U.S. patent application number 09/851147 was filed with the patent office on 2002-10-31 for method and apparatus for automatic control of access.
This patent application is currently assigned to Shmuel LEVIN. Invention is credited to Ashkenazi, Shai, Levin, Shmuel.
Application Number | 20020162031 09/851147 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26956495 |
Filed Date | 2002-10-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020162031 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Levin, Shmuel ; et
al. |
October 31, 2002 |
Method and apparatus for automatic control of access
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling access of individuals to
a service, device or location in order to restrict access to
members of a particular age and/or gender category, by
machine-sensing a predetermined biometric characteristic of the
individual indicative of the particular age and/or gender category
and utilizing the machine-sensed characteristic for automatically
controlling access of the individual. The method and apparatus are
particularly suited to controlling access of children to
age-inappropriate Internet sites.
Inventors: |
Levin, Shmuel; (Rison Le
Zion, IL) ; Ashkenazi, Shai; (Rehovot, IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
G.E. EHRLICH LTD.
c/o ANTHONY CASTORINA
SUITE 207
2001 JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY
ARLINGTON
VA
22202
US
|
Assignee: |
Shmuel LEVIN
|
Family ID: |
26956495 |
Appl. No.: |
09/851147 |
Filed: |
May 9, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60273900 |
Mar 8, 2001 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
726/7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20130101;
H04L 63/0861 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
713/202 |
International
Class: |
H04L 009/32 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of controlling access of an individual to a service,
device or location in order to restrict access to members of a
particular category, comprising: machine-sensing at least one
predetermined biometric characteristic of the individual indicative
of said particular category; and utilizing said machine-sensed
characteristic for automatically controlling access of the
individual to said particular service, device or location.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said particular category is an
age category.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said particular category is a
gender category.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein said machine-sensed biometric
characteristic is the degree of ossification of an examined bone of
the individual.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein said degree of ossification of
the bone of the individual is determined by sensing the presence or
absence of a bone growth-plate in the examined bone.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said examined bone is a phalanx
of a finger or toe in the hand or foot of the individual.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein said examined bone is a wrist
bone in the wrist of the individual.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the gender of the individual is
also utilized, in addition to said degree of ossification of said
examined bone, for automatically controlling the access of the
individual to said particular service, device or location.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein facial characteristics of the
individual are machined-sensed by a camera to determine the
individual's gender.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensed biometric
characteristic of the individual is a facial characteristic sensed
by a camera.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said machine-sensed biometric
characteristic of the individual is a voice characteristic sensed
by a microphone.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the access controlled is access
to an electronic medium.
13. An apparatus for controlling access of an individual to a
service, device or location in order to restrict access to members
of a particular category, comprising: at least one sensor for
sensing at least one predetermined biometric characteristic of said
individual indicative of said particular category; and a data
processor for receiving the sensed biometric characteristic,
comparing the biometric characteristic to reference data that
correlates the biometric characteristic to the particular category,
and outputting a signal indicating whether or not access to said
particular service, device or location is permitted.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said reference data
correlates the sensed biometric characteristic to an age
category.
15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said reference data
correlates the sensed biometric characteristic to a gender
category.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said predetermined biometric
characteristic sensed by said sensor is the degree of ossification
of an examined bone of the individual.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said sensor senses the
degree of ossification of an examined bone of the individual by
sensing for the presence or absence of a bone growth-plate.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said sensor is an ultrasonic
sensor constructed for examining a phalanx of a finger or toe in
the hand or foot of said individual.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said sensor is an ultrasonic
sensor constructed for examining a wrist bone in the wrist of the
individual.
20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said reference data also
correlates the gender of the individual together with the degree of
ossification of the examined bone to said particular age category
for automatically controlling the access of the individual to said
particular service, device or location.
21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said sensor is a camera for
sensing the face of the individual.
22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said sensor is a microphone
for sensing the voice of the individual.
23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said sensor is housed in a
manual control member of an electronic medium.
24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said sensor is housed in an
electronic medium.
25. A memory device storing in an installable format a software
application for analyzing at least one biometric characteristic of
an individual to determine if said individual belongs to a
particular category; and for automatically controlling access of
the individual to a service, device or location in order to
restrict access according to said particular category.
26. The memory device of claim 25, wherein said particular category
is an age and/or gender category.
27. The memory device of claim 25, wherein said biometric
characteristic is the presence or absence of a bone
growth-plate.
28. A hardware storing in an executable format an application for
analyzing at least one biometric characteristic of an individual to
determine if said individual belongs to a particular category; and
for automatically controlling access of the individual to a
service, device or location in order to restrict access according
to said particular category.
29. The hardware of claim 28, wherein said particular category is
an age and/or gender category.
30. The hardware of claim 28, wherein said biometric characteristic
is the presence or absence of a bone growth-plate.
31. An apparatus for to restricting access or use to individuals
being members of a particular category, comprising, housed therein,
a sensor for sensing a predetermined biometric characteristic of
said individuals indicative of said particular category.
32. A method of conducting business comprising: upgrading a user
client to perform a biometric age and/or gender classification; and
selling or licensing to a service provider and/or content provider
an access control package operably communicating with said user
client.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 60/273,900, filed Mar. 8,
2001.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a method, apparatus and
commercial service for automatically controlling access of an
individual to a service, device or location. The method and
apparatus are particularly suitable for controlling access by
children to age inappropriate Internet sites or TV programs, and is
therefore described below primarily with respect to these
applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] With the rise of the Internet the question as to what extent
access to information can and should be controlled has become more
complicated than ever before. On the one hand, the freedom of
expression is a pinnacle of any liberal, democratic society. On the
other hand, cyberspace has made it possible for various undesirable
groups to project their messages and target victims without the
fear of consequence. While critics of Internet regulation often
fear unwanted government intrusion into the lives of civilians, few
groups dispute that material like pornography or depictions of
dehumanizing violence warrant some safeguards.
[0004] No group is more at risk from exposure to harmful material
via the Internet than children. The combination of the natural
curiosity of children with the almost endless quantity of
information in cyberspace, guarantees that some children will,
either intentionally or unintentionally, encounter materials that
they should not be seeing at a young age.
[0005] While children under the age of sixteen currently account
for almost 50 percent of the on-line population in the United
States, the vast majority of their activities on-line are
unsupervised. The nature of the Internet allows a child a fully
interactive experience from the "privacy" of home. In addition, at
present, many children are more knowledgeable about the Internet
than their parents.
