Patents Assigned to Authentec, Inc.
  • Patent number: 8984596
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a finger biometric sensor, a display, and a processor coupled with the finger biometric sensor and the display. The processor is capable of displaying a plurality of finger representations on the display corresponding to different fingers of a hand, enrolling respective user's fingers for the plurality of finger representations using the finger biometric sensor, displaying a menu of available functions on the display, associating at least some of the available functions with respective enrolled user's fingers, and performing a given function based upon a match of a newly sensed user's finger with a respective enrolled user's finger using the finger biometric sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephanie Griffin
  • Patent number: 8971594
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a housing with a connector member opening therein, electronic circuitry within the housing, and a finger sensor assembly carried by the housing. The finger assembly may include a thinned finger sensing integrated circuit (IC) secured to the housing that has a thickness less than 200 microns. The finger sensor assembly may also include a connector member extending through the connector member opening in the housing and coupling together the thinned finger sensing IC and the electronic circuitry. The thinned finger sensing IC may be adhesively secured to the housing, such as using a pressure sensitive adhesive, and the thinned finger sensing IC may conform to a non-planar surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter E. Sherlock, Philip J. Spletter
  • Patent number: 8903141
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a housing, and a finger sensor carried by the housing to sense a user's finger placement at different rotational angles. The electronic device may also include an orientation sensor carried by the housing to sense an orientation thereof, and a processor coupled to the finger sensor and the orientation sensor. The processor may acquire finger-matching biometric data of the user's finger at an unknown rotational angle relative to a known rotational angle of finger-enrollment data, generate an estimated rotational angle of the acquired finger-matching biometric data and based upon a sensed orientation of the housing, and attempt an authentication of the user based upon the estimated acquired rotational angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Allen Heilpern
  • Patent number: 8888004
    Abstract: A finger sensing device may include an array of finger sensing pixels to receive a user's finger adjacent thereto. Each finger sensing pixel may include a finger sensing electrode. The finger sensing device may include a finger drive electrode configured to couple a drive signal through the user's finger to the array of finger sensing pixels. The finger sensing device may also include differential pixel measurement circuitry coupled to the array of finger sensing pixels and configured to generate a plurality of interpixel difference measurements for adjacent pairs of the finger sensing pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale R. Setlak, Patrick J. Landy, Albert M. Straub, Roger Lee Schenk
  • Patent number: 8836478
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a housing and circuitry carried by the housing. The electronic device may also include a finger sensing device carried by the housing and coupled to the circuitry. The finger sensing device may include a mounting substrate, and a semiconductor interposer having a lower surface adjacent the mounting substrate. The finger sensing device may also include a plurality of semiconductor finger sensing die on an upper surface of the semiconductor interposer in side-by-side and abutting relation, and defining a finger sensing surface to receive at least one finger thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert H. Bond, Giovanni Gozzini
  • Patent number: 8831295
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a housing and at least one infrared (IR) proximity sensor carried by the housing. The at least one IR proximity sensor may include an IR emitter configured to emit IR illumination toward a user, and an IR sensor configured to sense reflected IR illumination from the user. The electronic device may also include a camera carried by the housing and configured to capture an image of the user's face based upon the reflected IR illumination. The electronic device may further include a controller configured to apply facial recognition to the captured image of the user's face based upon the reflected IR illumination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventor: David D. Coons
  • Patent number: 8803258
    Abstract: A finger sensing device may include a mounting substrate, an integrated circuit (IC) die carried by the mounting substrate and having an array of electric field-based finger sensing elements, and first electrical connections coupling the mounting substrate and the IC die. In addition, the finger sensing device may include a protective plate attached over the array of electric field-based finger sensing elements and having a dielectric constant greater than 5 in all directions and a thickness greater than 40 microns to define a capacitive lens for the array of electric field-based finger sensing elements. The finger sensing device may also include an encapsulating material adjacent the mounting substrate and the IC die and around at least the first electrical connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Giovanni Gozzini, Robert H. Bond
