Patents by Inventor Kurt W. Somerville

Kurt W. Somerville has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Implicit authentication for unattended devices that need to identify and authenticate users
    Patent number: 11368454
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that authenticates a user of an unattended device. In response to sensing a presence of the user in proximity to the unattended device, the system makes a call from the unattended device to an authentication service to authenticate the user. In response to the call, the authentication service authenticates the user based on recently collected sensor data, which was obtained from one or more sensors in a portable electronic device belonging to the user. If authentication succeeds, the system allows the user to proceed with an interaction with the unattended device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Prove Identity, Inc.
    Inventors: John C. Whaley, Kurt W. Somerville
  • IDENTIFYING AND AUTHENTICATING USERS BASED ON PASSIVE FACTORS DETERMINED FROM SENSOR DATA
    Publication number: 20220075856
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that authenticates and/or identifies a user of an electronic device based on passive factors, which do not require conscious user actions. During operation of the system, in response to detecting a trigger event, the system collects sensor data from one or more sensors in the electronic device. Next, the system extracts a feature vector from the sensor data. The system then analyzes the feature vector to authenticate and/or identify the user, wherein the feature vector is analyzed using a model trained with sensor data previously obtained from the electronic device while the user was operating the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2021
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Inventors: John WHALEY, Kurt W. SOMERVILLE
  • IDENTIFYING AND AUTHENTICATING USERS BASED ON PASSIVE FACTORS DETERMINED FROM SENSOR DATA
    Publication number: 20220004611
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that authenticates and/or identifies a user of an electronic device based on passive factors, which do not require conscious user actions. During operation of the system, in response to detecting a trigger event, the system collects sensor data from one or more sensors in the electronic device. Next, the system extracts a feature vector from the sensor data. The system then analyzes the feature vector to authenticate and/or identify the user, wherein the feature vector is analyzed using a model trained with sensor data previously obtained from the electronic device while the user was operating the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: John Whaley, Kurt W. Somerville
  • Identifying and authenticating users based on passive factors determined from sensor data
    Patent number: 11176231
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that authenticates and/or identifies a user of an electronic device based on passive factors, which do not require conscious user actions. During operation of the system, in response to detecting a trigger event, the system collects sensor data from one or more sensors in the electronic device. Next, the system extracts a feature vector from the sensor data. The system then analyzes the feature vector to authenticate and/or identify the user, wherein the feature vector is analyzed using a model trained with sensor data previously obtained from the electronic device while the user was operating the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Payfone, Inc.
    Inventors: John Whaley, Kurt W. Somerville
  • IMPLICIT AUTHENTICATION FOR UNATTENDED DEVICES THAT NEED TO IDENTIFY AND AUTHENTICATE USERS
    Publication number: 20190245851
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that authenticates a user of an unattended device. In response to sensing a presence of the user in proximity to the unattended device, the system makes a call from the unattended device to an authentication service to authenticate the user. In response to the call, the authentication service authenticates the user based on recently collected sensor data, which was obtained from one or more sensors in a portable electronic device belonging to the user. If authentication succeeds, the system allows the user to proceed with an interaction with the unattended device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: UnifyID
    Inventors: John C. Whaley, Kurt W. Somerville
  • IDENTIFYING AND AUTHENTICATING USERS BASED ON PASSIVE FACTORS DETERMINED FROM SENSOR DATA
    Publication number: 20170337364
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that authenticates and/or identifies a user of an electronic device based on passive factors, which do not require conscious user actions. During operation of the system, in response to detecting a trigger event, the system collects sensor data from one or more sensors in the electronic device. Next, the system extracts a feature vector from the sensor data. The system then analyzes the feature vector to authenticate and/or identify the user, wherein the feature vector is analyzed using a model trained with sensor data previously obtained from the electronic device while the user was operating the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Applicant: UnifyID
    Inventors: John Whaley, Kurt W. Somerville