BIOMETRIC AUTHORISED SMARTCARD AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A BIOMETRIC AUTHORISED SMARTCARD

Abstract

A biometric authorised smartcard 102 comprises: a biometric sensor 130; a control system 114, 128 for controlling operation of the smartcard 102; and a graphical user interface 18 for displaying alphanumeric information to a user of the smartcard 102. The smartcard 102 has one or more protected feature(s) that are accessible to a user identified via the biometric sensor 130 and the graphical user interface 18 displays information in response to interaction of the user with the biometric sensor 130. The information can be used to guide enrolment of a user via the biometric sensor 130 and/or to aid the interaction of the user with the biometric sensor 130 during biometric authorisation after enrolment.

Claims

1. A biometric authorised smartcard, the smartcard comprising: a biometric sensor; a control system for controlling operation of the smartcard; and a graphical user interface for conveying alphanumeric information to a user of the card; wherein the smartcard has one or more protected feature(s) that are accessible to a user identified via the biometric sensor; and wherein the graphical user interface displays information in response to interaction of the user with the biometric sensor, with the information displayed including information for guiding the user in relation to the use of the biometric sensor.

2. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information displayed in response to interaction of the user with the biometric sensor includes one or more of: information concerning the status of the smartcard, such as a power status, a current operating mode of the card, a status of communications with an external device, information concerning a biometric enrolment process, feedback relating to biometric authorisation, and/or information relating to the protected features of the card.

3. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is used to display information relating to guidance to the user to aid their physical interaction with the biometric sensor.

4. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 3, wherein the graphical user interface is used to display information relating to enrolment of a user with the smartcard via the biometric sensor, the information including instructions to the user and feedback to the user to aid correct use of the sensor.

5. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 3, wherein the graphical user interface is used to display information relating to feedback to the user during a biometric authorisation process to aid the user in correct use of the biometric sensor.

6. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 3, wherein the biometric sensor is a fingerprint sensor and during use of the fingerprint sensor the graphical user interface provides feedback on the positioning of the finger relative to the fingerprint sensor and feedback on the pressure being applied to the fingerprint sensor.

7. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor is a fingerprint sensor and during use of the fingerprint sensor the graphical user interface provides at least one of feedback on the positioning of the finger relative to the fingerprint sensor and feedback on the pressure being applied to the fingerprint sensor.

8. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the smartcard is arranged to enrol an authorised user by obtaining biometric data via the biometric sensor in order to avoid any need for communication of the biometric data outside of the smartcard.

9. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is an LED or LCD display.

10. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface has a height of about 5 mm and a width of 15-35 mm.

11. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 9, wherein the smartcard has the same size as a conventional bank card and the graphical user interface is located on the face of the smartcard where the bank card numbers are conventionally located.

12. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 5, wherein the interaction with the biometric sensor requires confirmation of the identity of the user via biometric authorisation before there is any display of information designated as secure information.

13. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 1, comprising: an accelerometer for sensing movements of the device, wherein the control system is arranged to identify movements of the smartcard based on the output of the accelerometer, and wherein the information displayed on the graphical user interface may be accessed by or controlled by a combination of one or more action(s) detected via the biometric sensor as well as a movement sensed by the accelerometer.

14. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 5, wherein the information displayed via the graphical user interface further includes information relating to protected features of the smartcard, and wherein such information is only displayed after a biometric authorisation confirms that the user is an authorised user.

15. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 5, wherein the smartcard is a bank card used in financial transactions and one or more of the card number(s) or parts thereof are not visible on the smartcard except when displayed via the graphical user interface.

16. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 15 wherein the one or more of the card number(s) or parts thereof are displayed only after biometric authorisation confirms that the user is an authorised user.

17. A biometric authorised smartcard as claimed in claim 14, wherein the smartcard is any one of: an access card, a credit card, a debit card, a pre-pay card, a loyalty card, or an identity card.

18. A method for controlling a biometric authorised smartcard, the smartcard comprising: a biometric sensor; a control system for controlling operation of the smartcard; and a graphical user interface for displaying alphanumeric information to a user of the card; wherein the method includes: controlling access to one or more protected feature(s) of the smartcard by identifying authorised users via the biometric sensor; and displaying information on the graphical user interface in response to interaction of the user with the biometric sensor, wherein the information displayed includes information for guiding the user in relation to the use of the biometric sensor.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, comprising using the graphical user interface to display information to guide enrolment of a user via the biometric sensor and/or to aid the interaction of the user with the biometric sensor during biometric authorisation after enrolment.