[0006] Obviously, parental preferences regarding the control of
their children's Internet activity varies among parents. Most
people agree that regulation of child Internet activity is a right
and responsibility of parents in the same way that parents are
charged with raising their children in line with their own personal
moral and ethical values, as well as those of the society at
large.
[0007] Children differ from adults in that they are more vulnerable
and less able to apply critical judgment. Therefore parental
supervision of some sort has become paramount, but, at the same
time, the advent of the Internet poses a great difficulty to such
supervision.
[0008] Currently there are several methods of parental control for
the Internet. The most well-known and widely used is a blocking
system that relies on a Rating or Labeling systems wherein Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) offer an option to prevent underage users
from accessing sites of a certain rating. In addition, filtering
software systems that are used for this purpose have also been
developed.
[0009] However, such blocking and filtering systems are not
user-friendly, and they are far from being fool-proof. In order to
employ blocking, parents must set up separate accounts through the
ISP with separate passwords. This creates the difficulties of
remembering passwords while hiding them from children. In addition,
net-savvy children can figure out ways to gain access to the
passwords or bypass them altogether. Additionally, password systems
also suffer from problems such as being stolen, forgotten, shared,
or intercepted by hackers.
[0010] There are many instances where control of access according
to classification to a group of individuals is desired, carefully
balancing between the freedom to be engaged in various activities
and other values beneficial to the individual and/or society, such
as safety, privacy, negative influence, education and the freedom
to congregate. For example, it is well accepted that children
dedicated Internet sites should be protected from being accessed by
pedophiles, adult Internet sites that display pornography, for
example, should be forbidden for children to access, some
homosexuals related Internet sites, especially those sites serving
the lesbian community may wish to be gender restricted, so as to
allow only female access, access to public rest-rooms should be
gender restricted, the access of children to alcoholic beverage
selling businesses, restricted cinema movies, restricted shows,
etc., should be denied, the access of children to vending machines
offering cigarettes and/or liqueur should be forbidden, similarly,
the access of children to various danger imposing household
electronic or electrical devices, such as a stove, should be
restricted.
[0011] There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be
highly advantageous to have, a method and apparatus for
automatically controlling access of an individual to a service,
device or location, based on the classification of the individual
to a classification of individuals, such as age and/or gender
classification.
[0012] Biometric systems are known, which identify users using
fingerprints, palm prints, retinal identification, face
recognition, voice recognition and the like. Since in prior art
biometric systems access is based on whether the user is a
particular individual, rather than a member of a classification of
individuals, each user must be previously measured. In addition the
individual may over the time change classification (e.g., grow
older so as to be in a different age category) and would therefore
need to have his or her status changed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a
method of controlling access of an individual to a service, device
or location in order to restrict access to members of a particular
category, such as age category and/or gender category, the method
comprising machine-sensing a predetermined biometric characteristic
of the individual indicative of the particular category and
utilizing the machine-sensed characteristic for automatically
controlling access to the service, device or location.
[0014] According to further features in the preferred embodiment of
the invention described below, access is controlled to a service,
device or location, based on whether the individual is a child or
adult or in the alternative, a male or female. In a preferred
embodiment of the invention, the child or adult status is
determined by the degree of bone ossification of the individual by
sensing the presence, absence and/or thickness of a growth-plate in
an examined bone. Suitable software or hardware based logic
compares the sensed presence, absence or thickness of a bone
growth-plate to a database correlating the presence, absence or
thickness of the bone growth-plate to whether the individual is a
child or an adult. The individual is determined to be a child or an
adult and a signal is sent, indicating permission or denial of
access. Using the appropriate sensors, such as ultrasonic sensors,
microphones, cameras, respirators, skin attached sensors and the
like, other biometric parameters, such as voice, facial patterns,
respiration volume, skin thickness, biochemistry (e.g., blood
biochemistry) and the like can be sensed and used to classify an
individual into an age and/or gender classification group.
[0015] According to still further features in the described
preferred embodiment, access is automatically controlled to an
electronic medium such as specific Internet servers. Access, based
on whether the individual is a child or adult, is preferably
determined by sensing the presence, absence or thickness of a
growth-plate in an examined bone of the individual. Preferably, the
examined bone is a finger phalange or wrist of the individual and
it is preferably sensed using ultrasound technology. The ultrasound
device or other sensor is preferably housed in a manual control
member such as a computer input device such as a computer mouse or
keyboard, TV or Web TV remote control and the like, or in an
electronic or electrical device such as, but not limited to, a
computer, a telephone, a cellular telephone or a personal digital
assistant, especially of the type having Internet browsing
capabilities, a food processor and the like.
[0016] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided an
apparatus for controlling access to a service, device or location
in order to restrict access to members of a particular category,
such as age and/or gender category. The apparatus comprises a
sensor to sense a predetermined biometric characteristic of the
individual indicative of the particular age and/or gender category;
and a data processor. The data processor receives the sensed
biometric characteristic, compares the biometric characteristic to
a reference data that correlates the biometric characteristic to
the particular age and/or gender category, and outputs a signal
indicating whether or not access to the particular service, device
or location is permitted.
[0017] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a
memory device storing in an installable format a software
application for analyzing at least one biometric characteristic of
an individual to determine if the individual belongs to a
particular category, such as an age or gender category and
automatically controlling access of the individual to a service,
device or location in order to restrict access according to the
particular category.
[0018] In yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a
hardware, such as a computer or server (e.g., Internet server, ISP
server, for example), storing in an executable format an
application for analyzing at least one biometric characteristic of
an individual to determine if the individual belongs to a
particular category; and for automatically controlling access of
the individual to a service, device or location in order to
restrict access according to the particular category.
[0019] In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a
method of conducting business comprising upgrading a user client to
perform a biometric age and/or gender classification and selling or
licensing to the service provider and/or content provider an access
control package being operable with the user client.
[0020] It will be seen that the present invention as briefly
summarized above, enables access control to be effected in a manner
which is easy enough to be understood by parents, who may have
little or no experience with the Internet and which does not allow
bypass by children who are often far more experienced in using the
Internet than their parents. It can be implemented in an automatic
system not requiring special accounts with an Internet Service
Provider. Therefore, parents need not remember nor hide passwords,
and, children can not hack into the system.
[0021] The invention also does not require passwords, passcards, or
the like, so there is nothing to lose, misplace, have stolen, or
share. The invention uses a reference database and so does not need
to pre-measure individuals nor does it involve identifying a
particular individual. Also, the biometric characteristic, or
characteristics, used are those that are characteristic of a broad
category of individuals and therefore is not dependent on possible
changes in the individuals.
