Patent Issued for Authentication in a virtual reality environment (USPTO 11429939): United Services Automobile Association

2022 SEP 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Borunda, Adrian (Celina, TX, US), Phelps, Jerry Allen (Dallas, TX, US), Spratt, Cale Riley (Plano, TX, US), Szcinski, Jeffrey Joseph (Frisco, TX, US), Tanner, Richard (McKinney, TX, US), filed on October 4, 2018, was published online on August 30, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11429939 is assigned to United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Virtual reality can simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment. Some virtual environments require authentication before access is provided to the user.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to authentication. More specifically, various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to authentication methods and systems in a virtual reality environment. Some virtual reality environments are specific to a user such that the user must identify herself, and, in some cases, provide information to verify the user’s identity to access the virtual reality environment. Examples of virtual reality environments that can require authentication (i.e., provide identification and verification of the identification) include virtual reality environments related to the user’s finances (e.g., a virtual reality financial center), health, family, and home.

“Providing the authentication credentials via the virtual reality environment may compromise the user’s information. That is, if the user provides the authentication credentials via a virtual reality environment, other users may actually see the credentials or obtain clues that may allow them to determine the credentials. For example, depending on the virtual reality system being used, the contents of the virtual reality headset can be sent to an external device (e.g., mirrored to a screen) so that others can see what is happening in the virtual reality environment. Thus, credentials may be seen by others.

“Even if the capability to stream the virtual reality session to other devices is turned off while the user provides authentication credentials, others may obtain clues to the user’s authentication credentials by watching the user’s movements. For example, if the user is providing the user’s personal identification number (PIN) by rearranging die so that the faces of the die display the user’s PIN, a person who is watching the user’s virtual reality session could watch the user’s movements and mimic how the user is moving the die to gain access.

“Embodiments described herein provide authentication methods and systems in a virtual reality environment. Two-factor authentication may be used. That is, to access the virtual reality environment, the user must provide two of the following three factors: something the user knows (e.g., PIN, password, answers to personal questions), something the user has (e.g., a mobile device, a pager), or something the user is (e.g., biometric information such as a fingerprint, hair sample).

“In some embodiments, to authenticate the user, the system can collect identification information. The identification information may be collected without requiring the user to interact with the system. Some identification information may further provide verification information. For example, the system can collect a token from the user’s mobile device (e.g., from a mobile application installed on the mobile device). The token can provide both identification and verification (i.e., something the user has-mobile device). In other embodiments, the user can provide an identifier such as a login name or member number to the virtual reality platform.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: receiving, at a virtual reality platform associated with an enterprise, a request to enter a virtual reality financial center requiring identification information and verification information from a user, wherein the virtual reality financial center allows the user to transfer funds within the virtual reality financial center; identifying, via a virtual reality device connected to the virtual reality platform, an identity of the user based on biometric information of the user; displaying, via the virtual reality device, two or more virtual objects in a 3D virtual reality environment for the user to arrange in an order to provide an authentication credential to verify the identity of the user; detecting, via the virtual reality device, at least one hand of the user in 3D virtual reality environment; monitoring, via the virtual reality device, the user arranging the two or more virtual objects with the at least one hand in the 3D virtual reality environment; verifying the identity of the user based on the user arranging the two or more virtual objects, in the 3D virtual reality environment, in the order to provide the authentication credential; and in response to identifying and verifying the identity of the user, authenticating, by the virtual reality platform, the user to access, via the virtual reality device, the virtual reality financial center.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication credential is selected by the user.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises randomizing a display of the two or more virtual objects prior to displaying the two or more virtual objects.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more virtual objects are die, wherein the authentication credential comprises faces of the two or more die to match a pre-established authentication credential associated with the user.

“5. The method of claim 4, further comprising randomizing a display of the faces of the two or more die prior to displaying the two or more die.

“6. The method of claim 4, wherein the pre-established authentication credential is a personal identification number used to authenticate the user to a website or to a mobile application, and wherein the identification information comprises at least one of a token or location information.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the verification information comprises biometric information received via a camera integrated with a headset associated with the virtual reality platform.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: displaying on an external device the virtual reality financial center; and disabling the display of the virtual reality financial center while the virtual reality platform is collecting the verification information.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises causing the virtual reality platform to display a visual representation of one or more accounts of the user in stacks of currency or precious metals.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: receiving movement of the currency from a first stack to a second stack; and transferring an amount of funds equivalent to the moved currency from a first bank account corresponding to the first stack to a second bank account corresponding to the second stack.

“11. A system for a virtual reality platform, the system comprising: one or more processors; and a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the system to: receive a request for access to a virtual reality financial center requiring identification information and verification information from a user; identify, via a virtual reality device connected to the virtual reality platform, an identity of the user based on biometric information of the user; display, via the virtual reality device, two or more virtual objects in a 3D virtual reality environment for the user to arrange in an order to provide an authentication credential to verify the identity of the user; detect, via the virtual reality device, at least one hand of the user in 3D virtual reality environment; monitor, via the virtual reality device, the user arranging the two or more virtual objects with the at least one hand in the 3D virtual reality environment; verify the identity of the user based on the user arranging the two or more virtual objects, in the 3D virtual reality environment, in the order to provide the authentication credential; and in response to identifying and verifying the identity of the user, authenticate the user to access, via the virtual reality device, the virtual reality financial center.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to randomize a display of the two or more virtual objects prior to displaying the two or more virtual objects.

“13. The system of claim 11, wherein the two or more virtual objects are die, wherein the authentication credential comprises faces of the two or more die to match a pre-established authentication credential associated with the user.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to randomize a display of the faces of the two or more die prior to displaying the two or more die.

“15. The system of claim 13, wherein the pre-established authentication credential is a personal identification number used to authenticate the user to a website or to a mobile application.

“16. The system of claim 11, wherein the verification information comprises biometric information received via a camera integrated with a headset associated with the virtual reality platform.

“17. The system of claim 11, wherein the identification information comprises at least one of a token or location information.

“18. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to display a visual representation of one or more accounts of the user in stacks of currency or precious metals.

“19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to: receive movement of the currency from a first stack to a second stack; and transfer an amount of funds equivalent to the moved currency from a first bank account corresponding to the first stack to a second bank account corresponding to the second stack.

“20. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: receiving, at a virtual reality platform associated with an enterprise, a request to enter a virtual reality financial center requiring identification information and verification information from a user, wherein the virtual reality financial center allows the user to transfer funds within the virtual reality financial center; identifying, via a virtual reality device connected to the virtual reality platform, an identity of the user based on biometric information of the user; displaying, via the virtual reality device, two or more virtual objects in a 3D virtual reality environment for the user to arrange in an order to provide an authentication credential to verify the identity of the user; detecting, via the virtual reality device, at least one hand of the user in 3D virtual reality environment; monitoring, via the virtual reality device, the user arranging the two or more virtual objects with the at least one hand in the 3D virtual reality environment; verifying the identity of the user based on the user arranging the two or more virtual objects, in the 3D virtual reality environment, in the order to provide the authentication credential; and in response to identifying and verifying the identity of the user, authenticating, by the virtual reality platform, the user to access, via the virtual reality device, the virtual reality financial center.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Borunda, Adrian. Authentication in a virtual reality environment. U.S. Patent Number 11429939, filed October 4, 2018, and published online on August 30, 2022. 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=11429939.PN.&OS=PN/11429939RS=PN/11429939

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