A certain aspect of the present invention is related to a person authentication system and a person authentication method.
In a conventional combination technology of an electronic storage medium and biometric authentication, there is disclosed an art of storing personal data and biometric data in an electronic storage medium and permitting an access to the personal data after confirming a user's identification with the biometric data (see Patent Document 1).
And, there is disclosed an art of storing personal data and biometric data in an authentication server and permitting an access to the data when confirming that transmitted biometric data is the user's and the transmitted biometric data is the user's biometric data (see Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 2: International Publication No. WO 2001/042938
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a person authentication system including: an authentication server storing biometric data for matching related to an anonymous ID of a user; a biometric sensor acquiring biometric data of the user; and a terminal acquiring an anonymous ID stored in an electronic storage medium and transmitting the anonymous ID to the authentication server together with the biometric data acquired by the biometric sensor, wherein the authentication server transmits data needed for an access to personal data stored in the electronic storage medium to the terminal when there is a correspondence to a predetermined extent between the biometric data acquired by the biometric sensor and biometric data for matching related to the anonymous ID.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a person authentication method discussed herein includes: storing biometric data for matching related to an anonymous ID of a user in an authentication server; acquiring biometric data of the user with use of a biometric sensor; acquiring an anonymous ID stored in an electronic storage medium and transmitting the anonymous ID to the authentication server together with the biometric data acquired by the biometric sensor with use of a terminal; and transmitting data needed for an access to personal data stored in the electronic medium to the terminal when there is a correspondence to a predetermined extent between the biometric data acquired by the biometric sensor and biometric data for matching related to the anonymous ID.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
There is a demand for managing personal data and biometric data in a single medium. In particular, an electronic storage medium (for example, an IC card) does not belong to an actual storing person (user) but is lent to the storing person from a parent organization of the IC card. When biometric data is stored in an IC card, it is necessary for the parent organization to manage a life cycle (registering, issuing, stopping and discarding) of the IC card strictly. Therefore, the management is complicated when biometric data is stored in a card tending to be scattered. And, both personal data and biometric data are exposed to a risk when weakness of the IC card is exposed.
A description will be given of embodiments of the invention, with reference to drawings.
The IC card terminal 100 has a biometric sensor 110, a card reader 120, a biometric authentication portion 130, and an IC card authentication portion 140. The biometric sensor 110 is a sensor for acquiring biometric data of a user. In the embodiment, a finger print sensor is used as an example of the biometric sensor 110. The card reader 120 is a device for reading data from an IC card 300 described later and writing data in the IC card 300. The card reader 120 may be a contact-type reader or a non-contact-type reader.
The biometric authentication portion 130 acts as a communication portion 131, a biometric data input portion 132, a biometric data treating portion 133 a mutual authentication portion 134 and an anonymous ID access portion 135. The IC card authentication portion 140acts as a communication portion 141, a mutual authentication portion 142, a PIN input portion 143, and a personal data access portion 144. Here, “PIN” is a Personal Identification Number. The biometric data authentication server 200 stores anonymous data, biometric data and an IC card PIN in a database. The biometric authentication server may physically separate the anonymous data, the biometric data and the IC card PIN via a network. And, the biometric data and the IC card may be encrypted and stored.
The IC card 300 used in the person authentication system in accordance with the embodiment is a multi application card having a plurality of application areas. The IC card 300 has a plurality of application areas in which an access to each other is forbidden by a firewall. There may be used an attribute control method for permitting an access to a memory in accordance with attribute data, a page management method for permitting an access with use of a page number and a local address, a virtual machine method in which a virtual machine interprets an AP (application) program and executes the interpreted AP or the like, as the firewall. Here, the attribute data includes an attribute such as “read only”, “write only”, “executable”, “inaccessible” or the like. The “page” is a unit indicating a logical arrangement of the AP in the memory.
In the embodiment, the IC card 300 has an anonymous ID data portion 310 in a predetermined application area and has a personal data portion 320 in another application area. The anonymous ID data portion 310 acts as a mutual authentication portion 311 and an anonymous ID data storage portion 312. The personal data portion 320 acts as a mutual authentication portion 321, a PIN lock portion 322 and a personal data storage portion 323.
A user buys right to use by prepaid system (Step S1), and applies for an anonymous ID without revealing personal data (Step S2). The service provider of a biometric authentication server provides an anonymous ID and issues a certificate (Step S3). And, the service provider of a biometric authentication server receives biometric data for registration from the user (Step S4), and registers the biometric data in the biometric data authentication server 200 (Step S5). Next, the user receives the certificate, receives the anonymous ID, and provides a communication tool such as a mail address to the service provider of a biometric authentication server (Step S6).
