Zero-Knowledge Biometric Verification for Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing biometric verification processes at control points, such as airports, are time-consuming and inefficient, particularly due to the processing power limitations of personal electronic devices and concerns about data confidentiality and security, which hinder the efficient management of growing air traffic and passenger flow.
Innovation Solution
A verification process that shifts the biometric comparison upstream by using a client device to acquire and transmit biometric data to a remote calculation server, where a publicly verifiable zero-knowledge protocol is executed, generating a result and proof of exactness, which is then verified by the control authority's processing unit upon arrival, ensuring secure and efficient access control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If biometric comparison is performed at the control point using traditional methods, then security verification is ensured, but the time required for passage increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs biometric comparison operations before the individual reaches the control point by utilizing their personal electronic device to conduct the comparison with reference data. This preliminary action transfers the time-consuming computation from the control point to an earlier stage, allowing the individual to proceed through the control point with only a simple result verification, thus dramatically reducing passage time while maintaining security.
2Loss of time
If biometric comparison is performed using personal electronic devices upstream, then passage time is reduced, but processing power limitations and data confidentiality concerns arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a remote calculation server as an intermediary between the personal electronic device and the control authority. The server receives the biometric datum from the device, performs the comparison with reference data stored securely on the server, and returns the result along with a proof of exactness. This intermediary approach allows the computation to be performed with sufficient processing power while maintaining data confidentiality, as the raw biometric data never leaves the user's device and the server only processes encrypted or anonymized inputs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical approach of direct biometric comparison at the control point with a computational system based on zero-knowledge proof protocols. Instead of physically comparing biometric data in real-time at the checkpoint, the system uses cryptographic methods where the personal device generates a proof that the biometric matches without revealing the actual biometric data, and this proof is verified by the control authority. This substitution enables secure, private, and efficient verification.
3Reliability
If traditional biometric comparison methods are used at control points, then data security is maintained, but the system cannot handle growing air traffic efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
By performing the computationally intensive biometric comparison before the control point, the system prepares verification results in advance. This allows the control point to process individuals much faster, simply verifying the returned result rather than performing full comparisons. Consequently, the throughput of the control point increases dramatically, enabling the system to handle growing air traffic volumes while maintaining the same security standards.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention proposes a verification process of an access right of an individual comprising conducting the following steps before the individual presents themselves at a control point, of:acquisition, by a client device, of a biometric datum on the individual, and transmission of said datum to a remote calculation server,performing a zero-knowledge calculation protocol verifiable publicly by the remote calculation server, comprising:calculation of a function comprising a remote calculation between the biometric datum and each of a plurality of reference data, comparison of each distance to a predetermined threshold, and generation of a result indicating whether at least one of the distances calculated is under said threshold,generation, from said function, of proof of exactness of calculation of the function,transmission via the remote calculation server of the result of calculation of the function and proof of exactness of the calculation to the client device, and the process comprises conducting the following steps, when the individual presents themselves at the control point:transmission by the client device of the datum acquired on the individual, of the result of calculation and proof to a processing unit of a control authority,verification by the processing unit of the exactness of the result, from the proof.