[0022] Furthermore, the use of a biometric characteristic that can
differentiate between children and adult and between genders, as in
the preferred embodiment of the invention, is particularly suited
to automatic control of children's access to certain Internet sites
or TV programs while retaining access for adults.
[0023] Further features, advantages and uses of the present
invention will be described and become apparent in the description
below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The invention is herein described, by way of example only,
with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific
reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the
particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of
illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present
invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is
believed to be the most useful and readily understood description
of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this
regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the
invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental
understanding of the invention, the description taken with the
drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the
several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
[0025] In the drawings:
[0026] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the method in accordance with the
teachings of the present invention;
[0027] FIGS. 2a-e illustrate several forms of apparatuses for
automatically controlling access in accordance with the present
invention;
[0028] FIG. 3 is a schematic presentation of a hardware such as a
server (e.g., Internet server, ISP server, for example) according
to the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 4 is a schematic presentation of a memory device
according to the present invention;
[0030] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one form of a method in accordance
with the teachings of the present invention;
[0031] FIG. 6 is a schematic presentation of a bone in the growth
stage;
[0032] FIG. 7 is an x-ray image of finger phalanges with a
schematic showing two possible measurement directions for sound
waves used in the ultrasound through-transmission technique of the
present invention;
[0033] FIG. 8 is a schematic presentation of a simulation of a bone
without a joint.
[0034] FIG. 9 is a schematic presentation of a simulation of a bone
with a joint at the end.
[0035] FIG. 10 is a schematic presentation of a simulation of a
bone with a growth-plate and a joint at the end.
[0036] FIG. 11 is a graph of the output using an alternate
embodiment (Pulse-Echo technique) of the present invention;
[0037] FIG. 12 is schematically shows the dependence of the speed
of sound in a bone at different ages throughout childhood and
maturity terms;
[0038] FIG. 13 illustrates a system for sensing both the gender and
bone growth plate of an individual for indicating an age category;
and
[0039] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the method for automatically
controlling access using the individual's gender and bone
growth-plate status according to preferred embodiments of the
present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0040] The present invention is of a method and apparatus which can
be used for instating a service for automatically controlling
access of an individual to a service, device or location.
Specifically, the present invention can be used to restrict access
of an individual to an age and/or gender inappropriate Internet
sites, TV programs, devices and/or locations, so as to carefully
balance between the freedom to be engaged in various activities and
other values beneficial to society such as safety, undesired
influence, privacy, freedom of expression, education and the
freedom to congregate.
[0041] The present invention can thus be used, for example, for
protecting children dedicated Internet sites from being accessed by
adults, restricting the access of children to adult Internet sites
that display pornography, violence and the like, restricting the
access of males to Internet sites serving the lesbian community,
restricting the access of children to alcoholic beverage selling
businesses, restricted cinema movies, restricted shows, etc.,
restricting the access to rest-rooms according to gender and
restricting the access of children to various danger imposing
household electronic or electric devices.
[0042] The principles and operation of the present invention may be
better understood with reference to the drawings and accompanying
descriptions.
[0043] Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention
in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited
in its application to the details of construction and the
arrangement of the components set forth in the following
description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is
capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out
in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology
and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description
and should not be regarded as limiting.
[0044] With reference now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a
flowchart demonstrating the basic concept of the method of the
present invention.
[0045] Thus, in one aspect thereof, the present invention provides
a method of controlling access of an individual to a service,
device or location, in order to restrict access to members of a
particular category, such as age and/or gender category. As
indicated by block 10, machine-sensing is used to sense or measure
a predetermined biometric characteristic of the individual,
indicative of a particular category to which the individual is
classified.
[0046] As is further detailed hereinafter, the machine-sensed
characteristic is then used for automatically controlling access of
the individual to a particular service, device or location.
[0047] To this end, as indicated by block 12, a sensor output and,
as indicated by block 14, reference data, are fed, as indicated by
block 16, into an access control logic (either access control logic
software, access control logic hardware/firmware or a combination
of both), which, as indicated by block 18, issues an access control
logic output, e.g., permission or denial of access.
[0048] The presently preferred embodiment of the invention,
described below in further detail, relates to a method and
apparatus for automatically controlling access to the Internet, or
particular Internet sites, based on whether the individual (user)
is a child or an adult and/or based on the gender of the
individual.
[0049] FIGS. 2a-e show several apparatuses which either inherently
include or are made to include in accordance with the teachings of
the present invention a sensor which can be used to sense a
biometric characteristic of an individual, being indicative of a
particular category such as age or gender.
[0050] Shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b are electronic media peripheral
devices 20, a computer input device 22 (a mouse in this case) in
FIG. 2a and a TV or Web TV remote control 26 in FIG. 2b. As would
become apparent to the skilled artisan, other peripheral devices,
such as the computer's keyboard are also envisaged useful for
practicing the invention.
[0051] Computer input device 22 has an appendage 22 for receiving a
user's finger or thumb. Computer input device 22 and appendage 24
house an ultrasound bone growth-plate measurement sensor, which
comprises an ultrasound transmitter 26 and receiver 28 for sensing
a bone of the user, including a finger or thumb placed between
appendage 24 and computer input device 22.
[0052] FIG. 2a shows transmitter 26 housed in appendage 24 and
receiver 28 housed in input device 22, however the locations can be
reversed. A cable 30 energizes ultrasound transmitter 26 and
outputs the data from receiver 28 to a sensor output unit.
[0053] Remote control 26 has an ultrasound transceiver 32 which
serves for transmitting ultrasound signals and receiving back
reflected ultrasound signals, so as to function similar to computer
input device 26, obviating the need for appendage 24.
[0054] FIGS. 2c-2e show various electronic/electrical devices 34
having one or more biometric sensors which are either inherent or
added thereto.
[0055] Thus, FIG. 2c shows a cellular telephone 36 having a
microphone 38 which is an inherent sensor to cellular telephones
and an ultrasound transceiver 32 which is not an inherent sensor to
a cellular telephone.
[0056] FIG. 2d shows a telephone or personal digital assistant 40
having Internet/TV access having a microphone 38 and a camera 42
which are inherent sensors to such devices and an ultrasound
transceiver 32 which is added thereto.
[0057] FIG. 2e shows a computer system 44 allowing Internet/TV
access having microphone 38 and camera 42 which are inherent
sensors to computer systems and ultrasound transceiver 32 which is
added thereto, through a computer input device 22 as is further
illustrated in FIG. 2a.
[0058] As shown in FIG. 1, access control logic receives the sensor
output, compares it to reference data, determines from this
comparison the age and/or gender category of the user, and sends an
access signal, which can be access permission or denial. It will be
appreciated that the access control logic can be housed (e.g.,
stored in an executable format) and/or executed from either the
devices shown, for example, in FIGS. 2a-e and/or similar devices,
or from a device with which these devices communicate, such as
various computers and/or servers, including, but not limited to,
Internet servers, including ISP servers, content provider servers
and filtering servers, servers of TV/Cable/Satellite broadcasters,
telephony servers, cellular provider servers, etc.
[0059] Thus, further in accordance with the teachings of the
present invention there is provided, as shown in FIG. 3, a hardware
46, which can be, for example, a server, a computer (e.g., a user
client) or a logic chip (firmware), storing in an executable format
an application for analyzing at least one biometric characteristic
of an individual to determine if the individual belongs to a
particular category; and for automatically controlling access of
the individual to a service, device or location in order to
restrict access according to the particular category.
[0060] The terms "user client" and/or "server", also referred to
herein invariably as "computational devices", include, but are not
limited to, personal computers (PC) having an operating system such
as DOS, Windows.TM., OS/2.TM. or Linux; Macintosh.TM. computers;
computers having JAVA.TM.-OS as the operating system; graphical
workstations such as the computers of Sun Microsystems.TM. and
Silicon Graphics.TM., and other computers having some version of
the UNIX operating system such as AIX.TM. or SOLARIS.TM. of Sun
Microsystems.TM.; or any other known and available operating
system, or any device, including but not limited to: laptops,
hand-held computers, PDA (personal data assistant) devices,
cellular telephones, any type of WAP (wireless application
protocol) enabled devices, wearable computers of any sort, which
can be connected to a network and which has an operating system.
Hereinafter, the term "Windows.TM." includes but is not limited to
Windows95.TM., Windows 3.x.TM. in which "x" is an integer such as
"1", Windows NT.TM., Windows98.TM., Windows CE.TM.,
Windows2000.TM., and any upgraded versions of these operating
systems by Microsoft Corp. (USA).
[0061] For the present invention, a software application could be
written in substantially any suitable programming language, which
could easily be selected by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Evidently, the programming language chosen should be compatible
with the computational device with which the software application
is executed. Examples of suitable programming languages include,
but are not limited to, C, C++, Perl, VisualBasic and Java.
[0062] In addition, the present invention could be implemented as
software, firmware or hardware, or as a combination thereof. For
any of these implementations, the functional steps performed by the
method could be described as a plurality of instructions performed
by a data processor.
[0063] As shown in FIG. 4, in its software form, the application is
installed into hardware 46 from a memory device 48 which stores in
an installable format a software application for analyzing at least
one biometric characteristic of an individual to determine if said
individual belongs to a particular category; and for automatically
controlling access of the individual to a service, device or
location, in order to restrict access according to the particular
category.
[0064] Memory device 48 can be, for example, a RAM, a ROM, a CD, a
DVD or a hard drive of any type of a nearby or remote computational
device, from which application data can be installed or
alternatively downloaded and thereafter installed.
[0065] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the method of the present
invention when using an ultrasonic device as a biometric
sensor.
[0066] First, as indicated by block 50, the presence, absence or
thickness of a bone growth-plate in a finger phalanx of the user is
sensed and/or measured. The, measurement output, as indicated by
block 52 is then compared to a reference data correlating the
presence, absence or measure of a bone growth-plate to child or
adult status, and, as indicated by block 54, the individual is
determined to be a child or adult. Based on this determination, a
signal is sent, indicating permission or denial of access to, for
example, a particular Internet site, a particular telephone number,
a particular TV/Cable show, a particular electronic or electrical
device or a particular location.
[0067] Further explanation of the preferred embodiment of the
present invention requires background on bone growth, cartilage,
and puberty.
[0068] FIG. 6 is a schematic presentation of one end of a bone 60
in its growth stage. Elongation of the bone shaft (also known as
the diaphysis) 62 is what makes an individual or part thereof grow.
After birth, a thin plate of cartilage (known as Epiphyseal
Cartilage, Epiphyseal Plate or bone growth-plate) which is referred
to herein as growth-plate 64, remains at the ends of growing bones.
This growth-plate only becomes bone (ossifies) when the bone
associated with it has completed its growth. The growth-plate
connects a head (epiphysis) 66 of bone 60 to bone shaft (diaphysis)
62.
[0069] As the cartilage of the growth-plate grows (always in the
direction toward the epiphysis), it is replaced continuously by
newly formed bone (always on the side toward the diaphysis). No
further longitudinal growth of the bone takes place after the
growth of the growth plate ceases.
[0070] Bone formation, also called ossification, is the process by
which new bone material is produced. Ossification begins about the
third month of fetal life in humans and is completed by late
adolescence. Bone growth occurs when a gelatinous substance is
secreted in the cartilage. Soon after, inorganic salts are
deposited in the gelatin to form the hardened material known as
bone. While the bone is growing, the growth-plate is continually
growing and being replaced by bone. When the bone is in the growth
period, the growth-plate grows at about the same rate as it is
turned into bone. Thus the growth-plate remains at a relatively
constant thickness until bone growth is completed, at which time
the growth-plate disappears, as it ossifies.
[0071] Not all bones stop growing at the same age. Bone growth ends
and the growth-plate disappears following a chronological order
according to the skelatal maturation and growth process. The last
bone growth, and so ultimate disappearance of growth-plates, occurs
at around age 20. While growing, the growth plate is said to be
"open." When the growth-plate has disappeared (having been replaced
by bone at the end of the growth period), it is said to be
"closed."
[0072] Bone growth from ages 11 to 18 years has a strong
relationship to puberty status, and thus gender, since girls
generally experience puberty about one years prior to boys. In the
United States, puberty starts at the mean age of 11 years for boys
and 10 years for girls. International studies in Western countries
report similar ages. The end of puberty occurs about 2.5 to 3 years
after the first sex characteristics appear. Therefore the end of
puberty typically occurs at age 13.5-14 years in boys and 12.5-13
in girls.
[0073] Bone age has been used as a clinical tool to assess the
point at which a child arrives in his or her skeletal development.
Towards the end of puberty, the bone growth-plate is ossified into
bone and is no longer recognizable using, for example, x-ray
imaging. FIG. 7 shows an x-ray image of finger phalanges of a
child.
