by Shane Henson — July 24, 2013—HID Global, a provider of secure identity solutions worldwide, announced this month that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted several patents for the company’s gesture-based methods of using three-dimensional (3-D) motion sequences to increase privacy, security, and convenience when using radio-frequency identification (RFID) based devices such as smart cards and near field communication (NFC)-enabled smartphones for a broad range of applications.
Building on its reputation for innovation, HID Global’s latest inventions allow a user to define a series of hand motion sequences or gestures to be used to control operation of an RFID-based device, introducing the notion of a new authentication factor. For example, when incorporated into a RFID smart card, a user can present the card to a reader, rotate the card 90 degrees to the right and then back to the original position to enable the card to be read. This greatly minimizes the possibility of a rogue device surreptitiously stealing the user’s RFID credential in a “bump and clone” attack.
According to the company, the invention opens up a new field of gesture-based authentication and is particularly pertinent when incorporated into an NFC-enabled mobile phone. Apart from the benefits of convenience and speed, the user can define gesture-based passwords to easily add an additional factor of authentication (e.g., something you know in addition to something you have) to the phone-based transaction. These user-defined, gesture-based passwords can also work in a two-dimensional mode similar to a combination lock, or they can also include 3-D motions such as moving to the left, right, forward and backward.
HID Global’s invention can also be utilized to unlock apps as well as to lock and unlock a door, similar to the way a mechanical key is used to lock and unlock a door. Additionally, it can allow the user to secretly signal that he is using his card or phone to gain access but is under duress.
HID Global has also received notification that the European Patent Office has indicated its intention to grant a patent, the company says.
