Group identification system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11368318-B2
Application number	US-201816050114-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2018
Priority date	Jul 31, 2018
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

A method for identifying a group of users from a number of users includes receiving, for each user of the number of users, response data including motion data characterizing motion of the user during a prescribed time period occurring after issuance of a challenge to the number of users, processing the motion data of the number of users to identify a first subset of the number of users with substantially matching motion data, and forming the group of users to include the first subset of the number of users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for authenticating a group of users from a plurality of users using a shared secret comprising a secret physical routine, the method comprising:
sharing the shared secret with a first subset of users of the plurality of users prior to issuance of the challenge, wherein the users in the first subset of users are each required to perform the secret physical routine within the prescribed time period after issuance of the challenge to be identified as members of the group of users;
causing issuance of a challenge to the plurality of users, the challenge including one or more of an audible challenge, a tactile challenge, a visual challenge, and a temporal challenge;
receiving, for each user of the plurality of users, response data including motion data characterizing motion of the user and a unique identifier of the user, the motion of the user occurring during a prescribed time period occurring after issuance of the challenge to the plurality of users;
processing, using computing circuitry, the motion data of the plurality of users to identify the first subset of users of the plurality of users with substantially matching motion data; and
authenticating, using the computing circuitry, the group of users including forming the group of users to include the first subset of the plurality of users and for each user of the plurality of users in the first subset, distributing a cryptographic key to the user based on the unique identifier associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the motion data includes comparing the motion data to a motion data template and including users with motion data that substantially matches the motion data template in the first subset of the plurality of users.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the motion data includes comparing the motion data associated with each user with the motion data associated with other users.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the secret physical routine includes one or more of dancing, whistling, jumping up and down, paced breathing, gesturing, muscle tensing, heart rate modulation, eye blinking, hand movement, clapping, and waving.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the motion data includes performing a pattern matching procedure.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the motion data includes determining a similarity metric for the motion data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the similarity metric includes determining a mean squared difference between the motion data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising pre-processing the motion data including one or more of time aligning the motion data, warping the motion data, or rotating the motion data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the cryptographic key is encrypted such that users in the first subset of users are able to decrypt the encrypted cryptographic key.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein each user of the plurality of users is associated with a corresponding device, the corresponding device configured to collect the motion data for the user, form the response data for the user, and transmit the response data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the corresponding device includes one or more sensors.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the one or more sensors include an accelerometer.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the motion data includes acceleration data.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the corresponding device includes one or more of a biometric sensor, a radar sensor, a force sensor, an acoustic transducer, and a light sensor.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining that at least some users of the plurality of users that were expected to be in the first subset of users were not identified as being part of the first subset of users.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising excluding one or more users of the plurality of users from the group based on the one or more users not being identified as part of the first subset of users.

17. A system for authenticating a group of users from a plurality of users using a shared secret comprising a secret physical routine, the system comprising:
a group authentication device including
an output for issuing a challenge to the plurality of users, the challenge including one or more of an audible challenge, a tactile challenge, a visual challenge, and a temporal challenge;
an input for receiving, for each user of the plurality of users, response data including motion data characterizing motion of the user and a unique identifier of the user, the motion of the user occurring during a prescribed time period occurring after issuance of the challenge to the plurality of users; and
computing circuitry configured to process the motion data of the plurality of users to identify a first subset of users of the plurality of users with substantially matching motion data, and authenticate the group of users, the authenticating including forming the group of users to include the first subset of the plurality of users and for each user of the plurality of users in the first subset, distributing a cryptographic key to the user based on the unique identifier associated with the user;

wherein the shared secret is shared with the first subset of users of the plurality of users prior to issuance of the challenge and the users in the first subset of users are each required to perform the secret physical routine within the prescribed time period after issuance of the challenge to be identified as members of the group of users.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the challenge includes one or more of an audible challenge, a tactile challenge, a visual challenge, and a temporal challenge.

Assignees

• Massachusetts Inst Technology

Inventors

• Cunningham Robert
• Shay Richard

Classifications

• H04L9/3271 Primary

  using challenge-response · CPC title

• H04L9/3231

  Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina (network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861) · CPC title

• H04L9/0866

  involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics · CPC title

• H04L9/3297

  involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps · CPC title