[0074] There are different methods for determining bone by taking
x-rays of the wrist and hand and comparing them with pictures and
drawings in Atlases and tables. The methods of Gruelich & Pyle
(GP) and Tanner & Whitehouse, (TW2) are the most utilized.
These methods, as well as other relevant data, are described in,
for example, the following publications, the contents of which are
incorporated by reference:
[0075] Pediatric endocrinology; ed. J. Bertrand et al. Williams
& Wilkins (Baltimore) 1993;
[0076] Radiographic Atlas of Skeletal Development for the hand and
wrist. W. W. Gruelich & S. I. Pyle;
[0077] Assessment of skeletal maturity and prediction of adult
height. J. U. Tanner & R. H. Whitehouse;
[0078] Mechanism of the stimulatory effect of GH on longitude bone
growth. O. Isaksson et al. Endocrine reviews. 8(4);426:1987;
[0079] Williams Textbook of endocrinology. 9th ed. W. B. Saunders
Company, Philadelphia;
[0080] Best and Taylor's physiological basis of medical practice.
11th ed. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore/London;
[0081] M. E. Herman-Giddens et al. Secondary sexual characteristics
and menses in young girls. Pediatrics 89;505-512,1997;
[0082] F. M. Biro, A. W. Lucky, G. A. Hoster. Pubertal staging in
boys. J. Pediatrics 127;40-46,1995;
[0083] S. J. Ulijszek, E. Evnas, D. S. Miller. Age of menarche of
European, afro-Caribbean and Ino-Pakistani schoolgirls living in
London. Ann Human Biology 18;167-75:1991;
[0084] M. A. Sperling ed. Pediatric endocrinology, W. B. Saunders
Company. Ovary and female sexual maturation disorders of sexual
differentiation and puberty;
[0085] P. C. Sizonenco. Pediatrics 14;191-120:1987;
[0086] A. F. Roche, R. Wellens et al. Timing of sexual maturation
in a group of US white youths. J. Pediatric endocrinology and
Metabolism 8;11-18:1995;
[0087] Elliot, Glenn R. and Feldman, Shirley S. (1995). At the
Threshold, The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, Mass. and London,
England. Harvard University Press;
[0088] Tanner J M: Growth at Adolescence, 2.sup.nd ed. (1962)
Blackwell scientific publications, Oxford;
[0089] Greulich W .W. & Pyle S. I. (1959) Radiographic Atlas of
Skeletal Development of Hand and Wrist. Stanford University Press,
California;
[0090] Elgenmark O: The normal development of the ossific centers
during infancy and childhood. Acta Pediatr Scand 1946; 33 (suppl.
1);
[0091] De Roo T et al. (1976) Pocket atlas for skeletal age.
Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands;
[0092] Annemieke M et al: Bone mineral density in children and
adolescents: relation to puberty, calcium intake and physical
activity. J Clin Endocrinol Metabl997; 82:57-62;
[0093] Kendig's Disorders of the respiratory tract in children. Ed.
Chemick. 5.sup.th edition, 1990, Saunders;
[0094] Lucas W P) et al J Pediatr 6:533-545, 1935;
[0095] Adolescene (5.sup.th edition) Laurence Steinberg 1996.
[0096] The CIBA collection of Medical Illustrations, volume 4,
Endocrine systems and selected metabolic diseases, Frank. H.
Netter, M. D. 1970.
[0097] From these publications and irrespective of gender and
ethnicity, one can conclude the following:
[0098] Almost all children have an "open" epiphyseal plate, as
follows:
[0099] In the phalanges--an "open" epiphyseal plate is detectable
up to the age of 12.5 years for girls; and 14 years for boys. At
the age of 14.5 years for girls and 16.5 years for boys, only in
about 2.5% of the population an "open" epiphyseal plate is
detectable in the phalanges.
[0100] In the wrist (ulna)--an "open" epiphyseal plate is
detectable up to up to the age of 13 years in girls; and 14.5 years
in boys. At the age of 17 years for girls and 18 years for boys,
only in about 2.5% of the population an "open" epiphyseal plate is
detectable in the phalanges.
[0101] In the wrist (radius)--an "open" epiphyseal plate is
detectable up to up to the age of 15 years for both girls and boys.
At the age of 17 years for both girls and boys, only in about 2.5%
of population an "open" epiphyseal plate is detectable in the
phalanges.
[0102] Thus, one can assume that in 97.5% of all children, the
lowest threshold for the "open" plates is at age 12.5, and the
highest threshold for "closed" plates is at age 18. However, in
some other existing long bones of the body (like the leg tibia) the
epiphyseal plate may still remain "open" (not ossified) until the
age of 20 years.
[0103] Having such a correlation between the presence of a
growth-plate to puberty stage and chronological age known,
growth-plate sensing/measurement may be used to provide an
indication of chronological age.
[0104] The presently preferred embodiment of the invention uses
Ultrasound Through-Transmission technology to determine
growth-plate status.
[0105] A pulse of ultrasound energy is transmitted from one side to
the other side of the location where the development of the
growth-plates occurs. The ultrasound propagation velocity can be
measured by measuring the pulse flight time and the distance
between the transmitter and the receiver (see FIG. 2a). The ratio
of the distance to the time of flight is the effective sound
velocity in the tissue. It is an "effective" sound velocity in the
sense that it is an average sound velocity through the different
types of tissue along the ultrasound trajectory.
[0106] The sound velocity in tissues of different types is listed
below:
[0107] Fat: 1460-1480 m/s
[0108] Blood: 1560-1590 m/s
[0109] Muscle: 1500-1600 m/s
[0110] Cartilage: 1750 m/s
[0111] Trabecular bone: 1700-2000 m/s
[0112] Cortical bone: 3000-4200 m/s (age dependent)
[0113] Sound velocity measurements can be clearly distinguished
between cortical bone and cartilage because of the large difference
in the sound velocity in these two types of tissue. Thus the
measurement location should be designed such that the sound waves
are passing across an area where bone and growth-plate are
interfacing.
[0114] The through-transmission method can be applied in two
configurations: transverse transmission, and axial transmission. In
the transverse transmission mode, the ultrasonic pulse propagates
in a perpendicular direction to the long bone axis. The
transmission line in this mode should cross the growth-plate
region. This method is used in most of the ultrasonic bone strength
assessment instruments (osteoporosis diagnostics). These
instruments typically measure either calcaneus (heel) bones or the
phalanx (finger or toe) bones.
