Method and apparatus for providing authentication between a sending unit and a recipient based on challenge usage data

1. A method for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

generating, by a sender unit, a challenge for user authentication, having challenge data elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, wherein the stored pool of challenge data elements represents location information that can be located on an authentication article, the authentication challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,

generating, by the sender unit, the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements wherein the stored usage data indicates a level of prior authentication challenge uses of the at least one of the challenge data elements in the stored pool in previous authentication challenges, and first rule data, and

generating, by the sender unit, the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data, wherein the second rule data is different from the first rule data.

2. The method of claim 1 including:

storing the pool of challenge data elements;

storing the stored usage data based on previous uses of a respective challenge data element in previous authentication challenges; and

sending the generated authentication challenge for use in an authentication of a user to a sender.

3. The method of claim 1 including re-issuing a new authentication article in response to stored usage data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the location information corresponds to row and column identifiers.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising:

receiving a reply to the authentication challenge;

comparing the reply to an expected reply; and

granting authentication status to the user if the received reply matches with the expected reply.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the stored usage data represents a number of times a challenge data element has resulted in a corresponding successful reply element.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the rule data causes a length of the generated authentication challenge to change in response to whether the stored usage data is beyond a threshold.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the first portion based on stored usage data comprises generating the first portion based on stored usage data that indicates a level of multiple prior uses of at least one of the challenge data elements in the stored pool in previous authentication challenges.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first rule data causes selection of at least one least-used challenge data element from the stored pool of challenge data elements to be part of the first portion, and wherein the second rule data causes selection of at least one more-used challenge data element from the stored pool of challenge data elements to be part of the second portion.

10. A method for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

generating, by a sender unit, a challenge for user authentication, having data challenge elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, the authentication challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,

generating, by the sender unit, the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements wherein the stored usage data indicates a level of prior authentication challenge uses of the at least one of the challenge data elements in the stored pool in previous authentication challenges, and first rule data wherein the first rule data causes selection of at least one least-used challenge data element to be part of the first portion, and

generating, by the sender unit, the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data wherein the second rule data causes selection of at least one more-used challenge data element to be selected for the second portion.

11. The method of claim 10 including:

storing the pool of challenge data elements;

storing the usage data based on previous uses of a respective challenge data element in previous authentication challenges; and

sending the generated authentication challenge for use in an authentication of a user to a sender.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the stored pool of challenge data elements represents location information that can be located on an authentication article.

13. The method of claim 12 including re-issuing a new authentication article in response to stored usage data.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the location information corresponds to row and column identifiers of an authentication article.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the authentication article is an article containing location information that corresponds to row and column identifiers or a visual representation thereof.

16. The method of claim 10 comprising:

receiving a reply to the authentication challenge;

comparing the reply to an expected reply; and

granting authentication status to the user if the received reply matches with the expected reply.

17. The method of claim 10 including generating the authentication challenge having a number of least-used challenge data elements based on a threshold value.

18. The method of claim 10 including generating the authentication challenge by:

grouping challenge data elements based on a value of stored usage data;

determining a number of challenge data elements in each group;

comparing the number of challenge data elements in each group with a threshold value; and

moving challenge data elements to other groups such that the number of challenge data elements in one or more groups satisfies a desired condition based on comparing the number of challenge data elements in each group with the threshold value.

19. The method of claim 10 including generating the authentication challenge by:

tracking a time at which a previous authentication challenge contained a particular challenge data element; and

generating a new authentication challenge based on the time of when the previous authentication challenge last contained the particular challenge data element.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the new authentication challenge generated does not include any previous challenge data elements that have been used within a specified time period.

21. The method of claim 10 wherein the rule data causes a length of the generated authentication challenge to change in response to whether the stored usage data is beyond a threshold.

22. A device for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

memory containing executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

generate a challenge for user authentication, having challenge data elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, wherein the stored pool of challenge data elements represents location information that can be located on an authentication article, the authentication challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,

generate the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements wherein the stored usage data indicates a level of prior authentication challenge uses of the at least one of the challenge data elements in the stored pool in previous authentication challenges, and first rule data, and

generate the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data, wherein the second rule data is different from the first rule data.