20. A computer programme product comprising instructions that, when executed on a control system in a smartcard as claimed in claim 1, will cause the control system to: control access to one or more protected feature(s) of the smartcard by identifying authorised users via the biometric sensor; and to display information on the graphical user interface in response to interaction of the user with the biometric sensor, wherein the information displayed includes information for guiding the user in relation to the use of the biometric sensor.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] Certain preferred embodiments on the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0057] FIG. 1 illustrates a circuit for a smartcard incorporating a graphical user interface and biometric authorisation via a fingerprint scanner;

[0058] FIG. 2 illustrates an example smartcard having an external housing; and

[0059] FIG. 3 illustrates an example smartcard with a laminated card body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0060] By way of example the invention is described in the context of a fingerprint authorised smartcard that includes contactless technology and uses power harvested from the card reader. These features are envisaged to be advantageous features of one application of the proposed graphical user interface feature, but are not seen as essential features. The smartcard may hence alternatively use a physical contact and/or include a battery providing internal power, for example. The graphical user interface may also be implemented in smartcards with non-fingerprint biometric sensors.

[0061] FIG. 1 shows the architecture of a smartcard 102 that has biometric authorisation via a fingerprint sensor 130 and includes a graphical user interface 18 for displaying alphanumeric information and optionally other forms of information to the user of the smartcard 102.

[0062] The smartcard 102 interacts with a powered card reader 104 that transmits a signal via an antenna 106. The signal is typically 13.56 MHz for MIFARE® and DESFire® systems, manufactured by NXP Semiconductors, but may be 125 kHz for lower frequency PROX® products, manufactured by HID Global Corp. This signal is received by an antenna 108 of the smartcard 102, comprising a tuned coil and capacitor, and then passed to a communication chip 110. The received signal is rectified by a bridge rectifier 112, and the DC output of the rectifier 112 is provided to processor 114 that controls the messaging from the communication chip 110.

[0063] A control signal output from the processor 114 controls a field effect transistor 116 that is connected across the antenna 108. By switching on and off the transistor 116, a signal can be transmitted by the smartcard 102 and decoded by suitable control circuits 118 in the sensor 104. This type of signalling is known as backscatter modulation and is characterised by the fact that the sensor 104 is used to power the return message to itself.

[0064] A graphical user interface 18 is connected to the processor 114, with the processor being able to control the display of the graphical user interface. By way of example the graphical user interface 18 may be provided by the E-ink GDP015WG1 display as supplied by Dalian Good Display Co., Ltd. of China, which is a TFT active matrix electrophoretic display with a screen size of about 32 mm by 37 mm and 200 by 200 pixels. This display can show ASCII characters or simple pictographic icons in order to convey information to the user. Scrolling of the characters on the graphical user interface 18 can be used to allow a longer string of characters to be shown than can fit on the graphical user interface 18 at any one time, such as a long number or a written message to the user.

[0065] The graphical user interface 18 can be controlled by the processor 114 in conventional fashion. Optionally the graphical user interface 18 may have its own processor, which would hence form a part of the broader control system of the smartcard 102 and would be linked to the processor 114, preferably using an encrypted connection. The graphical user interface 18 may be used only when power is being harvested from the powered card reader 104, or alternatively the smartcard 102 may be additionally provided with a battery (not shown in the Figures) allowing for the graphical user interface 18 to be used at any time.

[0066] An accelerometer 16 is connected in an appropriate way to the processor 114. The accelerometer 16 can be a Tri-axis Digital Accelerometer as provided by Kionix, Inc. of Ithaca, N.Y., USA and in this example it is the Kionix KXCJB-1041 accelerometer 16. The accelerometer 16 senses movements of the card and provides an output signal to the processor 114, which is arranged to detect and identify movements of the accelerometer 16, such as movements that are associated with required operating modes on the card as discussed below. Again, the accelerometer 16 may be used only when power is being harvested from the powered card reader 104, or alternatively the smartcard 102 may be additionally provided with a battery (not shown in the Figures) allowing for the accelerometer 16 to be used at any time.

[0067] The smartcard further includes a fingerprint authentication engine 120 including a fingerprint processor 128 and a fingerprint sensor 130. This allows for enrolment and authorisation via fingerprint identification. The fingerprint processor 128 and the processor 114 that controls the communication chip 110 together form a control system for the device, optionally with an additional separate processor for the graphical user interface 18 as noted above. The various processors could be implemented as different software modules on the same hardware, although separate hardware could also be used.

[0068] The antenna 108 comprises a tuned circuit including an induction coil and a capacitor, which are tuned to receive an RF signal from the card reader 104. When exposed to the excitation field generated by the sensor 104, a voltage is induced across the antenna 108.