[0115] Two Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo techniques, referred to
hereinbelow as "Technique A" and "Technique B", may be used to
measure the growth-plate thickness.
[0116] Technique A: The pulse-echo technique is the underlying
technology of medical ultrasonic imaging. An ultrasonic transducer
transmits a pulse of ultrasound, and the same transducer (which
hence serves as a transceiver, see FIGS. 2b-2d) collects the echoes
that are scattered backwards from different types of tissues along
the transmission line. By scanning the transmission line and
mapping the intensity of the back-scattering signal, an image of
internal organs can be produced. Cartilage tissue (e.g.,
growth-plate) is characterized by very weak scattering and
therefore shows as dark areas in ultrasound imaging. The interface
between the cartilage and the soft tissues and the interface
between the cartilage and bone reflect ultrasound much better and
thus appears as bright lines in ultrasound imaging.
[0117] With software to quantify the thickness of the dark area
(growth-plate) this technique can be used to determine the
thickness of bone growth-plate and to correlate it to age according
to a predetermined reference data.
[0118] FIG. 7 shows an x-ray image of finger phalanges of a child
with a schematic showing two possible measurement directions for
sound waves used in the ultrasound through-transmission technique
of the present invention.
[0119] Technique B: A special type of pulse-echo technique, which
utilizes the higher speed of sound in the bones, can be
alternatively used.
[0120] In this technique the ultrasound is propagated along the
bone axis and echoes from different structures in the bone, such as
the growth-plate, are collected. A typical suitable frequency range
for this technique is 0.5 MHz to 2 MHz. The first part of the
received signal contains high amplitude reverberations caused by
multiple reflections from objects and interfaces in the vicinity of
the transducer. The temporal extension of these echoes is
designated as "dead zone" since no other reflections can be
identified during this initial period. The problem of dead zone is
usually overcome by designing delay lines on the transducer face.
Any reflection that arrives after the dead zone can be identified
in the echo signal if the reflection amplitude is higher than the
noise level. The signal-to-noise ratio levels is usually optimized
by a proper selection of the bandwidth of the receiving electronic
circuits and careful shielding techniques. When applying the
technique to a long bone that has a distal (or proximal) part, the
echo pattern will have a double (long) reflection when there is
still cartilage in the growth-plate, and a single (short)
reflection when there is no cartilage.
[0121] This technique will now be further illustrated by reference
to FIGS. 8-11.
[0122] FIG. 8 is a schematic presentation of a long bone in an area
away from a joint and growth plate, illustrating the bone at 70 and
surrounding soft tissue (muscle, skin, fat, blood, etc.) at 72
(hereinafter, configuration A).
[0123] FIG. 9 is a schematic presentation of a long bone 70 in an
area that includes a joint, but has no growth-plate (i.e., an adult
bone), the joint being simulated by a 1 mm thick cartilage 74 and 1
mm soft tissue 76 (hereinafter, configuration B).
[0124] FIG. 10 is a schematic presentation of a long bone in an
area away that includes a joint, having a growth-plate (i.e., a
child's bone), the joint being simulated by 1 mm thick cartilage 74
and the growth-plate being simulated by a 2 mm thick cartilage 78
(hereinafter, configuration C).
[0125] FIG. 11 shows the outputs of the Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo
system using technique B.
[0126] Echoes are seen as "blips" in the output curves. A long bone
without a joint or growth-plate (configuration A, FIG. 8) has no
echoes after the initial "dampening" period.
[0127] A long bone with a joint but no growth-plate (adult bone,
configuration B, FIG. 9) has only one significant echo after the
initial "dampening" period, at around 32 microseconds after the
pulse transmission.
[0128] A long bone with a joint and a growth-plate (child's bone,
configuration C, FIG. 10) has several significant echoes after the
initial "dampening" period, at around 26 microseconds.
[0129] The parameters used in the simulation were:
1 Longitude velocity Attenuation at Attenuation Slope (m/s) 1 MHz
(dB/cm) (dB/cm/MHz) Soft tissue 1580 0.05 0.1 Bone 2900 2 4
Cartilage 1800 0.03 0.07 Pulse center frequency: 0.5 MHz; Pulse
duration: 1 microsecond
[0130] In another embodiment of the present invention, bone mineral
density is used as a biometric feature to determine the age of a
user.
[0131] In both of the ultrasonic through transmission methods
described herein, a significant part of the pulse trajectory passes
in bone tissue. The measured effective velocity is thus influenced
by the mechanical properties of the bone.
[0132] The variation in the properties of bones during the growth
period of children have been studied by Dual Energy X-Ray
Absorption (DEXA) techniques and Quantitative Ultrasound (QUS)
techniques. To this end, see:
[0133] J. M. Lappe, M. Stegman, K. M. Davies, S. Barber and R. R.
Recker; "A prospective study of quantitative ultrasound in children
and adolescents"; J. Clin. Densitometry 3(2), 167-175 (2000).
[0134] M. H. Lequin, R. R. van Rijn, S. G. F. Robben, W. C. J. Hop
and C. van Kuijk; "Normal values for tibial quantitative
ultrasonometry in Caucasian children and adolescents (aged 6 to 19
years)"; Calcified Tissue Int. 67, 101-105 (2000).
[0135] A. Eliakim, D. Nemet and B. Wolach; "Quantitative ultrasound
measurements of bone strength in obese children and adolescents";
J. Pediatr. Endocrinol. Metab. 14(2), 159-164 (Feb. 2001).
[0136] Z. Halaba and W. Pluskiewicz; "The assessment of development
of bone mass in children by quantitative ultrasound through the
proximal phalanxes of the hand"; Ultrasound Med. Biol. 23(9),
1331-1335 (1997).
[0137] These studies demonstrate that both the mineral density of
bones measured using DEXA, and the mechanical strength, as probed
by the QUS techniques, increase during the childhood growth
period.
[0138] These finding imply that any bone properties assessment
technique (such as DEXA, QUS) can be used independently to
establish age group classification.
[0139] FIG. 12 schematically shows the dependence of the speed of
sound in a bone at different ages throughout the childhood and
maturity terms.
[0140] The proposed through transmission techniques in which the
pulse transverse both through the growth plate and through bone,
combine two parameters: the bone speed of sound (SOS) and the
growth plate thickness. Since both of these parameters change with
age, the resulting effective SOS can be used for the classification
of age groups as well as any one of these parameters alone.
[0141] In another embodiment of the present invention, optical
transmission, rather than ultrasound transmission, is used to
detect the presence or absence of a bone growth-plate in an
examined bone.
