Patent Issued for Touchless authentication method and system (USPTO 11610204): United Services Automobile Association

2023 APR 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11610204, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Buentello, Andre Rene (San Antonio, TX, US), Chalmers, Timothy Blair (San Antonio, TX, US), Lyle, Ruthie D. (Durham, NC, US), Maney, Jr., Will Kerns (San Antonio, TX, US), Mitchem, Sean Carl (San Antonio, TX, US), Osterkamp, Bryan J. (New Braunfels, TX, US), Romero, Jr., Jose L. (San Antonio, TX, US), Ruiz, Mitzi (San Antonio, TX, US), Tijerina, Oscar Roberto (San Antonio, TX, US), Warnick, Mark Paxman (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on November 25, 2020 and was published online on March 21, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Organizations may provide authorized end-users with various secured services or resources via multiple communication channels. Examples of such channels include modes of communication (e.g., a communications network) for exchanging data between devices, where such devices may include, but are not limited to, computing devices, such as tablets, personal computers, and smartphones; point of sale devices; ATMs; connected smart devices, such as refrigerators, watches, and laptops; telephones, such as landline telephones or mobile phones; electronically locked spaces managed by computer user interfaces, such as safe deposit box chambers, lockers, cars, offices, homes; and face-to-face contacts, such as interaction between a user and an employee of the organization. Channels may also include software and firmware associated with the devices and communications devices, such as web portals, applications, networks, mobile applications, and instant messaging systems. Channels may also include hardware associated with the computing devices and telephones, such as the network hardware, credit card scanners, and retinal scanners.

“In most scenarios in which an end-user attempts to access a secured resource via one or more of these channels, the end-user will be required to provide some proof of identity, typically associated with an identification card, key-card, fingerprint, or other factor before access is granted. Authentication (i.e., identifying and verifying) of an end-user can be time-consuming for both the end-user and the organization, as well as burdensome for users who are required to carry and present the necessary identification credentials and/or keys, or memorization of passwords or codes. It may be appreciated that many businesses and other organizations would benefit from mechanisms by which to reduce the costs associated with the authentication and authorization of customers. Furthermore, customers will be attracted by an authentication system that reduces or even eliminates the need to carry or offer unique identification factors.

“There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a method of authenticating an identity of an individual is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a first biometric signal at a first time, where the first biometric signal includes channel state information (CSI) for a first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a first person was physically in a sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The method also includes accessing a plurality of records stored in a database, where each record of the plurality of records includes a biometric signal linked to a unique user identity, as well as determining that the first biometric signal matches a second biometric signal of a first record of the plurality of records. The second biometric signal is linked to a first user identity. The method further includes determining, in response to the first biometric signal matching the second biometric signal, that the first person has the first user identity, and authenticating the first person for access to a secured resource.

“In another aspect, a system for authenticating an identity of an individual includes a processor and machine-readable media. The machine-readable media include instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain a first biometric signal at a first time, where the first biometric signal includes channel state information (CSI) for a first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a first person was physically in a sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The instructions also cause the processor to access a plurality of records stored in a database, where each record of the plurality of records includes a biometric signal linked to a unique user identity, as well as determine that the first biometric signal matches a second biometric signal of a first record of the plurality of records, the second biometric signal being linked to a first user identity. In addition, the instructions cause the processor to determine, in response to the first biometric signal matching the second biometric signal, that the first person has the first user identity, and to authenticate the first person for access to a secured resource.

“In another aspect, a system for authenticating an identity of an individual includes means for obtaining a first biometric signal at a first time, where the first biometric signal includes channel state information (CSI) for a first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a first person was physically in a sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The system also includes means for accessing a plurality of records stored in a database, where each record of the plurality of records includes a biometric signal linked to a unique user identity, and means for determining that the first biometric signal matches a second biometric signal of a first record of the plurality of records, the second biometric signal being linked to a first user identity. The system further includes means for determining, in response to the first biometric signal matching the second biometric signal, that the first person has the first user identity, and means for authenticating the first person for access to a secured resource.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the disclosure will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method of authenticating an identity of an individual, the method comprising: obtaining a first biometric signal at a first time, the first biometric signal including channel state information for a first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a first person was physically in a sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; wherein the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices broadcast and receive Wi-Fi signals using omnidirectional antennas to make the channel state information a mixture of signals from multiple propagation paths, thereby improving signal quality and accuracy; accessing a plurality of records stored in a database, wherein each record of the plurality of records includes a biometric signal linked to a unique user identity; determining that the first biometric signal matches a second biometric signal of a first record of the plurality of records, the second biometric signal being linked to a first user identity; determining, in response to the first biometric signal matching the second biometric signal, that the first person has the first user identity; authenticating the first person for access to a secured resource; notifying the first person of an authentication status; adding, prior to the first time, an authorization to the first record permitting access to a payment account linked to the first user identity; receiving, from the first person, a request for purchase of a first item; automatically identifying the first item and a sale price of the first item; automatically debiting the payment account an amount corresponding to the sale price of the first item; and providing a visual confirmation to the first person notifying the first person that the purchase is complete, the visual confirmation including the identity of the first item and the sale price of the first item.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the second biometric signal at a second time earlier than the first time, the second biometric signal including channel state information generated between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while the first person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

