Patent Issued for System and method for access control (USPTO 11544404): United Services Automobile Association

2023 JAN 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Newmark, Jordan A. (Fair Oaks Ranch, TX, US), Paterson, Kevin Glynn (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on November 9, 2020, was published online on January 3, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11544404, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods that enable access control for digital objects based on measured physiological signals of a user.

“The human nervous system includes a large number of neurons that cooperate with one another to enable mental activities. By analyzing the communications between these neurons while a person performs various tasks, patterns may be observed and associated with particular mental activities and moods of the person. Electroencephalograph (EEG) devices include a number of electrodes that are typically positioned at locations along the scalp and face of a person and can measure patterns of voltage fluctuations that result from electrical communications between the person’s neurons. For example, a person connected to an EEG device may have a particular pattern of electrical activity that can be identified when the patient thinks of a particular object, place, movement, or emotion. As such, an EEG device can be utilized as a computer input device, whereby patterns of voltage fluctuations of a user’s brain may be translated into computer commands or actions (e.g., mouse movements, keyboard strokes), which is particularly useful for computer users that may not be capable of using traditional computer input devices.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers’ specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

“As used herein, a “digital object” refers to digital property of a user that exists as one or more pieces of information, such as user credentials (e.g., user names, passwords, passphrases, personal identification numbers (PINs), encryption keys, activation keys) and user accounts (e.g., name of account holder, account number, expiration date, security code, billing address). While a digital object is a collection of information, it should be noted that digital objects may store information that can be used to access real world locations, such as grant access to enter buildings or vehicles having digital locking mechanism. As used herein, “physiological signals” include any measurable physiological activity that is associated with the operation of a user’s brain, including electrical signals (e.g., brain waves), magnetic signals, optical signals, sound signals, chemical signals, and so forth. As used herein, a “brain pattern” refers an identifiable set of measured physiological signals that can be reproduced by user. As used herein, “projecting” refers the action of a user’s mind, such as intentionally thinking about (e.g., focusing on, imagining, picturing, recalling) a particular target in order to generate a particular brain pattern. As used herein, a “target” refers to an object, person, place, feeling, or another suitable subject that a user can project to generate a unique brain pattern. As used herein, a “trigger” refers to a particular stimuli (e.g., auditory, visual, tactile) provided by the device to a user to cause the user to project a particular target, such that the corresponding brain pattern of the user may be measured and identified. As used herein, an “agent” refers to a representative person or device that acts on behalf of a company or person (e.g., a salesperson, a customer service representative, a register, a payment system, a website) in the normal course of business.

“Present embodiments are directed toward systems and methods that enable access control for digital objects based on measured physiological signals of a user. More specifically, present embodiments provide a system that is trained to associate a user’s brain patterns with particular digital objects, and subsequently enables the user to access the digital object by reproducing the particular brain patterns. For example, a digital object that is a password for a website may be associated with a particular brain pattern of the user that is generated and measured when the user projects a target, such as the logo of the company that operates the website. As such, present embodiments enable the user to make use of a digital object by projecting the logo of the company, such that the user need not remember the information of the digital object itself (e.g., the password). Additionally, in certain embodiments, a first user is enabled to grant a second user the ability to associate their own brain pattern with a digital object of the first user, providing the second user revocable access to use the digital object without compromising the information of the digital object itself. Further, as discussed below, present embodiments may enable a user to deliver information of a digital object to another party without the user having to speak or type sensitive information associated with the digital object, thereby improving the privacy and security of the user in public spaces.

“Human Mind Interface (HMI) Device”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method of operation of a human mind interface (HMI) device, comprising: measuring, via a physiological sensor of the HMI device, physiological signals of a user corresponding to a brain pattern of the user; identifying, from a plurality of stored digital brain patterns of the user, a stored brain pattern of the user that matches the measured physiological signals of the user; identifying a digital object linked to the stored brain pattern; accessing the digital object and retrieving information contained in the digital object; and providing a portion of the digital object to a recipient on behalf of the user.

“2. The method of claim 1, comprising: providing, via an output device of the HMI device, a prompt to confirm the portion of the digital object to be provided to the recipient; and receiving, via an input device of the HMI device, a confirmation of the portion of the digital object to be provided to the recipient.

