Method, apparatus and computer program product implementing anonymous biometric matching
View Patent ↗Method, apparatus and computer program product compare biometrics in an anonymous manner. A first collection of biometrics is transformed using a first cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to create a first collection of transformed biometrics. A second collection of biometrics is transformed using the first cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to create a second collection of transformed biometrics. The first and second collection of transformed biometrics are then compared in the transformed domain to determine if any of the transformed biometrics from the first collection match any of the transformed biometrics from the second collection. If a match is found, the parties respectively maintaining the first and second collections of biometrics exchange information confidential nature of the biometrics are maintained by the entities responsible for the collections, since the biometrics are not compared in an untransformed state.
1. A method comprising:
transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, wherein the first collection of biometrics includes biometric information identifying individuals associated with the biometrics of the first collection, and wherein the first collection of biometrics is stored on a first server and identity information identifying the individuals associated with the biometrics is stored on a separate second server, said transforming comprises:
for each biometric in the first collection, randomly selecting a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform from said collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms and applying the selected cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to the biometric; and,
for each biometric in the second collection, applying each cancelable non-invertible biometric transform from said collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms to the biometric separately to create a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric in the second collection;
comparing the transformed biometrics from the first collection with the transformed biometrics from the second collection; and
if a match is found, recording information identifying the match for determining the identity of the individual corresponding to the match based on the identity information stored on the second server.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of separate cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms populating the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is less when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of separate cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms populating the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is equal in number when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is greater in number when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms further comprises:
creating a record for each transformed biometric from the first collection indicating which cancelable non-invertible biometric transform was used to transform the biometric.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms further comprises:
for each biometric in the second collection, retrieving the record indicating the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms used to transform each biometric from the first collection, and separately applying the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms indicated in the record to create a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric in the second collection.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein comparing transformed biometrics from the first collection with transformed biometrics from the second collection further comprises:
for each transformed biometric from the first collection, identifying the transformed biometrics from the second collection generated with the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as applied to the biometric from the first collection, and comparing the transformed biometric from the first collection with transformed biometrics from the second collection generated using the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform.
8. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories including computer program code,
the one or more memories and the computer program code configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, wherein the first collection of biometrics includes biometric information identifying individuals associated with the biometrics of the first collection, and wherein the first collection of biometrics is stored on a first server and identity information identifying the individuals associated with the biometrics is stored on a separate second server,
wherein said transforming comprises:
for each biometric in the first collection, randomly selecting a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform from said collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms and applying the selected cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to the biometric; and,
for each biometric in the second collection, applying each cancelable non-invertible biometric transform from said collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms to the biometric separately to create a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric in the second collection
comparing the transformed biometrics from the first collection with the transformed biometrics from the second collection; and
if a match is found, recording information identifying the match for determining the identity of the individual corresponding to the match based on the identity information stored on the second server.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the number of separate cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms populating the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is less when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the number of separate cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms populating the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is equal in number when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms is greater in number when compared to the number of separate biometrics populating the first collection of biometrics.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms further comprises:
creating a record for each transformed biometric from the first collection indicating which cancelable non-invertible biometric transform was used to transform the biometric.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein transforming a first collection of biometrics and a second collection of biometrics with cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms further comprises:
for each biometric in the second collection, retrieving the record indicating the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms used to transform each biometric from the first collection, and separately applying the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms indicated in the record to create a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric in the second collection.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein comparing transformed biometrics from the first collection with transformed biometrics from the second collection further comprises:
for each transformed biometric from the first collection, identifying the transformed biometrics from the second collection generated with the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as applied to the biometric from the first collection, and comparing the transformed biometric from the first collection with transformed biometrics from the second collection generated using the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform.