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EP-4359993-B1 - STRUCTURE AND METHODS FOR MOBILE ENROLMENT OF BIOMETRICALLY-AUTHORISABLE SMARTCARDS

EP4359993B1EP 4359993 B1EP4359993 B1EP 4359993B1EP-4359993-B1

Inventors

  • MUELLER, ROBERT

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220623

Claims (15)

  1. A system for biometric enrolment of a biometrically-authorisable smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82), the system comprising: a biometrically-authorisable smartcard, wherein the smartcard does not comprise a power source; a smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83); and a structure (21, 31) for aligning the biometrically-authorisable smartcard with respect to the smartphone during biometric enrolment of the smartcard, the structure comprising: a smartcard area (22) for receiving the smartcard; and being characterized by a guide (32) for aligning the structure in a predetermined position with respect to the smartphone, wherein the alignment structure is configured such that, when the smartcard is received in the smartcard area and the structure is aligned in the predetermined position with respect to the smartphone, the smartcard is located proximate a near field communication antenna (41, 52, 71) of the smartphone such that the smartcard receives power from the antenna.
  2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the smartcard area (22) is defined by a cut-out in the structure (21, 31), and the cut-out is configured to hold the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82); and/or wherein the structure (21, 31) comprises a folded template structure.
  3. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the smartcard area comprises a ferromagnetic, magnetically permeable, or magnetically reflecting element; optionally wherein the element comprises a ferrite and/or Mu-metal material.
  4. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the guide (32) comprises an edge of the structure (21, 31) and/or one or more alignment marks, wherein the edge of the structure and/or one or more alignment marks are configured for aligning the structure with edge(s) of the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83).
  5. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the structure (21, 31) is formed from a paper-based material.
  6. A system as claimed in any preceeding claim, wherein the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) has a size of approximately 86 by 54 millimetres, and wherein the smartcard comprises an antenna (13) and is configured to communicate via a contactless communication protocol; and/or wherein the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) comprises a fingerprint sensor (12), enrolment of the smartcard can be performed using the fingerprint sensor, and the smartcard is biometrically-authorisable with the fingerprint sensor.
  7. A method of enrolling a biometric smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82), the method comprising: providing the system of any of claims 1 to 6, placing the smartcard in the smartcard area (22) of the structure (21, 31); aligning the structure with respect to the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) using the guide; and supplying power from the smartphone to the smartcard via the near field communication antenna (41, 52, 71) of the smartphone.
  8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) and structure (21, 31) are both placed above the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) or are both placed below the smartphone.
  9. A method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, comprising: instructing a user via on-screen instructions on the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) to adjust the alignment of the structure (21, 31) with respect to the smartphone; and optionally comprising determining a signal strength of near-field communication between the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) and the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) and instructing the user to adjust the alignment based on the determined signal strength.
  10. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 9, comprising: a user presenting a finger to a fingerprint sensor (12) of the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82); capturing a fingerprint image using the fingerprint sensor of the smartcard; generating biometric reference data from the captured fingerprint image; and storing the reference data on the smartcard.
  11. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the aligning of the structure (21, 31) with respect to the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) is performed by aligning an edge of the structure with an edge of the smartphone.
  12. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 11, comprising: aligning the structure (21, 31) with respect to a smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83); enrolling a first finger of a user on the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82); changing a orientation of the phone, the structure or the smartcard; re-aligning the structure with respect to the smartphone; and enrolling a second finger of the user on the smartcard.
  13. A method comprising: providing a structure as defined in any of claims 1 to 6, identifying a smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83) to be used for providing power to a biometrically-authorisable smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) during enrolment; identifying a position for the smartcard with respect to smartphone in which the smartcard is located proximate a near field communication antenna (41, 52, 71) of the smartphone such that the smartcard can receive power from the antenna, creating a design of a structure (21, 31) having a guide (32) for aligning the structure with respect to the smartphone and a smartcard area (22) for receiving the smartcard, wherein the smartcard area and guide are designed such that, when the smartcard is received by the smartcard area and the structure is aligned with respect to the smartphone in accordance with the guide, the smartcard is located in the identified position relative to the smartphone.
  14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the identifying of a position for the smartcard (10, 60, 80, 82) comprises identifying a position for substantially optimal near field communication between the smartcard and the smartphone (40, 51, 70, 81, 83).
  15. A method according to claim 13 or 14, the method comprising: manufacturing a structure (21, 31) having a guide and a smartcard area (22) according to the design.