“3. The method of claim 1, comprising: providing, via an output device of the HMI device, a trigger to the user before measuring the physiological signals of the user, wherein the trigger is associated with the digital object.

“4. The method of claim 3, wherein the trigger comprises a sound provided from a speaker of the HMI device, an image provided by a display of the HMI device, or a tactile sensation provided by a haptic feedback mechanism of the HMI device.

“5. The method of claim 1, comprising: performing an initial measurement of the physiological signals of the user while the user is training the HMI device; and defining the stored brain pattern based on the initial measurement of the physiological signals of the user.

“6. The method of claim 5, comprising: receiving, via an input device of the HMI device, a first selection of the digital object; receiving, via the input device of the HMI device, a second selection of a trigger to be associated with the digital object; associating the digital object with the trigger; and providing, via an output device of the HMI device, the trigger to the user before performing the initial measurement of the physiological signals of the user while the user is training the HMI device.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored brain pattern is stored by a server accessible by a first communication channel of the HMI device, and wherein the portion of the digital object is provided to the recipient via a second communication channel of the HMI device.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital object comprises credit card information, bank account information, or authentication credentials.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying, from the plurality of stored digital brain patterns of the user, the stored brain pattern of the user that matches the measured physiological signals of the user, comprises confirming a threshold correlation between the stored brain pattern and the measured physiological signals.

“10. A human mind interface (HMI) device, comprising: at least one physiological sensor configured to measure physiological signals related to brain activity of a user; memory circuitry storing instructions, a plurality of stored brain patterns of the user, and a plurality of digital objects of the user, and wherein each of the plurality of stored brain patterns of the user is linked to a respective digital object of the plurality of digital objects of the user; and processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the at least one physiological sensor and the memory circuitry and configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to: receive, from the at least one physiological sensor, a measurement of physiological signals of the user; identify, from the plurality of stored brain patterns of the user, a stored brain pattern that matches the measurement of the physiological signals of the user; identify a digital object that is linked to the stored brain pattern; and access the digital object and provide a portion of the digital object to a recipient on behalf of the user.

“11. The HMI device of claim 10, wherein the digital object comprises authentication credentials.

“12. The HMI device of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to: perform an initial measurement of the physiological signals of the user while the user is training the HMI device; and define the stored brain pattern based on the initial measurement of the physiological signals of the user.

“13. The HMI device of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to: provide, via an output device of the HMI device, a trigger to the user before measuring the physiological signals of the user, wherein the trigger is associated with the digital object.

“14. The HMI device of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to: provide, via an output device of the HMI, a plurality of triggers to the user before measuring the physiological signals of the user, wherein each of the plurality of triggers is associated with the digital object.

“15. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium, comprising instructions that are executable by a processor of a human mind interface (HMI) device, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: measure physiological signals of a user while the user is training the HMI device; define a brain pattern based on the measured physiological signals; receive a digital object to be associated with the brain pattern; and store the brain pattern and link the brain pattern with the digital object in a memory of the HMI device.

“16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: receive, via an input device of the HMI device, a first selection of the digital object; receive, via the input device of the HMI device, a second selection of a trigger to be associated with the digital object; associate the digital object with the trigger; and provide, via an output device of the HMI device, the trigger to the user before measuring the physiological signals of the user while the user is training the HMI device.

“17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the trigger comprises a sound provided from a speaker of the HMI device, an image provided by a display of the HMI device, or a tactile sensation provided by a haptic feedback mechanism of the HMI device.

“18. The medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: store the digital object remotely on an Internet-connected server; and receive a selection to grant a second HMI device permission to associate a second brain pattern of a second user of the second HMI device with the remotely stored digital object.

“19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: receive, from an input device of the HMI device, an additional selection to revoke the permission of the second HMI device and, in response, to disassociate the second brain pattern of the second user and the remotely stored digital object.

“20. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the digital object comprises an encryption key, a hyperlink, or password, or any combination thereof, and wherein the digital object is configured to provide access to an additional digital object stored remotely on an Internet-connect server.”

For more information, see this patent: Newmark, Jordan A. System and method for access control. U.S. Patent Number 11544404, filed November 9, 2020, and published online on January 3, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11544404)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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