After that, the user asks the service provider of issuing an IC card for issuing of the IC card 300 (Step S7), and provides personal data to the service provider of issuing an IC card (Step S8). The service provider of issuing an IC card writes the personal data and an ID of the user in the IC card 300 (Step S9). Next, the service provider of issuing an IC card issues the IC card 300, issues an anonymous ID access PIN, and issues a personal data access PIN (Step S10).
Next, the user registers his or her anonymous ID in the IC card 300 with use of the anonymous ID access PIN via the service provider of issuing of an IC card (Step S11). Next, the service provider of a biometric authentication server registers a PIN for accessing personal data in the biometric data authentication server 200 (Step S12). With the flow, the biometric data is registered in the biometric data authentication server 200, and the personal data is registered in the IC card 300.
As illustrated in
Next, the IC card issuing service agency writes a card application in the IC card 300, and makes the personal data portion 320 in the IC card 300 (Step S24). And, the authentication service agency writes a card application in the IC card 300, and makes the anonymous ID data portion 310 (Step S25). Next, the IC card issuing service agency issues the IC card 300 (Step S26).
As mentioned above, it is possible to make a situation that an IC card maker, an agency setting the personal data portion 320 and an agency setting the anonymous ID data portion 310 are independent of each other. Therefore, safety of personal data is improved.
Then, with reference to
Next, the mutual authentication portion 134 and the mutual authentication portion 311 of the IC card 300 mutually authenticate each other via the IC card reader 120. When the mutual authentication is complicated, the anonymous ID access portion 135 reads anonymous ID data of the user from the anonymous ID data storage portion 312. The communication portion 131 transmits the anonymous ID data and the biometric data of the user to the biometric data authentication server 200.
The biometric data authentication server 200 performs a matching of the received biometric data. In this case, the biometric data authentication server 200 confirms a correspondence to a predetermined extent between the received biometric data and biometric data related to a registered anonymous ID user, and transmits an IC card PIN to the IC card terminal 100 when determining that the received biometric data is biometric data of the registered anonymous ID user. In this case, the PIN may be encrypted and transmitted.
The communication portion 141 receives the IC card PIN from the biometric data authentication server 200. Thus, the mutual authentication portion 142 and the mutual authentication portion 321 of the IC card 300 mutually authenticate each other. When the mutual authentication is complicated, the PIN input portion 143 inputs data of the IC card PIN to the PIN lock portion 322 of the IC card 300. If the IC card PIN received from the biometric data authentication server 200 corresponds to the IC card PIN stored in the IC card 300, the PIN lock portion 322 unlocks the PIN lock. Next, the personal data access portion 144 reads personal data from the personal data storage portion 323 of the IC card 300. With the operation, the user can access his or her personal data.
In accordance with the embodiment, personal data and biometric data can be stored in the IC card 300 and the biometric data authentication server 200 separately. Therefore, the biometric data stored in the biometric data authentication server 200 can be kept anonymous. And, it is possible to manage a lifecycle of biometric data for authentication adequately by storing subtlety biometric data not in a card medium tending to be scattered but in the biometric data authentication server 200.
And, it is not necessary for a user to go to a place for registering biometric data again even if the user loses the IC card 300 and asks for reissuing of a new IC card 300, because biometric data is not stored in the IC card 300. It is therefore possible for the agency to reissue a new card by inputting necessary data in the new card and send the new card by mail.
And, both the personal data (data stored in a card) and the biometric data are not exposed to a risk when weakness of the IC card 300 is exposed, because data is separately stored. And, anonymity can be stored because the IC card 300 and the IC card terminal 100 have a structure treating personal data and biometric data separately.
The IC card terminal 100 may be a device coupled to a personal computer or a device operating independently. Safety of a communication path may be secured by a tool such as secure messaging between the IC card terminal 100 and the IC card 300. Further, the IC card terminal 100 and the biometric data authentication server 200 may communicate with each other with use of an encrypted communication tool such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer).
In an embodiment 2, a description will be given of an example for achieving an access to personal data stored in a personal data management server when an access to personal data in an IC card is permitted.
In the embodiment, the personal data access portion 144 can access the personal data storage portion 323 when the PIN lock is unlocked. In this case, the personal data access portion 144 reads a card user's ID from the card-user-ID-storage portion 324 via the personal data storage portion 323, and reads a management server access key from the management-server-access-key-storage portion 325.