Description

The present invention relates to a structure for aligning a biometrically-authorisable smartcard with respect to a smartphone during biometric enrolment of the smartcard, as well as a corresponding enrolment system and a number of methods. Biometrically authorisable devices such as smartcards are becoming increasingly more widely used and include, for example access cards, credit cards, debit cards, pre-pay cards, loyalty cards, identity cards, and so on. Smartcards are electronic cards with the ability to store data and to interact with the user and/or with outside devices, for example via contactless technologies such as near field communication (NFC). These smartcards can interact with readers to communicate information in order to enable access, to authorise transactions and so on. Biometric authorisation such as fingerprint authorisation is becoming increasingly more widely used. Smartcards with complete on-board biometric authorisation are called Biometric System-on-Card (BSoC) and can interact with the user via integrated biometric capture devices (such as fingerprint sensors) in order to enable access to secure features of the smartcard, for example in order to authorise financial transactions. Biometrically-authorisable smartcards require completion of an enrolment process (e.g. the capturing and registration of a user's fingerprint) before they can be used. It is desirable to use the biometric capture device integrated in the smartcard during enrolment. This avoids the need for potentially insecure transmission of the biometric data over a network, and instead the biometric data can be securely kept in the smartcard with no requirement for external storage or transmission. It also increases the accuracy of the biometric identification process since the exact same capture device is used for enrolment as is used for later authentication by checking the user's currently captured biometric data against previously stored biometric reference data. Such a process requires that the smartcard be powered. For smartcards with no on-board power source, power is sometimes supplied to the card for use during the enrolment process via a passive enrolment device/sleeve with an internal battery that is arranged to provide power to the smartcard via an electrical connection, such as disclosed in WO 2020/002678 A1. Alternatively, power is sometimes supplied to the smartcard via a wired connection to an external power source, such as power drawn via a connection with an ISO/IEC 7816 contact plate of the smartcard or with a dedicated interfacing device connecting in a contactless manner, e.g. using an ISO/IEC 14443-3 interface. However, there are technical constraints from the external power source in relation to the current drawn via this approach as well as difficulties in handling a large power at the smartcard itself. Further relevant prior art is disclosed by US 2020/311509 A1, EP 3 625 729 B1 and EP 3 598 328 A1. The invention is defined by the claims. Because it does not require any additional hardware, it is advantageous to use a smartphone (e.g. belonging the cardholder) to supply power to the smartcard via a near-field communication (NFC) antenna during enrolment. In this way, a wireless connection is utilised, with power being harvested using an antenna of the smartcard via a contactless coupling with the NFC antenna of the smartphone. Many modern smartphones comprise a suitable NFC antenna for this purpose. Mobile enrolment also enables the performing of enrolment flexibly by the user at home or on the go. However, one challenge with of the use of a smartphone for mobile enrolment is that the NFC field from many smartphones is only sufficient to power the smartcard for enrolment in certain positions and it is difficult for users to identify and hold the smartcard stable in a suitable position beside the phone. These difficulties can result in a low success rate of mobile enrolment, which can result in mobile enrolment being frustrating and time consuming for users. The structure according to at least some embodiments of the present invention aids a user during the enrolment process to guide the positioning of the smartcard during enrollment allowing: ▪ sufficient, stable energy supply to the card during enrolment;▪ stable communication; and▪ good ergonomics for presenting biometric features. The structure can be manufactured, shipped and disposed of at low cost. It improves the user experience and success rate for mobile enrollments of biometric cards significantly. The structure may avoid shipping a sleeve or similar single use device with related extra cost and environmental footprint. The structure may be configured such that the predetermined position ensures optimal, stable power is provided to the smartcard from the antenna of the smartphone. The predetermined position may not necessarily provide the maximum overlap between the smartcard (or an antenna of the smartcard) and the antenna of the smartph