“3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: employing, prior to the first time, a verification process to verify that the first person is associated with the first user identity; generating the first record that links the second biometric signal to the first user identity; and storing the first record in the database.

“4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: capturing the second biometric signal when the first person moves along a first path extending through at least a portion of the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; and capturing the first biometric signal when the first person moves along the first path.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: capturing the second biometric signal when the first person is walking in a first direction between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; and capturing the first biometric signal when the first person is walking in a second direction, substantially opposite to the first direction, between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first biometric signal is processed using at least one of a low-pass Butterworth filter, an Indirect Fourier Transform, and a Fast Fourier Transform to eliminate noise and mitigate signals from other paths.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a third biometric signal at a third time, the third biometric signal including channel state information for the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a second person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; determining that a likelihood of the third biometric signal matching a biometric signal available in the plurality of records is below a first threshold; and rejecting the first person from accessing the secured resource.

“8. The method of claim 3, further comprising: obtaining a third biometric signal at a third time prior to the first time, the third biometric signal including channel state information for the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while the first person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices and in contact with at least one of a shopping cart, second person, and merchandise; and linking both the first biometric signal and the third biometric signal to the first user identity in the first record.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel state information includes channel state information feature matrices and the channel state information feature matrices are passed through layers of a deep neural network to recognize an activity type, activity details, and an individual user identity, wherein the individual user identity is determined using a softmax function and wherein a support vector machine model determines whether the individual user identity matches a legitimate user profile, thereby preventing spoofing.

“10. The method of claim 2, further comprising: detecting, at a third time, an expiration of a validity of the second biometric signal; obtaining a third biometric signal after the third time, the third biometric signal including channel state information for the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while the first person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; and replacing the second biometric signal with the third biometric signal in the first record.

“11. A system for authenticating an identity of an individual, the system comprising a processor and machine-readable media including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: obtain a first biometric signal at a first time, the first biometric signal including channel state information for a first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a first person was physically in a sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; wherein the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices broadcast and receive Wi-Fi signals using omnidirectional antennas to make the channel state information a mixture of signals from multiple propagation paths, thereby improving signal quality and accuracy; access a plurality of records stored in a database, wherein each record of the plurality of records includes a biometric signal linked to a unique user identity; determine that the first biometric signal matches a second biometric signal of a first record of the plurality of records, the second biometric signal being linked to a first user identity; determine, in response to the first biometric signal matching the second biometric signal, that the first person has the first user identity; authenticate the first person for access to a secured resource; obtain a third biometric signal at a third time, the third biometric signal including channel state information for the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while a second person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; determine that a likelihood of the third biometric signal matching a biometric signal available in the plurality of records is below a first threshold; and reject the first person from accessing the secured resource.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to obtain the second biometric signal at a second time earlier than the first time, the second biometric signal including channel state information generated between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices while the first person was physically in the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: employ, prior to the first time, a verification process to verify that the first person is associated with the first user identity; generate the first record that links the second biometric signal to the first user identity; and store the first record in the database.

“14. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: capture the second biometric signal when the first person moves along a first path extending through at least a portion of the sensor range of the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; and capture the first biometric signal when the first person moves along the first path.

“15. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: capture the second biometric signal when the first person is walking in a first direction between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices; and capture the first biometric signal when the first person is walking in a second direction, substantially opposite to the first direction, between the first pair of Wi-Fi-enabled devices.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Buentello, Andre Rene. Touchless authentication method and system. U.S. Patent Number 11610204, filed November 25, 2020, and published online on March 21, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11610204)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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