Device authentication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11310229-B2
Application number	US-201916453783-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2019
Priority date	Jun 26, 2019
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods of biometrically authenticating a user of a device. A biometric sample of a user can be analyzed to generate a user-specific biometric signature that is substantially unique to the specific user. To authenticate a user, a biometric sample can be obtained and analyzed to determine if the biometric signature is present in the sample. If so, the user can be biometrically authenticated to use the device. The device can provide a network with an indication of the authentication of the user to authenticate the device to the network. In response to the authentication, the network can provide the device access to the network, its resources, or portion(s) thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for authenticating a user device having a user device identification to a network site of a current geographic coverage zone, the network site located within a telecommunications network having multiple geographic coverage zones, comprising:
a biometric authentication module stored on the user device, including:
a biometric sample collection module configured to one or more of receive or collect a biometric sample of a user,
a biometric signature of the user, the biometric signature stored on the user device, and
a biometric sample analysis module configured to analyze the biometric sample for biometric verification of the user by:
processing the biometric sample into one or more representative characteristics;
comparing the stored biometric signature to the one or more representative characteristics of the biometric sample, and
determining a presence of the biometric signature in the at least the portion of the biometric sample, the determination made based on the comparison of the stored biometric signature to the one or more representative characteristics of the biometric sample;
self-authenticating a user associated with the biometric signature based on the determined presence of the biometric signature;
based on the self-authentication of the user, generating an instruction to transmit to a remote network site a single self-authentication request and the user device identification, the single self-authentication request including an authorization to establish communication between the user device and the network site in the current geographic coverage zone, and

a communication module configured to:
determine that the user device is physically moved into the current geographic coverage zone from a previous geographic coverage zone;
in response to determining that the user device is physically moved into the current geographic coverage zone from the previous geographic coverage zone and in response to receiving the single self-authentication request and the user device identification, cause the user device to connect to the network site, and
in response to receiving the single self-authentication request, permit communication between the user device and the network site, the communication including all features available from the network site to the user device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric sample is a sample that contains genetic material of the user.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the biometric sample is an exhaled breath condensate of the user.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processing the biometric sample includes translating at least a portion of a sequence of the genetic material into at least a representative characteristic, the representative characteristic being an electrical signal representative of the at least a portion of the sequence of the genetic material.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric signature of the user is determined during setup of the user device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric signature is determined by a third party and is provided to the user device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric signature is also stored on the network and is associated with the user associated with the user device.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the communication module transmits the biometric sample analysis to the network and the network authenticates the user device based at least in part on the comparison of the stored biometric signature to the biometric sample analysis.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the communication module transmits the biometric signature of the user to the network and the network identifying the user of the user device based on the communicated biometric signature.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric authentication module is on at least one of the user device or a secondary device communicatively coupled to the user device.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biometric sample analysis module is further configured to analyze the biometric sample while interacting with the user device.

12. A method of authenticating a user device having a user device identification to a network site of a current geographic coverage zone, the network site located within a telecommunications network having multiple geographic coverage zones, comprising:
receiving a biometric sample of the user;
analyzing the biometric sample to determine if a stored biometric signature of the user device is present in the biometric sample;
self-authenticating at the user device, a user associated with the biometric signature based on the presence of the biometric signature in the biometric sample;
based on the self-authentication at the user device, transmitting an instruction to a remote network site that includes a single self-authentication request and the user device identification, the single self-authentication request including an authorization to establish communication between the user device and the network site in the current geographic coverage zone;
determine that the user device is physically moved into the current geographic coverage zone from a previous geographic coverage zone;
in response to determining that the user device is physically moved into the current geographic coverage zone from the previous geographic coverage zone and in response to the remote network site receiving the self-authentication request and the user device identification, causing the user device to connect to the network site; and
in response to receiving the self-authentication request, permitting the user device to access one or more features of the network based on the self-authentication of the user device to the remote network site.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the biometric signature is determined during a setup of the user device.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the biometric signature is determined by a third party that provides the biometric signature to the user device.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising storing the biometric signature on the network for use in future authentication processes, the stored biometric signature retrievable from the network for use in analyzing a further biometric sample.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising transmitting the analysis of the biometric sample to the network and wherein the permitting the user device to access one or more features of the network is based at least in part on a comparison of the analysis of the biometric sample and the stored biometric signature.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising requiring a second authentication of the user device based on at least an expiration of a validity of a previous authentication.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising requiring a second authentication of the user device based on a request received from the network.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the request is based on at least one of the user device requesting access to one of the one or more features of the network or the network determining the user device is attempting to access one of the one or more features of the network.

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc

Inventors

• Khanka Bhagwan Singh

Classifications

• H04W12/065

  Continuous authentication · CPC title

• H04L63/0861 Primary

  using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231) · CPC title

• H04L63/0853

  using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234) · CPC title

• G06F21/32 Primary

  using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints · CPC title