International Business Machines Corporation

Piotr Pierga

Gregory J Boss

Stacey C Ramos

Stephen J McConnell

Andrea Del Pilar Macias Garcia

Diego Xirinachs Jimenez

A method for securely authenticating users of a device which uses pairings of a verbal passphrase and user interactions. The user interactions may be finger position on an interface of the device, number of taps on the interface of the device, or touching of the interface in a predefined area. Alternatively, the user can provide a verbal passphrase with inflection points.

Secure authentication of users of devices using tactile and voice sequencing with feedback

A mobile device includes a pre-authentication mechanism that allows a user to define a pre-authentication sequence that includes actions such as movement of the device, taps on the screen, key presses, etc., or any suitable combination of these. Correctly entering the pre-authentication sequence gives the user access to the main authentication screen for the device, while a failure to enter the pre-authentication sequence correctly keeps the device locked. Multiple pre-authentication sequences can be defined, each having a corresponding sleep time threshold. This requires the user to enter the appropriate authentication information corresponding to the time the device has been asleep. Multiple pre-authentication sequences can also be defined, each having corresponding authentication information. Thus, the authentication information the user needs to enter can be a function of the corresponding pre-authentication sequence.

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Palatine, IL, United States of America

Piotr Pierga