[0142] Light propagates through different types of tissues in a
different manner. There are two major mechanisms involved in light
propagation through tissues: light absorption and light scattering.
The absorption mechanism transforms light energy into heat through
the interaction of the light radiation with the specific materials
that constitute the tissue. The light scattering mechanism involves
a process where the light radiation interacts with macroscopic
objects like cell membranes, resulting in a change of the momentum
of the radiation without energy conversion processes.
[0143] Light absorption is described by an absorption coefficient,
ma, in the following manner:
[0144] The reduction in the intensity of a light due to absorption
in a sample of thickness d is equal to exp(-m.sub.ad). Light
scattering is characterized by a scattering coefficient, m.sub.s,
which describes the reduction of the intensity of the non-scattered
light after propagating a distance d in a scattering material. This
reduction is equal to exp(-m.sub.sd). In a simplified model of
light propagation through biological tissues the effect of both
scattering and absorption can be described approximately as an
effective attenuation coefficient, m.sub.t, obeying the following
equation:
.mu..sub.t={square root}{square root over
(3.mu..sub.a(1-g).mu..sub.s)}
[0145] where g is the average of the cosine of the scattering
angles; typically between 0.85 to 0.95 in biological tissues.
[0146] Light propagation in soft tissues, like fat and muscles, was
studied intensively in the last two decades. Therefore, reliable
data concerning soft tissue optical properties is available.
Measurement of the optical properties of cartilage is also
available due to the interest in optical techniques for cartilage
reshaping (e.g., high-power laser ablation techniques). Several
studies published in the recent years indicate that the optical
effective light attenuation in cortical bone is significantly
higher than the optical attenuation in both soft tissue and
cartilage. To this end, see:
[0147] D. W. Ebert, C. Roberts, S. K. Farra, W. M. Johnston, A.
S.Litsky and A. L. Bertone; "Articular cartilage optical properties
in the spectral range 300-850 nm"; Journal of Biomedical Optics
3(3), 326-333 (July 1998);
[0148] A. Takeuchi, R. Araki, S. G. Proskurin, Y. Takahashi, Y.
Yamada, J. Ishi, S. Katayama and A. Itabashi; "A new method of bone
tissue measurement based upon light scattering"; Journal of Bone
and Mineral Research 12(2), 261-266 (1997); and
[0149] A. Okamoto Ugnel and P. A. Oberg; "The optical properties of
the cochlear bone"; Med. Eng. Phys. 19(7), 630-636 (March
1997).
[0150] Therefore a measurement of optical transmission through
fingers or the wrist can also be used to identify the status of the
bone/growth-plate. Devices operable in accordance with the above
description shall therefore include a light source and a light
sensor, positioned in a spaced apart configuration essentially as
described for transmitter and receiver 26 and 28 in FIG. 2a.
[0151] In another embodiment of the present invention, skin
parameters are used for age determination. The properties of the
skin such as the skin thickness and ultrasonic echogenicity evolves
during the childhood period. Probing of these parameters can be
utilized in the classification to age groups according to the
present invention. Seidenari et al. [S. Seidenari, G. Giusti, L.
Bertoni, C. Magnoni and G. Pellacani; "Thickness and echogenicity
of the skin in children as assessed by 20-MHz ultrasound";
Dermatology 201(3), 218-222 (2000)] studied both the skin thickness
and the ultrasonic echogenicity of the skin in children and adults.
The study revealed age-related variations in both skin thickness
and in the ultrasonic echogenicity of the skin.
[0152] As stated above, gender determination is also within the
scope of the present invention. Gender determination can be used
for assisting in age determination which is based on bone
growth-plate measurements, as gender related differences in bone
growth-plate are apparent, as well as for restricting the access of
a specific gender to, for example, Internet sites, rest-rooms,
etc., for reasons further detailed above.
[0153] Referring now to FIGS. 13 and 14. In this embodiment of the
present invention the biometric characteristics of voice and/or of
facial features are used to determine the sex of the user, so as to
increase the accuracy in determining whether the user is a child or
adult, since bone growth is somewhat different for boys and girls
as indicated earlier.
[0154] FIG. 13 is a schematic presentation of the system. It
includes, an ultrasonic sensor 100 which generates a sensor output
102, a camera 104 to sense facial features and/or a microphone 106
to sense voice features of the user. Software 108 compares the
outputs of camera 104 and/or microphone 106 with reference data
110, which correlates voice and/or facial characteristics to
gender, so as to determine the gender of the user. Software 108
thus determines the gender of the user to indicate whether a
female/age reference data 112 or a male growth-plate/age reference
data 114 is to be used by an access control logic 116 to determine
the access status as an output 118.
[0155] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the method that uses
both the presence, absence or measure of a bone growth-plate and
the determination of the gender of an individual, to control
access.
[0156] Thus, as shown in FIG. 13, this method includes the
following operations: measuring the user's finger-bone growth plate
(block 120); measuring certain voice and/or facial features
characteristics of gender (block 122); analyzing voice and/or
facial features to determine whether the user is a male or a female
(block 124); comparing the growth-plate measurement with reference
data for males (block 126) or for females (block 128), as
appropriate; and outputting a signal output indicating permission
or denial of access (block 130), according to the results of this
comparison.
[0157] While the invention has been described with respect to
several embodiments, it will be appreciated that these are set
forth merely for purposes of example, and that many other
variations, modifications, and applications of the invention may be
made. For example, while the description has mainly related to the
use of the parameter of age to control access to the Internet,
there are other parameters that can be used and other locations
controlled. For instance, access may be based on the parameter of
gender, e.g., to control access to a rest-room or a gay site.
Access can also be controlled to other locations (e.g., bars,
liquor stores, "adult" movie theaters, cigarette vending machines,
gambling establishments, amusement rides, etc.), to other
electronic media (e.g., TV programs, video, radio, tape compact
disk and cassette players), to other computer related locations
such as the computer itself or a video/computer game, to the
telephone (e.g., chat numbers, shopping lines, adult lines). In
addition to sensing the growth-plate in finger bones, other bone
related biometric characteristics to be sensed include wrist, heel,
or other bones. Other biometric characteristics to be sensed may
include facial development, voice tone or vibration, dental
development, skin condition, lung capacity, handwriting, hormones,
minerals, chemical composition, hair, saliva, use of language or
vocabulary, or body fat, each of which may by itself, and/or in
combination with other data be indicative of age and/or gender.
[0158] The following references, for example, teach facial/voice
recognition algorithms which can be used for determining the gender
of an individual:
[0159] C. Adam, F. Eckstein, S. Milz, E. Schulte, C. Becker and R.
