a replay attack.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system, comprising: a transmitting device configured to transmit a first body area network (BAN) signal; a sensing device configured to: detect a presence of a user prior to the user contacting a transmitting device, wherein the presence is detected in response to the user being within a proximity of the transmitting device; and cause the transmitting device to transmit the first BAN signal in response to detecting the presence; an audio device configured to be disposed on the user, wherein the audio device is configured to receive a second BAN signal, wherein the first BAN signal is transmitted through an ear canal of the user and received by the audio device as the second BAN signal; and a client device configured to: receive the second BAN signal from the audio device; generate a body signature for the user based on the second BAN signal and a model body signature associated with the user, wherein the model body signature is updated after each instance of the user physically contacting the transmitting device to track one or more changes to the body signature over time; and authenticate the identity of the user based on the body signature.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the client device is configured to generate the body signature based on a difference between the first BAN signal and the second BAN signal.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more changes correspond to one or more humidity levels.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the client device is part of the audio device.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the audio device comprises a headphone, a hearing aid, or both.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first BAN signal comprises a vibrational signal.

“7. A system, comprising: a first transmitting device configured to transmit a first body area network (BAN) signal; a sensing device configured to: detect a presence of a user prior to the user contacting a transmitting device, wherein the presence is detected in response to the user being within a proximity of the transmitting device; and cause the transmitting device to transmit the first BAN signal in response to detecting the presence; a bracelet device configured to be disposed on the user, wherein the bracelet device is configured to receive a second BAN signal, wherein the first BAN signal is transmitted through a wrist of the user and received by the bracelet device as the second BAN signal; and a client device configured to: receive the second BAN signal from the bracelet device; generate a body signature for the user based on the second BAN signal and a model body signature associated with the user, wherein the model body signature is updated after at least one instance of the user physically contacting the transmitting device to track one or more changes to the body signature over time; and authenticate the identity of the user based on the body signature.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the model body signature is determined based on a machine learning algorithm configured to refine the model body signature after the client device authenticates an identity of the user.

“9. The system of claim 7, wherein the client device is configured to generate the body signature based on a difference between the first BAN signal and the second BAN signal.

“10. The system of claim 7, wherein the client device is part of the bracelet device.

“11. The system of claim 7, wherein the body signature corresponds to a density of the wrist, a size of the wrist, or both.

“12. The system of claim 7, wherein the first BAN signal comprises a vibrational signal.

“13. A system, comprising: a transmitting device configured to transmit a first body area network (BAN) signal; a sensing device configured to: detect a presence of a user prior to the user contacting a transmitting device, wherein the presence is detected in response to the user being within a proximity of the transmitting device; and cause the transmitting device to transmit the first BAN signal in response to detecting the presence; an earring device configured to be disposed on the user, wherein the earring device is configured to receive a second BAN signal, wherein the first BAN signal is transmitted through an earlobe of the user and received by the earring device as the second BAN signal; and a client device configured to: receive the second BAN signal from the earring device; generate a body signature for the user based on the second BAN signal and a model body signature associated with the user, wherein the model body signature is updated after at least one instance of the user physically contacting the transmitting device to track one or more changes to the body signature over time; and authenticate the identity of the user based on the body signature.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the model body signature is determined based on a machine learning algorithm configured to refine the model body signature after the client device authenticates an identity of the user.

“15. The system of claim 13, wherein the client device is configured to generate the body signature based on a difference between the first BAN signal and the second BAN signal.

“16. The system of claim 13, wherein the client device is part of the earring device.

“17. The system of claim 13, wherein the body signature corresponds to earlobe density, blood flow, heart rate, heart rhythm patterns, or any combination thereof.

“18. The system of claim 13, wherein the first BAN signal comprises a vibrational signal.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Fernandez, Amanda S. Authentication based on through-body signals. U.S. Patent Number 11798341, filed May 26, 2021, and published online on October 24, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11798341)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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