A method of maintaining digital medical records, comprising a step of receiving a medical transaction record (102), encrypted with a key in accordance with a patient-file association. Also comprising a step of accessing the encrypted medical transaction record according to a patient association with the record (111). And further comprising a step of re-encryption of the encrypted accessed medical transaction record with a key associated with an intended recipient of the medical record. The system and method according to the present invention presents a new business model for creation, maintenance, transmission, and use of medical records. The invention also allows financial burdens to be reallocated optimally and equitably, resulting in decreased overall societal cost and providing a successful business model for a database proprietor. Secure entrusted medical records are held in trust by an independent third party on behalf of the patient (113), and serve the medical community at large. Separately encrypted record elements may be aggregated as an information polymer.

Information record infrastructure, system and method

A system and method for communicating information between a first party and a second party, comprising the steps of receiving, by an intermediary, an identifier of desired information and accounting information for a transaction involving the information from the first party, transmitting an identifier of the first party to the second party, and negotiating, by the intermediary, a comprehension function for obscuring at least a portion of the information communicated between the first party and the second party. The data transmission may be made secure with respect to the intermediary by providing an asymmetric key or direct key exchange for encryption of the communication between the first and second party. The data transmission may be made secure with respect to the second party by maintaining the information in encrypted format at the second party, with the decryption key held only by the intermediary, and transmitting a secure composite of the decryption key and a new encryption key to the second party for transcoding of the data record, and providing the new decryption key to the first party, so that the information transmitted to the first party can be comprehended by it.

System and method for secure three-party communications

An adaptive interface for a programmable system, for predicting a desired user function, based on user history, as well as machine internal status and context. The apparatus receives an input from the user and other data. A predicted input is presented for confirmation by the user, and the predictive mechanism is updated based on this feedback. Also provided is a pattern recognition system for a multimedia device, wherein a user input is matched to a video stream on a conceptual basis, allowing inexact programming of a multimedia device. The system analyzes a data stream for correspondence with a data pattern for processing and storage. The data stream is subjected to adaptive pattern recognition to extract features of interest to provide a highly compressed representation that may be efficiently processed to determine correspondence. Applications of the interface and system include a video cassette recorder (VCR), medical device, vehicle control system, audio device, environmental control system, securities trading terminal, and smart house. The system optionally includes an actuator for effecting the environment of operation, allowing closed-loop feedback operation and automated learning.

Adaptive pattern recognition based control system and method

In traditional cryptosystems, user authentication is based on possession of secret keys; the method falls apart if the keys are not kept secret (i.e., shared with non-legitimate users). Further, keys can be forgotten, lost, or stolen and, thus, cannot provide non-repudiation. Current authentication systems based on physiological and behavioral characteristics of persons (known as biometrics), such as fingerprints, inherently provide solutions to many of these problems and may replace the authentication component of traditional cryptosystems. We present various methods that monolithically bind a cryptographic key with the biometric template of a user stored in the database in such a way that the key cannot be revealed without a successful biometric authentication. We assess the performance of one of these biometric key binding/generation algorithms using the fingerprint biometric. We illustrate the challenges involved in biometric key generation primarily due to drastic acquisition variations in the representation of a biometric identifier and the imperfect nature of biometric feature extraction and matching algorithms. We elaborate on the suitability of these algorithms for digital rights management systems.

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Biometric cryptosystems: issues and challenges

Biometrics-based authentication systems offer obvious usability advantages over traditional password and token-based authentication schemes. However, biometrics raises several privacy concerns. A biometric is permanently associated with a user and cannot be changed. Hence, if a biometric identifier is compromised, it is lost forever and possibly for every application where the biometric is used. Moreover, if the same biometric is used in multiple applications, a user can potentially be tracked from one application to the next by cross-matching biometric databases. In this paper, we demonstrate several methods to generate multiple cancelable identifiers from fingerprint images to overcome these problems. In essence, a user can be given as many biometric identifiers as needed by issuing a new transformation "key". The identifiers can be cancelled and replaced when compromised. We empirically compare the performance of several algorithms such as Cartesian, polar, and surface folding transformations of the minutiae positions. It is demonstrated through multiple experiments that we can achieve revocability and prevent cross-matching of biometric databases. It is also shown that the transforms are noninvertible by demonstrating that it is computationally as hard to recover the original biometric identifier from a transformed version as by randomly guessing. Based on these empirical results and a theoretical analysis we conclude that feature-level cancelable biometric construction is practicable in large biometric deployments

