Patent Application
20240087357
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure relates to voter authentication and voting devices and more particularly pertains to a new voter authentication and voting device for authenticating a user's permission to vote and tallying the user's vote if permitted.
The prior art relates to voter authentication and voting devices and methods which rely on biometric inputs for authentication of voters and tallying of voting selections. However, the prior art does not disclose a device which authenticates voters using a fingerprint scanner and accepts a paper ballot into a slot in the device for scanning and tallying of voting selections made on the paper ballot.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing defining an interior space and having a slot extending through said housing being configured for receiving a ballot into said interior space. A microprocessor compares a user fingerprint scanned by a fingerprint scanner to a plurality of valid voter fingerprints in a database. A ballot scanner scans the ballot when it is received into the interior space. Only if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints does the microprocessor add votes as indicated on the ballot to a vote tally stored on a data storage module.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a method comprising providing a voter authentication and voting device comprising which scans a user fingerprint and compares the user fingerprint to a plurality of valid voter fingerprints. Then the device receives a ballot into an interior space of the device and scans the ballot. The device determines a vote selection indicated on the ballot and adds it to a vote tally only if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A fingerprint scanner 32 is positioned partially within the interior space and is coupled to the housing 12 proximate the first end 14. The fingerprint scanner 32 extends through the top side 18 of the housing 12. The fingerprint scanner 32 is operationally coupled to the microprocessor 30 and is configured for scanning a user fingerprint, the microprocessor 30 is configured for thereafter comparing the user fingerprint with the plurality of valid voter fingerprints in the database.
A display module 34 is coupled to the housing 12 and positioned within the interior space proximate the second end 16 of the housing 12. The display module 34 is aligned with and visible through an aperture 36 in the top side 18 of the housing 12. The display module 34 has a peripheral edge 38 positioned in abutment with an interior surface 40 of the housing 12 such that the display module 34 fully obstructs access to the interior space through the aperture 36. The display module 34 may alternatively be coupled to an exterior surface of the housing 12 or integrated into the housing 12. The display module 34 is operationally coupled to the microprocessor 30, is configured for displaying a successful authentication message if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints, and is configured for displaying a failed authentication message if the user fingerprint does not match any of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints.
A data storage module 42 is positioned within the interior space, is coupled to the housing 12, and is operationally coupled to the microprocessor 30. A ballot scanner 44 is also positioned within the interior space, is coupled to the housing 12, and is operationally coupled to the microprocessor 30. The ballot scanner 44 is positioned above and adjacent to the slot 22 and is configured for scanning the ballot 28 when the ballot 28 is received into the interior space. The microprocessor 30 is configured to thereafter determine a vote selection indicated on the ballot 28 and add it to a vote tally stored on the data storage module 42 only if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints. A pair of peripheral data storage ports 46 extends through the front side 20 of the housing 12 proximate the first end 14. Each peripheral data storage port 46 is electrically coupled to the microprocessor 30, and the microprocessor 30 is configured for selectively transferring the vote tally to each peripheral data storage port 46 if a peripheral data storage device is electrically coupled to a complementary one of the pair of peripheral data storage ports 46.
In use, the fingerprint scanner 32 scans a user fingerprint, and the microprocessor compares the user fingerprint to the plurality of valid voter fingerprints. Then the display module 34 displays a failed authentication message if the user fingerprint does not match any of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints or a successful authentication message if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints. The ballot 28 is received through the slot 22 into the interior space, and the ballot scanner 44 scans the ballot 28. The microprocessor 30 then determines a vote selection indicated on the ballot 28 and adds it to a vote tally stored on the data storage module 42 only if the user fingerprint matches one of the plurality of valid voter fingerprints.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
