Polarization sensitive eye authentication system
A system for authentication of a user includes a light source to transmit polarized light, a polarization sensor, and processing logic. The system may cause the light source to illuminate an eye of the user with the polarized light, cause the polarization sensor to take an image of the eye to collect polarization characteristics particular to the eye when illuminated with the polarized light, and compare the polarization characteristics with previously collected polarization characteristics to authenticate the user.
1 . A system for authentication of a user, comprising:
a light source to transmit polarized light;
a polarization sensor; and
processing logic coupled to the light source and the polarization sensor, wherein the processing logic is to perform operations including to:
cause the light source to illuminate an eye of the user with the polarized light;
cause the polarization sensor to take an image of the eye of the user to collect an angle of linear polarization and a degree of linear polarization particular to the eye when illuminated with the polarized light, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on a tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent; and
compare the angle of linear polarization and the degree of linear polarization with a previously collected angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization associated with the eye, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on the tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent to authenticate the user and confirm a liveness of the eye.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the polarization sensor is configured to further collect a combination of intensity information corresponding to a pattern of the polarized light received from an iris together with the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization to authenticate the liveness of the eye of the user.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the previously collected angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization are gathered during a calibration process.
4 . The system of claim 3 wherein the image of the eye is taken when illuminated with light of a same polarization state as polarized light used to illuminate the eye during the calibration process.
5 . The system of claim 1 wherein the system comprises a head mounted device and the light source includes an artificial reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) display.
6 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a display and wherein gaze targets are included in virtual images presented by the display to assist with liveness detection.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the polarization sensor is included in a polarization sensitive camera coupled to an (AR/VR) artificial reality/virtual reality display.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the polarization sensor includes a combination of intensity-only sensitive pixels and polarization sensitive pixels.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein a density of the intensity-only sensitive pixels is higher than a density of the polarization sensitive pixels in the polarization sensor.
10 . A method for authentication of a user, comprising:
causing a light source to illuminate an eye of the user with polarized light having a polarized state;
causing a polarization sensor to take an image of the eye to collect an angle of linear polarization and a degree of linear polarization particular to the eye when illuminated with the polarized light, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on a tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent; and
comparing the angle of linear polarization and the degree of linear polarization collected from the image of the eye with a previously collected angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization associated with the eye, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on the tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent taken while the eye was illuminated under a similar polarization state, to authenticate the user and confirm a liveness of the eye.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent enables the polarization sensor to obtain additional contrast that is used to identify the user and confirm the liveness of the eye.
12 . The method of claim 10 wherein the polarization sensor is configured to further collect a combination of intensity information corresponding to a pattern of the polarized light received from an iris together with the angle of linear polarization and the degree of linear polarization to assist in detecting the liveness of the eye.
13 . The method of claim 10 wherein the polarization sensor includes polarization sensitive pixels that are sensitive to different polarization states.
14 . The method of claim 10 wherein the previously collected angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization associated with the eye of the user is gathered during a calibration process.
15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the calibration process includes causing the light source to illuminate the eye and the polarization sensor to collect the angle of linear polarization and the degree of linear polarization associated with the eye of the user under the similar polarization state.
16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent enables the polarization sensor to obtain additional contrast that is used to identify the user and confirm the liveness of the eye.
17 . A system for authentication of a user, comprising:
a light source to illuminate an eye of the user with polarized light; and
a polarization sensor to detect light received back from the eye of the user, and wherein an angle of linear polarization and a degree of linear polarization of the light detected received back from the eye, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on a tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent, is used for identifying the user by comparing a previously collected angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization, the angle of linear polarization and degree of linear polarization based on the tissue of the eye of the user that is uniquely birefringent to confirm that the eye is live.
18 . The system of claim 17 wherein the polarization sensor comprises a polarization sensitive camera to take a single image of the eye or a plurality of time-sequenced images.
19 . The system of claim 17 wherein the polarization sensor includes a point scanner having a dynamic polarizer to capture different polarization states.
20 . The system of claim 19 wherein the light source and the polarization sensor are coupled with a waveguide proximate to a lens in an AR/VR display.