Abstract: Embodiments are described that leverage variability of a chip. Different areas of a chip vary in terms of reliability under a same operating condition. The variability may be captured by measuring errors over different areas of the chip. A physical factor that affects or controls the likelihood of an error on the chip can be varied. For example, the voltage supplied to a chip may be provided at different levels. At each level of the physical factor, the chip is tested for errors within the regions. Some indication of the error statistics for the regions is stored and then used to adjust power used by the chip, to adjust reliability behavior of the chip, to allow applications to control how the chip is used, to compute a signature uniquely identifying the chip, etc.

Abstract: A human interactive puzzle (HIP) authorization architecture where keyed and animated puzzles are executed by HIP players which are distinct and obfuscated to the point where breaking a single player is a relatively costly operation. A key is created in response to a request for a service, a HIP player is created based on the key, and a small installation executable is created that expands during installation to produce a computationally expensive data structure on the client relative to verification of the solution at the server. Thus, copying of the player or relay of the puzzle to a third system requires more time than allowed to receive the solution at the server.

Abstract: Human Interaction Proofs (“HIPs”, sometimes referred to as “captchas”), may be generated automatically. An captcha specification language may be defined, which allows a captcha scheme to be defined in terms of how symbols are to be chosen and drawn, and how those symbols are obscured. The language may provide mechanisms to specify the various ways in which to obscure symbols. New captcha schemes may be generated from existing specifications, by using genetic algorithms that combine features from existing captcha schemes that have been successful. Moreover, the likelihood that a captcha scheme has been broken by attackers may be estimated by collecting data on the time that it takes existing captcha schemes to be broken, and using regression to estimate the time to breakage as a function of either the captcha's features or its measured quality.

Abstract: Embodiments are described that leverage variability of a chip. Different areas of a chip vary in terms of reliability under a same operating condition. The variability may be captured by measuring errors over different areas of the chip. A physical factor that affects or controls the likelihood of an error on the chip can be varied. For example, the voltage supplied to a chip may be provided at different levels. At each level of the physical factor, the chip is tested for errors within the regions. Some indication of the error statistics for the regions is stored and then used to adjust power used by the chip, to adjust reliability behavior of the chip, to allow applications to control how the chip is used, to compute a signature uniquely identifying the chip, etc.

Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for a dynamic range wireless access point to initiate deliberate and/or selective communications with one or more wireless devices over a short range radio path. One embodiment of an access point system comprises a processor that transfers one or more wireless devices to a long range radio path once a transition condition has been met. In another embodiment, an access point system may affect transactions between user/customer's smart devices and a commercial place of business where the access point system and the smart devices initiate communications when the smart devices are deliberately placed within the proximity of the access point antenna and/or the smart devices are brought within the vicinity of the access point antenna such as by passing through the entrance or exit to the place of business.

Abstract: Human body motion is represented by a skeletal model derived from image data of a user. The model represents joints and bones and has a rigid body portion. The sets of body data are scaled to a predetermined number of sets for a number of periodic units. A body-based coordinate 3-D reference system having a frame of reference defined with respect to a position within the rigid body portion of the skeletal model is generated. The body-based coordinate 3-D reference system is independent of the camera's field of view. The scaled data and representation of relative motion within an orthogonal body-based 3-D reference system decreases the data and simplifies the calculations for determining motion thus enhancing real-time performance for multimedia applications controlled by a user's natural movements.

Abstract: A system is described for allowing a user, operating a trusted device, to remotely log into a server via a potentially untrustworthy client. A first secure connection is established between the client and the server. A second secure connection is established between the device and the server through the client. The user then remotely logs into the server over the second secure connection using the device. The second secure connection is tunneled within the first secure connection, preventing the untrustworthy client from discovering personal information associated with the user. According to one feature, prior to forming the second secure connection, the user establishes a pairing relationship with the client by reading an address of the client using a reading mechanism. According to another feature, the device can receive marketing information in the course of a transaction.

Abstract: A beat analysis module is described for determining beat information associated with an audio item. The beat analysis module uses an Expectation-Maximization (EM) approach to determine an average beat period, where correlation is performed over diverse representations of the audio item. The beat analysis module can determine the beat information in a relative short period of time. As such, the beat analysis module can perform its analysis together with another application task (such as a game application task) without disrupting the real time performance of that application task. In one application, a user may select his or her own audio items to be used in conjunction with the application task.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for counterfeit prevention for optical media. In one example, a system is provided for verifying authenticity information on an optical medium. The system receives the optical medium including a fingerprint having at least one probabilistic feature. A probabilistic feature is a physical feature having both a substantial chance to be read as a first value and a substantial chance to be read as a second value. The system receives an o-DNA signature-at-issuance. The system calculates an o-DNA signature-at-verification by reading each probabilistic feature plural times. The system calculates a vector-of-differences between the o-DNA signature-at-issuance and the o-DNA signature-at-verification. The vector-of-differences includes a maximum distance metric between the o-DNA signature-at-issuance and the o-DNA signature-at-verification. The vector-of-differences indicates the optical medium is authentic if the maximum distance metric is less than a threshold.

Abstract: A beat analysis module is described for determining beat information associated with an audio item. The beat analysis module uses an Expectation-Maximization (EM) approach to determine an average beat period, where correlation is performed over diverse representations of the audio item. The beat analysis module can determine the beat information in a relative short period of time. As such, the beat analysis module can perform its analysis together with another application task (such as a game application task) without disrupting the real time performance of that application task. In one application, a user may select his or her own audio items to be used in conjunction with the application task.

Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to architectures and/or mechanisms that can facilitate issuing, embedding and verification of an optical DNA (o-DNA) signature. A first mechanism is provided for obtaining a set of manufacturing errors inherent in an optical media instance. These errors can be non-deterministic and can be encoded into the o-DNA that can be cryptographically signed with a private key, and then embedded into the source optical media instance. A second mechanism is provided that can decrypt the o-DNA with a public key and compare the authenticated errors to the observed errors to ascertain whether the optical media instance is authentic as opposed to a forgery or counterfeit.

Abstract: Human Interaction Proofs (“HIPs”, sometimes referred to as “captchas”), may be generated automatically. An captcha specification language may be defined, which allows a captcha scheme to be defined in terms of how symbols are to be chosen and drawn, and how those symbols are obscured. The language may provide mechanisms to specify the various ways in which to obscure symbols. New captcha schemes may be generated from existing specifications, by using genetic algorithms that combine features from existing captcha schemes that have been successful. Moreover, the likelihood that a captcha scheme has been broken by attackers may be estimated by collecting data on the time that it takes existing captcha schemes to be broken, and using regression to estimate the time to breakage as a function of either the captcha's features or its measured quality.

Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for a dynamic range wireless access point to initiate deliberate and/or selective communications with one or more wireless devices over a short range radio path. One embodiment of an access point system comprises a processor that transfers one or more wireless devices to a long range radio path once a transition condition has been met. In another embodiment, an access point system may affect transactions between user/customer's smart devices and a commercial place of business where the access point system and the smart devices initiate communications when the smart devices are deliberately placed within the proximity of the access point antenna and/or the smart devices are brought within the vicinity of the access point antenna such as by passing through the entrance or exit to the place of business.

Abstract: The claimed subject matter relates to architectures and/or mechanisms that can facilitate issuing, embedding and verification of an optical DNA (o-DNA) signature. A first mechanism is provided for obtaining a set of manufacturing errors inherent in an optical media instance. These errors can be encoded into the o-DNA that can be cryptographically signed with a private key, then embedded into the source optical media instance. A second mechanism is provided that can decrypt the o-DNA with a public key and compare the authenticated errors to the observed errors to ascertain whether the optical media instance is authentic as opposed to a forgery or counterfeit.

Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides for systems and/or methods for a dynamic range wireless access point to initiate deliberate and/or selective communications with one or more wireless devices over a short range radio path. One embodiment of an access point system comprises a processor that transfers one or more wireless devices to a long range radio path once a transition condition has been met. In another embodiment, an access point system may affect transactions between user/customer's smart devices and a commercial place of business where the access point system and the smart devices initiate communications when the smart devices are deliberately placed within the proximity of the access point antenna and/or the smart devices are brought within the vicinity of the access point antenna such as by passing through the entrance or exit to the place of business.

Abstract: Human body motion is represented by a skeletal model derived from image data of a user. Skeletal model data may be used to perform motion recognition and/or similarity analysis of body motion. An example method of motion recognition includes receiving skeletal motion data representative of a user data motion feature from a capture device relating to a position of a user within a scene. A cross-correlation of the received skeletal motion data relative to a plurality of prototype motion features from a prototype motion feature database is determined. Likelihoods that the skeletal motion data corresponds to each of the plurality of prototype motion features are ranked. The likelihoods are determined using the cross-correlation. A classifying operation is performed on a subset of the plurality of prototype motion features. The subset of the plurality of prototype motion features is chosen because its members have the relatively highest likelihoods of corresponding to the skeletal motion data.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for counterfeit prevention for optical media. In one example, a system is provided for verifying authenticity information on an optical medium. The system receives the optical medium including a fingerprint having at least one probabilistic feature. A probabilistic feature is a physical feature having both a substantial chance to be read as a first value and a substantial chance to be read as a second value. The system receives an o-DNA signature-at-issuance. The system calculates an o-DNA signature-at-verification by reading each probabilistic feature plural times. The system calculates a vector-of-differences between the o-DNA signature-at-issuance and the o-DNA signature-at-verification. The vector-of-differences includes a maximum distance metric between the o-DNA signature-at-issuance and the o-DNA signature-at-verification. The vector-of-differences indicates the optical medium is authentic if the maximum distance metric is less than a threshold.

Abstract: A system in which a discovering wireless device formulates a first discovery zone. In response to discovering a discoverable wireless device within the zone, the discovering wireless device establish a wireless communication channel with the discoverable wireless device using a powered wireless protocol, and communicates security data with the discoverable wireless device using the wireless communication channel. The discovering wireless device also formulates a second discovery zone that is larger than the first discovery zone, and uses the security data to pair with a target device within the second discovery zone. Thus, pairing is significantly simplified from a user perspective.

Abstract: Human Interaction Proofs (“HIPs”, sometimes referred to as “captchas”), may be generated automatically. An captcha specification language may be defined, which allows a captcha scheme to be defined in terms of how symbols are to be chosen and drawn, and how those symbols are obscured. The language may provide mechanisms to specify the various ways in which to obscure symbols. New captcha schemes may be generated from existing specifications, by using genetic algorithms that combine features from existing captcha schemes that have been successful. Moreover, the likelihood that a captcha scheme has been broken by attackers may be estimated by collecting data on the time that it takes existing captcha schemes to be broken, and using regression to estimate the time to breakage as a function of either the captcha's features or its measured quality.

Abstract: Radio frequency certificates of authenticity (RFCOAs) and associated scanners and methods are presented. In one implementation, an array of miniaturized antenna elements in an RFCOA scanner occupies an area smaller than a credit card yet obtains a unique electromagnetic fingerprint from an RFCOA associated with an item, such as the credit card. The antenna elements are miniaturized by a combination of both folding and meandering the antenna patch components. The electromagnetic fingerprint of an exemplary RFCOA embeddable in a credit card or other item is computationally infeasible to fake, and the RFCOA cannot be physically copied or counterfeited based only on possession of the electromagnetic fingerprint.