Putz; "The distribution of cartilage thickness in the knee-joints
of old-aged individuals--measurement by A-mode ultrasound";
Clinical Biomechanics 13(1), 1-10 (January 1998).
[0160] F. Eckstein, C. Adam, H. Sittek, C. Becker, S. Milz, E.
Schulte, M. Reiser and R. Putz; "Non-Invasive determination of
cartilage thickness throughout surfaces using magnetic resonance
imaging"; Journal of Biomechanics 30(3), 285-289 (1997).
[0161] F. Lefebvre, N. Graillat, E. Cherin and G. Berger;
"Automatic three-dimensional reconstruction of articular cartilage
from high-resolution ultrasound acquisitions"; Ultrasound in
Medicine and Biology 24(9), 1369-1381 (1998).
[0162] A. M. Aisen, W. J. McCune, A. MacGuire, P. L. Carson, T. M.
Silver, S. Zafar Jefri and W. Martel; "Sonographic evaluation of
the cartilage of the knee"; Radiology 153, 781-784 (1984).
[0163] J. Hodler and D. Resnick; "Current status of imaging of
articular cartilage"; Skeletal Radiology 25, 703-709 (1996).
[0164] E. A. Ginzel and R. K. Ginzel; "Ultrasonic properties of a
new low attenuation dry couplant elastomer"; NDTnet--Feb. 1996 vol.
1, No. 2.
[0165] M. E. Zevallos, S. K. Gayen, B. B. Das, M. Alrubaiee and R.
R. Alfano; "Picosecond electronic time-gated imaging of bones in
tissues"; IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
5(4), 916-922 (July 1999).
[0166] V. Perapavat, W. Runge, J. Mans, A. Krause, J. Beuthan and
G. Muller; "Development of a finger joint phantom for the optical
simulation of early stages of Rheumatoid Arthritis"; Biomed.
Technik 42, 319-326 (Nov. 1997).
[0167] K. T.Dussik, D. J. Fritch, M. Kyriazidou and R. S. Sear;
"Measurements of articular tissue with ultrasound"; Am. J. of Phys.
Med. 37, 160-165 (1958).
[0168] S. A. Goss, R. L. Johnston and F. Dunn; "Comprehensive
compilation of empirical ultrasonic properties of mammalian
tissues"; J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64 (2), 423-457 (1978).
[0169] D. Hans, C. Wu, C. F. Njeh, S. Zhao, P. Augat, D. Newitt, T.
Link, Y. Lu, S. Majumdar and H. K. Genant; "Ultrasound velocity of
trabecular cubes reflects mainly bone density and elasticity";
Calcif. Tissue Int. 64(1), 18-23 (Jan. 1999).
[0170] The Facial Recognition Project (FERET) sponsored by the US
Defense Department.
(www.dodcounterdrug.com/facialrecognition/).
[0171] The M2VTS Project: Multi-modal Biometrics Person
Authentication. (www.tele.ac1.be/PROJECTTS/M2VTS/).
[0172] Testing with the YOHO CD-ROM Voice Verification Corpus
Project, sponsored by the US Defense Department.
(www.biometrics.org/REPORTS/ICASS- P95.html).
[0173] The Center for Spoken Language Research (CSLR) University of
Colorado, Boulder. (www.cslr.colorado.edu/welcome.html).
[0174] Face Recognition and Gender Determination, Laurenz Wiskott
(1995) IWAFGR'95, Zurich
(www.cnl.salk.edu/.about.wiskott/Abstract/Wise Felkrue95.html).
[0175] Algorithm of Facial Aging, National Library of Medicine,
PubMed Entry No. 10946949.
[0176] It will be appreciated by the schooled artisan that a
plurality of biometric sensors, which measure different biometric
parameters, can be used while implementing the present invention.
These include, for example, magnetic sensors, infrasonic sensors,
vibration detecting sensors and biochemical sensors.
[0177] Thus, the present invention provides a method and apparatus
for controlling access of individuals to a service, device or
location in order to restrict access to members of a particular age
and/or gender category, by machine-sensing a predetermined
biometric characteristic of the individual indicative of the
particular age and/or gender category and utilizing the
machine-sensed characteristic for automatically controlling access
of the individual. The method and apparatus are particularly suited
to controlling access of children to age-inappropriate Internet
sites and offers a plurality of advantages, some of which are
briefly discussed hereinbelow:
[0178] First, the present invention provides for full automation,
whereas no supervision is required.
[0179] Second, the present invention is thorough in that it
precludes circumvention by use, for example, of forged, stolen, or
falsified documents, or use of a stolen or hacked password.
[0180] Third, the present invention provides for an objective
solution to age verification, as no judgment is necessary or
misapplied. There is no decision needed on whether to apply the
test and it cannot be circumvented.
[0181] Fourth, the present invention provides for an easier, less
intrusive, more transparent means with which age/gender can be
determined. there is, in accordance with the present invention, no
need to remember or input passwords, show age identification, or
worry about lost passcards (scanning cards).
[0182] Fifth, the present invention can provide for continuing
monitoring. This reduces the effectiveness of one individual
temporarily posing as another to gain access.
[0183] Sixth, the present invention retains parental access in that
parents can automatically prevent their children from accessing
"age inappropriate" sites/programs while retaining automatic access
for themselves.
[0184] Seventh, the present invention offers flexibility in the
sense that it can require access permission prior to entering a
general location or site, or, in the alternative, just a particular
part of the location or site that may be inappropriate.
[0185] Eighth, the present invention can be used to prevent
children from making phone calls to age-inappropriate phone numbers
for purchasing goods and services, for placing bets on-line, or
prevent children from placing credit cards orders without parental
permission.
[0186] Ninth, the present invention provides for privacy, as the
user is not specifically known or identifiable.
[0187] Tenth, the present invention is efficient in that it may
take less time to grant or deny access than, say, keying in a
password.
[0188] Eleventh, the present invention can be used to establish
parental control and adult surf-free zone in the Internet which is
of vital importance to the protection of children.
[0189] It is appreciated that certain features of the invention,
which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate
embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single
embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention, which
are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment,
may also be provided separately or in any suitable
subcombination.
[0190] Although the invention has been described in conjunction
with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many
alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace
all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall
within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. All
publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in this
specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by
reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each
individual publication, patent or patent application was
specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein
by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any
reference in this application shall not be construed as an
admission that such reference is available as prior art to the
present invention.
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