Generating Cancelable Fingerprint Templates

Biometric EncryptionTM is an algorithm which has been developed to securely link and retrieve a digital key using the interaction of a biometric image, such as a fingerprint, with a secure block of data, known as a BioscryptTM. The key can be used, for example, as an encryption/decryption key. The BioscryptTM comprises a filter function, which is calculated using an image processing algorithm, and other information which is required to first retrieve, and then verify the validity of, the key. The key is retrieved using information from an output pattern formed via the interaction of the biometric image with the filter function. Therefore, the filter function must be designed so that it produces a consistent output pattern (and thus, key). The filter function must also be designed to be secure (i.e. information about the fingerprint cannot be retrieved from the filter function). The consistency of the output pattern and the security of the filter function are the two topics discussed in this paper.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Biometric encryption using image processing

A key generation system is implemented as follows. In an enrolment apparatus, a unique number for use with PIN operated machines or public key cryptography system is generated by manipulation of fingerprint information of a subscriber. A filter is then generated which is a function both of the Fourier transform of the subscriber's fingerprint(s) and of the unique number. This filter is stored on a subscriber card. When the subscriber wishes to generate his key, he inputs his card to a card reader of an apparatus and places his finger(s) on a fingerprint input. The apparatus generates an optical Fourier transform from the fingerprint input. The Fourier transform signal is incident on to a spatial light modulator programmed with the filter information from the card. An inverse transform is generated from the filtered signal and this is used to regenerate the key that will be used as the PIN in a PIN operated device, or as the private key in a public key cryptography system.

Biometric controlled key generation

This invention describes a secure method for consistently reproducing a digital key using a biometric, such as a fingerprint. The digital key is linked to the biometric only through a secure block of data, known as the protected filter. The key cannot be released from the protected filter other than via the interaction with the correct biometric image. Once generated, the digital key may be used in a system as an encryption/decryption key, or as a personal identification number (PIN).

Method for secure key management using a biometric

The complex transmittance of an Epson liquid crystal television (LCTV) is determined as a function of the video drive signal. Several different operating configurations of the LCTV are established, and their usefulness as operating modes for spatial light modulators in the input and filter planes of a hybrid correlator is discussed. A high-stability phase measurement scheme is developed to determine the operating curves, and this system is presented. This measurement scheme is designed so that a fully characterized LCTV could be assuredly moved into the optical correlator. This allows filters to be calculated for the correlator using the exact physical action of the modulators. The transient response of the LCTV to field-rate changes in the video signal is also presented. It is observed that the switching speed of the liquid crystal molecules is a fundamental limitation on the operating speed of these devices.

Measurement of the complex transmittance of the Epson liquid crystal television

Biometric EncryptionTM is an algorithm which has been developed to securely link and retrieve a digital key using the interaction of a biometric image, such as a fingerprint, with a secure block of data, known as a BioscryptTM. The key can be used, for example, as an encryption/decryption key. The Bioscrypt comprises a stored filter function, produced by a correlation-based image processing algorithm, as well as other information which is required to first retrieve, and then verify the validity of, the key. The process of securely linking a key with a biometric is known as enrollment, while the process of retrieving this key is known as verification. This paper presents details of the enrollment and verification procedures.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Colin Soutar

Papers

Biometric encryption using image processing

Biometric controlled key generation

Method for secure key management using a biometric

Measurement of the complex transmittance of the Epson liquid crystal television

Biometric Encryption: enrollment and verification procedures