  • Patent number: 8736001
    Abstract: A fingerprint sensor may include a substrate, and a finger sensing IC on the substrate and including a finger sensing area on an upper surface thereof for sensing an adjacent finger. The fingerprint sensor may include an encapsulating material on the finger sensing IC and covering the finger sensing area, and a bezel adjacent the finger sensing area and on an uppermost surface of the encapsulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Salatino, Anthony Iantosca
  • Patent number: 8701267
    Abstract: A method of making finger sensor packages may include advancing a flexible circuit tape along a predetermined path of travel. The flexible circuit tape may include a flexible layer and conductive traces thereon defining individual flexible circuits. The method may include, as the flexible circuit tape is advanced along the path of travel, securing a respective finger sensing integrated circuit (IC) and surrounding sensor package frame to each flexible circuit, applying at least one fluid fill material adjacent each finger sensor IC while using the corresponding sensor package frame as a dam to thereby define finger sensor packages, and stamping out the finger sensor packages from the flexible circuit tape to form at least one flush common edge of each sensor package frame and individual flexible circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael P. Goldenberg, Roger Schenk, Phil Spletter, Yang Rao
  • Publication number: 20140056493
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a finger biometric sensor to sense a user's finger adjacent thereto, and a memory for storing finger matching biometric data and a subset of finger matching biometric data. The electronic device may include a processor coupled to the finger biometric sensor to acquire finger matching biometric data from the finger biometric sensor, and perform a finger pre-matching between a subset of the acquired finger matching biometric data and the subset of stored finger matching biometric data and based upon context data to generate pre-match data. The processor may also perform a finger matching between the acquired finger biometric data and the stored finger matching biometric data based upon the pre-match data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: AuthenTec, Inc.
    Inventor: Giovanni Gozzini
  • Patent number: 8656486
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a communications interface, a user prompting device, a biometric sensor, and a controller. The controller may perform biometric spoof detection with the biometric sensor, and receive a request for human presence verification from a remote device via the communications interface. The controller may also prompt the user for a verification action using the sensor based upon receiving the request, and determine that the user has completed the verification action in response to the prompting and based upon the biometric spoof detection. The controller may further send a response to the remote device via the communications interface and based upon determining that the user has completed the verification action. The controller may send a notification to the remote device that there is a biometric sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Glenn Hicks, Richard Albury, James W. Neil
  • Patent number: 8638994
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a finger sensor, a display, and a controller coupled to the finger sensor and the display. The controller may be configured to collect finger data from multiple portions of a user's finger as the user's finger is moved around on the finger sensor along a finger travel path. The controller may also be configured to generate on the display a finger movement trace corresponding to the finger movement travel path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Paul Kraemer, Peter E. Sherlock, James Warren Neil
  • Publication number: 20140026208
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a finger biometric sensor and a processor being switchable between a user-interface locked mode and a user-interface unlocked mode. The processor may cooperate with the finger biometric sensor to acquire spoof detection data based upon an object being placed adjacent the finger biometric sensor, and determine whether the acquired spoof detection data is representative of a live finger. The processor may also switch from the user-interface locked mode to the user-interface unlocked mode when the acquired spoof detection data is representative of a live finger, and cooperate with the finger biometric sensor to acquire biometric matching data. The processor may further perform finger matching based upon the acquired biometric matching data and stored biometric enrollment data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2012
    Publication date: January 23, 2014
    Applicant: AuthenTec, Inc.
