Patent Issued for Systems and methods for secure display of data on computing devices (USPTO 11943219): Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

2024 APR 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Cook, Jason (Westfield, MA, US), Depaolo, Damon Ryan (Barkhamsted, CT, US), John, Jiby (Suffield, CT, US), Knas, Michal (Monson, MA, US), Shubrick, Payton A. (Springfield, MA, US), filed on January 11, 2021, was published online on March 26, 2024.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11943219 is Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, Massachusetts, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Most businesses and enterprise organizations are apprehensive about protection and secure display of their sensitive data. In order to protect and secure their sensitive data, various organizations typically have a “cleanroom,” which is essentially a working room within the organization that is protected such that only authorized users are allowed to enter the cleanroom to access electronic devices and servers within the cleanroom. For instance, when the authorized user enters the cleanroom, the authorized person immediately connects to a network, and is able to access sensitive data and perform computing functions on the various electronic devices and the servers within the cleanroom. On the other hand, there are frequent circumstances when some users may want to access sensitive data when the cleanroom is not readily available. For instance, a user may be working remotely and may access the sensitive data on his/her personal or work-issued computing device. Such viewing of sensitive data in public usually raises security implications regarding unauthorized viewing of the sensitive data by others. Moreover, tracking the release of the sensitive data to such unauthorized viewers can be difficult since the unauthorized viewers do not get direct access to the sensitive data through any electronic device, and thus do not leave a digital fingerprint from which the unauthorized viewers could later be identified.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “For the aforementioned reasons, there is a need for a method and system for preventing the unauthorized users from viewing and accessing sensitive data. Disclosed herein are systems and methods capable of addressing the above-described shortcomings and may provide any number of additional or alternative benefits and advantages corresponding to scrambling techniques that will allow sensitive data displayed on a computer screen to only be viewed by authorized users and will render the computer screen unreadable to unauthorized users. For instance, the systems and the methods are capable of automatically scrambling and unscrambling display screen of the computing device in which only an intended viewer is able to view data on the display screen using deciphering glasses.

“Systems, methods, and computer program products for security of content on a display screen of a computing device in which only an authenticated user is able to view the content on the display screen may automatically scramble and unscramble the screen depending on authentication results of the user looking at the screen. For instance, the computing device may utilize facial recognition or head movement detection techniques to authenticate the user looking at the screen, and upon the execution of the facial recognition or the head movement detection techniques, when it is determined that the authenticated user is no longer looking at the screen of the computing device, the screen becomes scrambled or locked.

“Systems, methods, and computer program products for security of content on a display screen of a computing device in which a first user is able to view the content on the display screen may automatically scramble and unscramble the screen depending on authentication results of the first user looking at the screen. For instance, the computing device may utilize facial recognition or head movement detection apparatus to authenticate the first user looking at the screen, and upon the implementation of the facial recognition or the head movement detection apparatus, when a second user’s face is detected by the computing device, the screen becomes scrambled or locked, even if the first user is authenticated (e.g., the second user looking over the shoulder of the authenticated first user).

“Systems, methods, and computer program products disclosed herein automatically scrambles and unscrambles data on a display screen of a computing device in which an authenticated user is able to view the data on the display screen using deciphering glasses upon electro-biometric identification and verification of user’s identity by bioelectric signal processing and analysis. A biometric pulse signature generation technique is executed to produce a biometric signature of the authenticated user that identifies the user by forming a representation of a pulse pattern of the authenticated user when the deciphering glasses are on the authenticated user. The computing device may perform the bioelectric signal processing and analysis to compare a biometric signature of an individual wanting to view the screen with the biometric signature of the authenticated user to determine whether the individual is the authenticated user, and the data becomes unscrambled when the individual is the authenticated user to allow the individual to view the data on the screen using the deciphering glasses.

“Systems, methods, and computer program products disclosed herein automatically scrambles and unscrambles data on a graphical user interface (GUI) of a computing device in which an authenticated user is able to view the unscrambled data on the display screen using deciphering glasses. The display of the data on the GUI is automatically moved from a first display screen (showing unscrambled data) to a second display screen (showing scrambled data) on the GUI and vice-versa depending on a distance between the GUI and authenticated user wearing the deciphering glasses. For instance, a first display screen is presented on the GUI showing the unscrambled data when the GUI is in viewable Bluetooth range of a user authorized to view the data. A second display screen is presented on the GUI showing the scrambled data when the GUI is not in the Bluetooth viewable range of the user authorized to view the data.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: presenting, by a server, for display on a screen of a first electronic device, an encrypted machine-readable code, the encrypted machine-readable code being unreadable to a human viewing the screen of the first electronic device; receiving, by the server from a second electronic device, data generated by the second electronic device in response to the second electronic device accessing the encrypted machine-readable code; and upon authenticating the second electronic device and determining that the second electronic device is associated with the first electronic device, and upon determining that the second electronic device has accessed the encrypted machine-readable code presented by the first electronic device, presenting, for display on the screen of the first electronic device, data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code that is readable to the human viewing the screen of the first electronic device.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device is a smart phone, a tablet, or a wearable device.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encrypted machine-readable code is a quick reaction code or a barcode.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the server authenticates the second electronic device using an eye movement attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the server authenticates the second electronic device using a biometric attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the server authenticates the second electronic device using a head movement attribute or a facial attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronic device displays an image comprising scrambled segments of data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: presenting, by the server, for display on a screen of the second electronic device, data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code that is readable to the human viewing the screen of the second electronic device.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the server discontinues presenting on the second electronic device when the server identifies an unauthorized person viewing the screen of the second electronic device.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the server authenticates the second electronic device based on a connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

“11. A computer system comprising: a first electronic device comprising a display screen configured to display data, the first electronic device further comprising a processor in communication with a server, the processor configured to: receive, via a camera of the first electronic device, an image of an encrypted machine-readable code displayed on a second electronic device, the encrypted machine-readable code unreadable to a human viewing a screen of the second electronic device; in response to transmitting data generated based on the image captured using the camera of the first electronic device to the server, display, using an augmented reality protocol displayed on the screen of the first electronic device when the camera of the first electronic device is pointed towards the screen of the second electronic device, data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code that is readable to the human viewing the screen of the first electronic device; wherein the server authenticates the first electronic device and determines that the second electronic device is associated with the first electronic device before the first electronic device displays the data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code that is readable to the human viewing the screen of the first electronic device.

“12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the first electronic device is a smart phone, a tablet, or a wearable device.

“13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the encrypted machine-readable code is a quick reaction code or a barcode.

“14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server authenticates the first electronic device using an eye movement attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server authenticates the first electronic device using a biometric attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server authenticates the first electronic device using a head movement attribute or a facial attribute of a user operating the second electronic device.

“17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the second electronic device displays the image comprising scrambled segments of data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code.

“18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to: present for display on the screen of the second electronic device, data corresponding to the encrypted machine-readable code that is readable to the human viewing the screen of the second electronic device.

“19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the server discontinues presenting on the second electronic device when the server identifies an unauthorized person viewing the screen of the second electronic device.

“20. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server authenticates the first electronic device based on a connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Cook, Jason. Systems and methods for secure display of data on computing devices. U.S. Patent Number 11943219, filed January 11, 2021, and published online on March 26, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11943219)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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