Transaction Data Authentication for Human Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current CAPTCHA systems face challenges in authenticating human users attempting to access host computing devices, as they often distort images to the point where humans struggle to enter correct combinations, and advancements in computer software and hardware make it difficult for both humans and computers to differentiate between human and automated systems effectively.
Innovation Solution
A network-based system that uses transaction data from payment card accounts to authenticate users by generating challenge questions and images based on the user's transaction history, allowing users to select the correct image representing their transaction, thereby differentiating between human and automated access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If CAPTCHA systems heavily distort letter and number combinations to prevent automated systems from understanding, then security against automated access is improved, but human users are unable to correctly enter the combination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary authentication mechanism that uses transaction data as a bridge between the user and the system. Instead of directly presenting distorted CAPTCHA images to users, the system retrieves transaction data associated with the user account, generates challenge questions based on that data, and presents images related to those transactions. This intermediary approach maintains security while ensuring human users can easily answer based on their real-world transaction experiences.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical CAPTCHA image recognition system with a knowledge-based authentication system. Instead of relying on visual pattern recognition of distorted images, the system substitutes a mechanism that queries the user's knowledge of their own transaction history. This substitution eliminates the need for distorted images while maintaining security, as automated systems cannot access or know the user's transaction data.
2Reliability
If CAPTCHA systems require tasks that are not easily replicated by computers (image recognition, speech recognition), then differentiation between human and automated systems is improved, but advancements in computer software and hardware make both humans and computers struggle to differentiate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the authentication challenge from the visual/image recognition domain and places it in the knowledge/memory domain. By retrieving transaction data from the payment network and using it to generate challenge questions, the system removes the need for complex image distortion and recognition tasks. The authentication now relies on the user's ability to recall or recognize information from their own transaction history, which is inherently difficult for automated systems to replicate without direct access to the payment network.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If CAPTCHA images are distorted to the point where automated systems cannot understand them, then security is improved, but human users are unable to correctly enter the combination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional CAPTCHA approach by not presenting distorted images to users. Instead, it presents clear images or text related to the user's transaction data and asks users to identify or select the correct one. The distortion or obfuscation is applied to the transaction data when retrieving it from the payment network, not when presenting it to the user. This inversion maintains security through data protection while ensuring clear, accurate presentation to human users.
Data Source
AI summary
An authenticating computing device for authenticating a user of a user computing device as a human being. The authenticating computing device comprises a processor configured to receive a request to authenticate a user as human and an identifier associated with at least one of the user and the user computing device. The processor is further configured to retrieve transaction data associated with a payment card account of the user based on the identifier, generate a challenge question based on the transaction data, and generate a plurality of images based on the transaction data. At least one of the plurality of images is a correct image and at least one of the plurality of images is an incorrect image. The processor is further configured to transmit the challenge question and the plurality of images for display on the user computing device.