[0069] The antenna 108 has first and second end output lines 122, 124, one at each end of the antenna 108. The output lines of the antenna 108 are connected to the fingerprint authentication engine 120 to provide power to the fingerprint authentication engine 120. In this arrangement, a rectifier 126 is provided to rectify the AC voltage received by the antenna 108. The rectified DC voltage is smoothed using a smoothing capacitor and then supplied to the fingerprint authentication engine 120.

[0070] The fingerprint sensor 130 of the fingerprint authorisation engine, which can be an area fingerprint sensor 130, may be mounted on a card housing 134 as shown in FIG. 2 or fitted so as to be exposed from a laminated card body 140 as shown in FIG. 3. The card housing 134 or the laminated body 140 encases all of the components of FIG. 1, and is sized similarly to conventional smartcards. The fingerprint authentication engine 120 can be passive, and hence powered only by the voltage output from the antenna 108, although the smartcard 102 may also include a battery as mentioned above. The battery can power the fingerprint authentication engine 120 as well as other processors and user interfaces such as the graphical user interface 18, the accelerometer 16 and the LEDs 136, 138. The processor 128 comprises a microprocessor that is chosen to be of very low power and very high speed, so as to be able to perform fingerprint matching in a reasonable time.

[0071] The fingerprint authentication engine 120 is arranged to scan a finger or thumb presented to the fingerprint sensor 130 and to compare the scanned fingerprint of the finger or thumb to pre-stored fingerprint data using the processor 128. A determination is then made as to whether the scanned fingerprint matches the pre-stored fingerprint data. In a preferred embodiment, the time required for capturing a fingerprint image and authenticating the bearer of the card 102 is less than one second.

[0072] When a fingerprint match is determined and/or when appropriate movements are detected via the accelerometer 16, then the processor 114 takes appropriate actions depending on its programming. In this example the fingerprint authorisation process is used to authorise the use of the smartcard 104 with the contactless card reader 104. Thus, the communication chip 110 is authorised to transmit a signal to the card reader 104 when a fingerprint match is made. The communication chip 110 transmits the signal by backscatter modulation, in the same manner as the conventional communication chip 110. The card may provide an indication of successful authorisation using a suitable indicator, such as a first LED 136 or the graphical user interface 18.

[0073] The fingerprint processor 128 and the processor 114 can also receive an indication of a non-fingerprint interaction with the fingerprint sensor 130, which can include any action detectable via the fingerprint sensor 130 as discussed above. The interaction of the user with the card via the fingerprint sensor 130 can be used to prompt and/or control information shown on the graphical user interface 18 and also may be used to allow the user to control the smartcard 102 by switching between different operating modes of the smartcard 102.

[0074] In some circumstances, the owner of the fingerprint smartcard 102 may suffer an injury resulting in damage to the finger that has been enrolled on the card 102. This damage might, for example, be a scar on the part of the finger that is being evaluated. Such damage can mean that the owner will not be authorised by the card 102 since a fingerprint match is not made. In this event the processor 114 may prompt the user for a back-up identification/authorisation check via an alternative interaction with the smartcard 102, which in this case includes one or more action(s) detected via the fingerprint sensor 130 and also optionally actions detected via other sensors, such as the accelerometer 16. The card may prompt the user to use a back-up identification/authorisation using a suitable indicator, such as a second LED 138 or the graphical user interface 18. It is preferred for the non-fingerprint authorisation to require a sequence of interactions with the card by the user, this sequence being pre-set by the user. The pre-set sequence for non-fingerprint authorisation may be set when the user enrols with the card 102. The user can hence have a non-fingerprint authorisation in the form of a “password” entered using non-fingerprint interactions with the card to be used in the event that the fingerprint authorisation fails. The same type of non-fingerprint authorisation can be used in the event that a user is unable or unwilling to enrol with the card 102 via the fingerprint sensor 130.

[0075] Thus, as well as allowing communication via the circuit 110 with the card reader 104 in response to a fingerprint authorisation via the fingerprint sensor 130 and fingerprint processor 128 the processor 114 may also be arranged to allow such communication in response to a non-fingerprint authorisation.

[0076] When a non-fingerprint authorisation is used the card 102 could be arranged to be used as normal, or it could be provided with a degraded mode in which fewer operating modes or fewer features of the card 102 are enabled. For example, if the smartcard 102 can act as a bank card then the non-fingerprint authorisation might allow for transactions with a maximum spending limit lower than the usual maximum limit for the card 102.