23. The device of claim 22 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

store the pool of challenge data elements;

store the stored usage data based on previous uses of a respective challenge data element in previous authentication challenges; and

send the generated authentication challenge for use in an authentication of a user to a sender.

24. The device of claim 22 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to at least one of: re-issue a new authentication article in response to stored usage data and requiring a different type of authentication article in response to stored usage data.

25. The device of claim 24 wherein the location information corresponds to row and column identifiers.

26. The device of claim 22 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processors to also employ a different authentication scheme that does not use the authentication challenge with first and second portions as part of an authentication scheme, in response to stored usage data wherein the different authentication scheme is from the group of: a knowledge based question and answer scheme, a machine authentication scheme, and a one time password list scheme.

27. The device of claim 22 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

receive a reply to the authentication challenge;

compare the reply to an expected reply; and

grant authentication status to the user if the received reply matches with the expected reply.

28. The device of claim 22 wherein the rule data causes a length of the generated authentication challenge to change in response to whether the stored usage data is beyond a threshold.

29. The device of claim 22 , wherein the first rule data causes selection of at least one least-used challenge data element from the stored pool of challenge data elements to be part of the first portion, and wherein the second rule data causes selection of at least one more-used challenge data element from the stored pool of challenge data elements to be part of the second portion.

30. A device for providing authentication of a user to a sender comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

memory containing executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

generate a challenge for user authentication, having data challenge elements from a stored pool of challenge data elements, the authentication challenge comprising at least a first portion and a second portion,

generate the first portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least one of the challenge data elements wherein the stored usage data indicates a level of prior authentication challenge uses of the at least one of the challenge data elements in the stored pool in previous authentication challenges, and first rule data wherein the first rule data causes selection of at least one least-used challenge data element to be part of the first portion, and

generate the second portion based on stored usage data, corresponding to at least another challenge data element, and second rule data wherein the second rule data causes selection of at least one more-used challenge data element to be selected for the second portion.

31. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

store the pool of challenge data elements;

store the usage data based on previous uses of a respective challenge data element in previous authentication challenges; and

send the generated authentication challenge for use in an authentication of a user to a sender.

32. The device of claim 31 wherein the location information corresponds to row and column identifiers of an authentication article.

33. The device of claim 31 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to at least one of: re-issue a new authentication article in response to stored usage data and require a different type of authentication article in response to stored usage data.

34. The device of claim 30 wherein the stored pool of challenge data elements represents article location information that can be located on an authentication article.

35. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

receive a reply to the authentication challenge;

compare the reply to an expected reply; and

grant authentication status to the user if the received reply matches with the expected reply.

36. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processors to also employ a different authentication scheme in response to stored usage data wherein the different authentication scheme is from the group of: a knowledge based question and answer scheme, a machine authentication scheme, and a one time password list scheme.

37. The device of claim 36 wherein the authentication article is an article containing location information that corresponds to row and column identifiers or a visual representation thereof.

38. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to generate the authentication challenge having a number of least-used challenge data elements based on a threshold value.

39. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

group challenge data elements based on a value of stored usage data;

determine a number of challenge data elements in each group;

compare the number of challenge data elements in each group with a threshold value; and

move challenge data elements to other groups such that the number of challenge data elements in one or more groups satisfies a desired condition based on comparing the number of challenge data elements in each group with the threshold value.

40. The device of claim 30 wherein the memory includes executable instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to:

track a time at which a previous authentication challenge contained a particular challenge data element; and

generate a new authentication challenge based on the time of when the previous authentication challenge last contained the particular challenge data element.

41. The device of claim 40 wherein the new authentication challenge generated does not include any previous challenge data elements that have been used within a specified time period.

42. The device of claim 30 wherein the rule data causes a length of the generated authentication challenge to change in response to whether the stored usage data is beyond a threshold.