Fingerprint Sensor Adjacent Finger Authentication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fingerprint sensors require high resolution to capture sufficient data for effective authentication, which is costly in terms of both price and power usage, making them less desirable for devices.
Innovation Solution
The use of a fingerprint sensor that senses characteristics of adjacent fingers, including length, width, and minutiae locations, to authenticate users, allowing for adaptive resolution modes and efficient data collection by comparing finger characteristics to stored samples.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high resolution fingerprint sensors are used to capture sufficient authentication data, then authentication reliability is improved, but device cost and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication process into two stages: first capturing low-resolution fingerprint images of multiple fingers, then selectively enhancing only the regions containing minutiae points. This segmentation allows the system to use a lower resolution sensor overall while still obtaining the detailed information needed for reliable authentication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from relying solely on spatial resolution (one dimension) to incorporating temporal processing (another dimension) through multi-stage image processing. By capturing multiple images at lower resolution and processing them sequentially to identify and enhance minutiae regions, the system achieves reliable authentication without requiring high instantaneous spatial resolution.
2Reliability
If high resolution fingerprint sensors are used to capture sufficient authentication data, then authentication reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a lower resolution, less expensive fingerprint sensor instead of a high-resolution sensor. The system compensates for the lower hardware quality through sophisticated software processing that captures multiple images and selectively enhances minutiae regions, effectively replacing expensive hardware with cheaper hardware plus processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the processing parameters by capturing multiple images at lower resolution and then dynamically adjusting the enhancement level based on detected minutiae locations. This parameter-based approach allows the system to achieve high authentication reliability using a lower-resolution sensor, reducing manufacturing costs.
3Use of energy by moving object
If low resolution mode is used for fingerprint sensing, then power consumption and cost are reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by capturing multiple low-resolution fingerprint images and identifying potential minutiae locations before enhancing those specific regions. This preliminary identification allows the system to focus processing power only where needed, maintaining measurement precision for critical features while operating in low-resolution mode overall.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing stage that takes low-resolution images, identifies minutiae locations, and generates enhanced versions of those specific regions. This intermediary process acts as a bridge between low-resolution sensing and high-precision authentication requirements, preserving measurement precision for critical features.
Data Source
AI summary
To authenticate a user, fingerprint data for multiple fingers of the user fingers is sensed by a fingerprint sensor (504). Each of these multiple fingers is situated adjacent to at least one other of these multiple fingers while the fingerprint data is being sensed by the fingerprint sensor. Various characteristics of the user's fingers can be analyzed (506) as part of the user authentication, such as the length of the user's fingers relative to one another, the width of the user's fingers relative to one another, the locations of minutiae of one of the user's fingerprints relative to the locations of minutiae of other of the user's fingerprints, and so forth.