Next, the communication portion 141 transmits the card user ID and the management server access key to the personal data management server 400. Thus, a user can access the personal data stored in the personal data management server 400 via the IC card terminal 100.
In accordance with the embodiment, data needed for identification can be stored in the biometric data authentication server 200 and the personal data management server 400 separately. It is therefore possible to improve safety of the personal data and the biometric data. The personal data management server 400 may store the personal data. Thus, leakage of personal data may be prevented even if the IC card 300 is lost.
An art of selecting one of services is needed, when a plurality of biometric data authentication server services are set. And so, in an embodiment 3, an IC card has a service provider list of biometric data authentication server.
As illustrated in
In the embodiment, the IC card terminal 100 reads a plurality of biometric data authentication server services from the corresponding-service-list storage portion 332 when the mutual authentication is complicated between the mutual authentication portion 134 and the mutual authentication portion 331. For example, the IC card terminal 100 displays the biometric data authentication server services with use of a display, and a user may select one of them. Therefore, the user can select a desirable one from the biometric data authentication server services.
In the embodiment, the IC card terminal 100c reads a plurality of biometric data authentication server services from the corresponding-service-list storage portion 145. After that, the IC card terminal 100c displays the biometric data authentication server services with use of a display, and a user may select one of them. Therefore, the user can select a desirable one from the biometric data authentication server services.
A hash value of an anonymous ID calculated in a predetermined format may be stored in a personal data area, in order to secure safety of separation between the personal data area and an anonymous ID area in the IC card 300.
As illustrated in
In the embodiment, when the IC card terminal 100 transmits an anonymous ID to the biometric data authentication server 200d, a hash value of an anonymous ID is transmitted together with the anonymous ID. The biometric data authentication server 200d performs a biometric authentication when a hash value of an anonymous ID stored in the biometric data authentication server 200d corresponds to the hash value of an anonymous ID received by the biometric data authentication server 200d. Therefore, an absolute separation between the anonymous ID data portion 310 and the personal data portion 320d can be secured.
A hash value of personal data calculated in a predetermined format may be stored in an anonymous ID data area, in order to secure safety of separation between the personal data area and an anonymous ID area in the IC card 300.
As illustrated in
In the embodiment, when the IC card terminal 100 transmits an anonymous ID to the biometric data authentication server 200e, an anonymous ID hash value is transmitted together with the anonymous ID. The biometric data authentication server 200e performs a biometric authentication when a hash value of an anonymous ID stored in the biometric data authentication server 200e corresponds to the hash value of an anonymous ID received by the biometric data authentication server 200e. Therefore, an absolute separation between the anonymous ID data portion 310e and the personal data portion 320e can be secured.
An IC card may store personal data of a plurality of service providers.
The IC card 300f has personal data portions 320f and 320g. The personal data portions 320f and 320g store personal data different from each other. And, the IC card 300f stores an anonymous ID according to each of personal data in the anonymous ID data storage portion 312. And, the biometric data authentication server 200f stores anonymous ID data, biometric data and an IC card PIN according to each of personal data. It is therefore possible to make one to one relation of the anonymous ID and the IC card PIN between the IC card 300g and the biometric data authentication server 200g.
A user can access desirable personal data by selecting a desirable service from a service list stored in the corresponding-service-list storage portion 332. An operation until a user accesses personal data is the same as the embodiment 1. Therefore, the explanation is omitted.
An anonymous ID and fingerprint data of each finger of a user may relate to each other by one to one.
The IC card 300g is different from the IC card 300f in a point that a service list portion 330g is provided instead of the service list portion 330. The service list portion 330 has a corresponding-service-list storage portion 332g and stores a plurality of services according to each finger.
The biometric data authentication server 200g stores biometric data of each finger of a user as biometric data for matching and relates the biometric data for matching to the service list stored in the corresponding-service-list-storage portion 332g.
The user can access desirable personal data by selecting a desirable service from the service list stored in the corresponding-service-list storage portion 332g and making the biometric sensor 110 acquire an according finger. An operation until a user accesses personal data is the same as the embodiment 1. Therefore, the explanation is omitted.
The biometric data authentication server 200 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 202, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 203, an input-output interface 204, a LAN interface 205 and so on. The components are coupled to each other via a bus. The biometric data authentication server 200 operates when the CPU 101 executes a program stored in the HDD 203 or the like.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that the various change, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application is a continuation application of PCT/JP2009/054938 filed Mar. 13, 2009, the contents of which are herein wholly incorporated by reference
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | PCT/JP2009/054938 | Mar 2009 | US |
Child | 13229998 | US |