[0077] The processor 114 receives the output from the accelerometer 16 and this allows the processor 114 to determine what movements of the smart card 102 have been made. The processor 114 identifies pre-set movements and other interactions of the user with the card that are linked with required changes to the operating mode of the smartcard 102. As discussed above, the movements may include any type of or combination of rotation, translation, acceleration, impulse and other movements detectable by the accelerometer 16. The other interactions of the user with the card may include interactions detected via the fingerprint sensor 130, such as taps, swipes and so on as discussed above.

[0078] The operating modes that the processor 114 activates or switches to in response to an identified movement associated with the require change in operating mode may include any mode of operation as discussed above, including turning the card on or off, activating secure aspects of the card 102 such as contactless payment, or changing the basic functionality of the card 102 for example by switching between operating as an access card, a payment card, a transportation smartcard, switching between different accounts of the same type (e.g. two bank accounts), switching between communications protocols (such as blue tooth, Wifi, NFC) and/or activating a communication protocol, activating a display such as an LCD or LED display, obtaining an output from the smartcard 102, such as a one-time-password or the like, or prompting the card 102 to automatically perform a standard operation of the smartcard 102.

[0079] The graphical user interface 18 displays information to the user in response to data set from the processor 114. The graphical user interface 18 can be located on the card housing 134 as shown in FIG. 2 or fitted so as to be exposed from a laminated card body 140 as shown in FIG. 3. The processor 114 is arranged to control the graphical user interface 18 based on interaction of the user with the biometric sensor, i.e. the fingerprint sensor 130 in this example, and optionally also based on other interactions of the user with the smartcard 102, such as via movements detected with the accelerometer 16. The graphical user interface 18 may for example display certain types of less sensitive information when prompted via a tap on the fingerprint sensor 130, such as displaying a power status indicating if the device is harvesting power or not and/or indicating the level of power stored in the battery. In addition, the graphical user interface 18 may display more sensitive or secure information only after the identity of the user has been checked via fingerprint authorisation using the fingerprint sensor and processing unit 128. This more sensitive information may be a card number of the smartcard 102 or a part thereof, or the three digit security code for the smartcard 102 when it is a bank card.

[0080] During use of the fingerprint sensor 130 to confirm the identity of the user the graphical user interface 18 displays feedback to the user on their interaction with the fingerprint sensor 130. Thus, the graphical user interface 18 may show when the pressure of the finger on the fingerprint sensor 130 is too high or too low, and it may prompt the user to reposition their finger if it is not correctly located, for example if the finger is not centred on the area of a fingerprint area sensor 130. The graphical user interface 18, or optionally other display devices on the smartcard 102 such as the LEDs 136, 138 may indicate when authorisation has been successful or unsuccessful.

[0081] The processor 114 has an enrolment mode, which may be activated upon first use of the smartcard 102. In the enrolment mode the user is prompted to enrol their fingerprint data via the fingerprint sensor 130. This can require a repeated scan of the fingerprint via the fingerprint sensor 130 so that the fingerprint processor 128 can build up appropriate fingerprint data, such as a fingerprint template. The graphical user interface 18 is used to provide feedback and guidance to the user during enrolment. This can include feedback on the pressure and/or location of the user's finger on the fingerprint sensor 130 as noted above, as well as simple instructions such as “ready for enrolment,”, “place finger on sensor”, “scanning”, “remove finger”, “repeat fingerprint scan”, “enrolment completed” and so on. After a successful or an unsuccessful enrolment of fingerprint data the user may be prompted to enter a non-fingerprint authorisation. This could be optional in the case of a successful fingerprint enrolment, or may be compulsory if the fingerprint enrolment was not successful. The non-fingerprint authorisation includes a sequence of interactions with the smartcard 102 including at least one action by the user that is detected via the fingerprint sensor 130. The processor 114 can keep a record of these interactions in a memory, and it is arranged to provide at least partial authorisation to use the functions of the card in the event that the non-fingerprint authorisation is provided by the user.

[0082] The processor 114 can have a learn mode to allow for the user to specify which actions (including combinations of actions/interactions) should activate particular operating modes whilst the smartcard 102 is in use. This type of control of the smartcard 102 might be enabled only after a successful fingerprint or non-fingerprint authorisation. In the learn mode the processor 114 prompts the user to make the desired sequence of actions, and to repeat the movements for a predetermined set of times. These movements are then allocated to the required operating mode or to the non-fingerprint authorisation. With this latter feature the learn mode can allow for the sequence of movements used for the non-fingerprint authorisation to be changed by the user in the same way that a traditional PIN can be changed.