    Inventor: David D. Coons
  • Patent number: 8616451
    Abstract: A finger sensing device may include a mounting substrate having a recess in a top surface thereof and having conductive through-vias extending from the top surface to a bottom surface. The conductive through-vias may extend laterally adjacent to the recess. The finger sensing device may also include a finger sensing integrated circuit (IC) die within the recess and may include a finger sensing area on a top surface thereof and bond pads on the top surface laterally adjacent the finger sensing area. The finger sensing device may also include a dielectric layer over the mounting substrate and the finger sensing IC die. The finger sensing device may further include a conductive pattern carried by the dielectric layer and coupling the conductive through-vias to respective ones of the bond pads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventor: Yang Rao
  • Patent number: 8618910
    Abstract: A finger biometric sensor may include a finger biometric sensing layer having an upper major surface and at least one sidewall surface adjacent thereto. The finger biometric layer may be for generating signals related to at least one biometric characteristic of the user's finger when positioned adjacent the first major surface. The finger biometric sensor may also include a piezoelectric transducer layer coupled to the at least one sidewall surface of the finger biometric sensing layer and a plurality of electrically conductive layers coupled to the piezoelectric transducer layer to define transducer electrodes. At least one of the electrically conductive layers may also cooperate with the finger biometric sensing layer for sensing the at least one biometric characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale R. Setlak, James W. Neil, Daryl D. Williams, Richard J. Jones, Nicolaas W. Van Vonno
  • Publication number: 20130341398
    Abstract: A finger sensing device may include a mounting substrate having a recess in a top surface thereof and having conductive through-vias extending from the top surface to a bottom surface. The conductive through-vias may extend laterally adjacent to the recess. The finger sensing device may also include a finger sensing integrated circuit (IC) die within the recess and may include a finger sensing area on a top surface thereof and bond pads on the top surface laterally adjacent the finger sensing area. The finger sensing device may also include a dielectric layer over the mounting substrate and the finger sensing IC die. The finger sensing device may further include a conductive pattern carried by the dielectric layer and coupling the conductive through-vias to respective ones of the bond pads.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Publication date: December 26, 2013
    Applicant: AuthenTec, Inc.
    Inventor: Yang Rao
  • Patent number: 8604905
    Abstract: A finger biometric sensor may include a finger biometric sensing layer having an upper major surface and at least one sidewall surface adjacent thereto. The finger biometric layer may be for generating signals related to at least one biometric characteristic of the user's finger when positioned adjacent the first major surface. The finger biometric sensor may also include a piezoelectric transducer layer coupled to the at least one sidewall surface of the finger biometric sensing layer and a plurality of electrically conductive layers coupled to the piezoelectric transducer layer to define transducer electrodes. At least one of the electrically conductive layers may also cooperate with the finger biometric sensing layer for sensing the at least one biometric characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale R. Setlak, James W. Neil, Daryl D. Williams, Richard J. Jones, Nicolaas W. Van Vonno
  • Patent number: 8598555
    Abstract: A finger sensing device may include an integrated circuit (IC) substrate and an array of pixels on the IC substrate. Each pixel may be selectively operable in at least a receiving mode for receiving radiation from an adjacent finger, or a transmitting mode for transmitting radiation into the adjacent finger. The finger sensing device may also include a controller coupled to the array of pixels for selectively operating at least one first pixel in the receiving mode, and while selectively operating at least one second pixel in the transmitting mode. Each pixel may also be selectively operable in a mask mode for neither receiving nor transmitting radiation. The controller may also selectively operate at least one third pixel in the mask mode while selectively operating the at least one first and second pixels in the receiving and transmitting modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Guerrero, Gordon S. Franza, Peter E. Sherlock
  • Patent number: 8582837
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) package includes at least one light source disposed together with an IC structure within an encapsulation structure. The material forming the encapsulation structure is generally opaque. Accordingly, the light source and at least a portion of the IC are not visible to the unaided human eye. The thickness and geometry of the encapsulation are such that when the light source is caused to emit light, the encapsulation structure permits at least a portion of that light to be visible to a user. The IC may be a portion of a fingerprint sensor, exposed for receiving a fingertip of a user. The light source, or a plurality of such light sources, may be functional (e.g., providing visual indication of the of the condition or state of an item of hardware or software, assist the user in operation of a device), be primarily aesthetic, or a combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Authentec, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Henry Bond, Alan Kramer, Giovanni Gozzini
  • Publication number: 20130294660
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a housing, and a finger sensor carried by the housing to sense a user's finger placement at different rotational angles. The electronic device may also include an orientation sensor carried by the housing to sense an orientation thereof, and a processor coupled to the finger sensor and the orientation sensor. The processor may acquire finger-matching biometric data of the user's finger at an unknown rotational angle relative to a known rotational angle of finger-enrollment data, generate an estimated rotational angle of the acquired finger-matching biometric data and based upon a sensed orientation of the housing, and attempt an authentication of the user based upon the estimated acquired rotational angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2012
    Publication date: November 7, 2013
    Applicant: AUTHENTEC, INC.
    Inventor: Mark Allen Heilpern