Eye movement based knowledge demonstration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9519768-B2
Application number	US-201113995937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2011
Priority date	Dec 23, 2011
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, and storage mediums associated with eye movement based knowledge demonstration, having a particular application to authentication, are disclosed. In embodiments, a computing device may determine whether a received input of a pattern of eye movements is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user when the user attempts to visually locate a piece of information embedded in a display. In embodiments, the expected pattern of eye movements may include patterns related to fixations and/or other statistical patterns, however, may not be limited to such patterns. In applications, determining consistency or correlation with the expected pattern of eye movements may identify the user by simultaneously verifying at least factors of authentication—that of biometric criteria related to a user's pattern of eye movements and a password or other information known to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions configured to cause a computer device, in response to execution of the instructions, to control access to one or more resources of the computer device; wherein to control includes to:
display an alphanumeric password having one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters, embedded within a plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password;
receive an input;
determine whether the input comprises a pattern of eye movements that is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user when the user attempts to visually locate the one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters of the password embedded within the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters, demonstrating that the password is previously known to the user; and
grant or deny access to the one or more resources, based at least in part on a result of the determination.

2. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein to control further comprises to generate a response that indicates that the user has demonstrated that the password is previously known to the user.

3. The storage medium of claim 2 , wherein to control further comprises to authenticate the user, and wherein to generate comprises to generate a response that indicates the authentication.

4. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein to determine whether the input is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements comprises to match the input against a known or calculated pattern.

5. The storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the computer device is further caused to store the known pattern on the computer device.

6. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password, and the embedded password, are displayed in a matrix arrangement.

7. The storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password are randomly generated.

8. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer device is further caused to: capture the input.

9. An apparatus, comprising:
a sensor; and
a processor coupled to the sensor to operate processing logic, wherein the processing logic is to control access to one or more resources of the apparatus; wherein to control includes to:
display an alphanumeric password having one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters, embedded within a plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password;
receive an input from the sensor;
determine whether the input comprises a pattern of eye movements that is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user, when the user attempts to visually locate the one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters of the password embedded within the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters, demonstrating that the password is previously known to the user; and
grant or deny access to the one or more resources, based at least in part on a result of the determination.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processor cores.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the expected pattern of eye movements corresponds to a unique pattern of eye movements recorded during a registration process or updated after a registration process.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password are randomly generated; and wherein a location of at least one of the one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters of the password changes for each attempt to access the one or more resources.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a display unit on which the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password, and the embedded password, are rendered.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password are randomly generated.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password are generated by firmware of the apparatus.

16. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor and the memory including a computer-readable medium having instructions to cause the system, in response to execution by the processor, to control access to one or more resources of the system, wherein to control includes to:
display an alphanumeric password having one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters, embedded within a plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password;
receive an input;
determine whether the input comprises a pattern of eye movements that is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user when the user attempts to visually locate the one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters of the password embedded in the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters, demonstrating that the password is previously known to the user; and
grant or deny access to the one or more resources, based at least in part on a result of whether data is determined to be consistent with the expected pattern of eye movements of the user.

17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising firmware and a display unit, coupled with the processor, to render the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password, and the password, on the display unit by the firmware.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the system further comprises an operating system to control usage of resources of the system, wherein the operating system has no exposure to the password.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions are to further cause the system, in response to execution of the instructions, to authenticate the user, based in part on validating the password based in part on determining whether the data is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user.

20. A method for controlling access to one or more resources, comprising:
displaying, by a computer device, an alphanumeric password having one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters, embedded within a plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password;
receiving, by the computer device, an input;
determining, by the computer device, whether the input comprises a pattern of eye movements that is consistent with an expected pattern of eye movements of a user when the user attempts to visually locate the one or more alphabetic, numeric or special characters of the password embedded within the plurality of alphabetic, numeric or special characters obfuscating the password, demonstrating that the password is previously known to the user; and
granting or denying access, by the computer device, to the one or more resources, based at least in part on a result of the determining.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising authenticating, by the computer device, the user, and generating a response that indicates the authentication.

Assignees

• Birk Eran
• Kavas Shai
• Jacob Michal
• Ben-Shalom Omer
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Birk Eran
• Kavas Shai
• Jacob Michal
• Ben-Shalom Omer

Classifications

• G06F21/32 Primary

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

• G06F21/36

  by graphic or iconic representation · CPC title

• G06V40/197

  Matching; Classification · CPC title

• G06V40/19

  Sensors therefor · CPC title