Soft generation of biometric candidates and references based on empirical bit error probability

1. A biometric verification device arranged to compare a reference hash with a verification bit string obtained from a biometric,

the biometric verification device having access to error probabilities assigned to bits of the verification bit string, an error probability being indicative of a probability that the bit in the verification bit string corresponding to the error probability differs from a corresponding bit in an enrollment bit string, the enrollment bit string having previously been obtained by a biometric enrollment device from said biometric,

the biometric verification device comprising:

a candidate bit string generator arranged to generate candidate bit strings from the verification bit string and the error probabilities;

a hash unit arranged to apply a cryptographic hash function to said generated candidate bit strings to obtain candidate hashes;

a reference storage arranged to store at least one reference hash, the at least one reference hash being obtained by the enrollment device from the enrollment bit string and said cryptographic hash function;

a comparison unit arranged to verify if a candidate hash generated by the hash unit matches a reference hash stored in the reference storage, wherein the biometric verification device is arranged to obtain biometric verification data from a biometric sensor, the biometric sensor being arranged to measure said biometric; and

a quantizer unit arranged to quantize the biometric verification data by mapping at least part of the biometric verification data to a point in a quantization range from a set of quantization ranges, a quantization range in the set of quantization ranges corresponding to a quantization bit string, the biometric verification device being arranged to string together one or more quantization bit strings obtained by the quantizer unit from the biometric verification data to form the verification bit string, wherein

the quantizer unit is further arranged to determine a distance between the point in the quantization range onto which the at least part of the biometric verification data is mapped and a closest edge of said quantization range and to assign an error probability to a corresponding bit in the verification bit string.

2. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein the quantizer unit is arranged to apply quantization helper data to the at least part of the biometric verification data before mapping the at least part of the biometric verification data to the point in the quantization range.

3. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein the biometric verification device has an input to receive error probabilities obtained by the biometric enrollment device.

4. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein the candidate bit string generator is arranged to generate candidate bit strings having a total error probability less than an error probability threshold, the total error probability being determined from the error probabilities assigned to bits of the verification bit string.

5. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein the candidate bit string generator is arranged to select a selection-number of bits in the verification bits string that have the largest assigned error probability, and to generate candidate bit strings in which the values of said selected bits are varied.

6. The biometric verification device as in claim 5 , wherein

the selection-number is 1, or

the selection-number is 2, or

the selection-number is 3.

7. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein

the reference storage is arranged to store the at least one reference hash with error-correcting helper data corresponding to the reference hash,

the biometric verification device comprises an error correcting unit arranged to apply an error correcting algorithm to a bit string,

the candidate bit string generator is arranged to

generate intermediate candidate bit strings from the verification bit string and the error probabilities, shift the intermediate candidate bit strings towards a code word of an error correcting code by applying error-correcting helper data to the intermediate candidate bit strings, applying the error correcting unit to said shifted intermediate candidate bit strings to obtain the candidate bit strings, and

the comparison unit is arranged to for verifying if a candidate hash generated by the hash unit matches a reference hash corresponding to the error-correcting helper data applied to the intermediate candidate bit string from which the candidate hash was obtained.

8. The biometric verification device as in claim 1 , wherein

the reference storage is arranged to store multiple references hashes, the multiple reference hashes being obtained by the enrollment device.

9. The biometric verification device as in the combination of claim 7 , wherein the reference storage is arranged to store the multiple references hashes with multiple corresponding error-correcting helper data.

10. A biometric system comprising the biometric verification device according to claim 8 .

11. A biometric enrollment device arranged to generate multiple reference hashes from a biometric enrollment bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric enrollment device comprising:

a reference hash generator arranged to generate multiple diversified enrollment bit strings from the biometric enrollment bit string;

a hash unit arranged to obtain the multiple reference hashes from the multiple diversified enrollment bit strings and a cryptographic hash function;

a reference hash storage arranged to store the multiple reference hashes, wherein the biometric enrollment device is arranged to obtain biometric enrollment data from a biometric sensor, the biometric sensor being arranged to measure said biometric; and

a quantizer unit arranged to quantize the biometric enrollment data by mapping at least part of the biometric enrollment data to a point in a quantization range from a set of quantization ranges, a quantization range in the set of quantization ranges corresponding to a quantization bit string, the biometric enrollment device being arranged to string together one or more quantization bit strings obtained by the quantizer unit from the biometric enrollment data to form the biometric enrollment bit string,

wherein the quantizer unit is further arranged to determine a distance between the point in the quantization range onto which the at least part of the biometric verification data is mapped and a closest edge of said quantization range and to assign an error probability to a corresponding bit in the verification bit string, and

wherein the biometric enrollment device has access to error probabilities assigned to bits of the enrollment bit string, the reference hash generator being arranged to generate the multiple diversified enrollment bit strings from the biometric enrollment bit string and the error probabilities.

12. A biometric enrollment device arranged to generate multiple reference hashes from a biometric enrollment bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric enrollment device comprising:

a reference hash generator arranged to generate multiple diversified enrollment bit strings from the biometric enrollment bit string;

a hash unit arranged to obtain the multiple reference hashes from the multiple diversified enrollment bit strings and a cryptographic hash function;

a reference hash storage arranged to store the multiple reference hashes, wherein the biometric enrollment device is arranged to obtain biometric enrollment data from a biometric sensor, the biometric sensor being arranged to measure said biometric;

a quantizer unit arranged to quantize the biometric enrollment data by mapping at least part of the biometric enrollment data to a point in a quantization range from a set of quantization ranges, a quantization range in the set of quantization ranges corresponding to a quantization bit string, the biometric enrollment device being arranged to string together one or more quantization bit strings obtained by the quantizer unit from the biometric enrollment data to form the biometric enrollment bit string; and

an error-correcting helper data generator arranged to select a code word of an error correcting code for a diversified enrollment bit string, and determine error-correcting helper data for shifting the multiple diversified enrollment bit strings towards said selected code word.

13. A biometric verification method comparing a reference hash with a verification bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric verification method comprising acts of:

obtaining biometric verification data from a biometric sensor;

quantizing the biometric verification data by mapping at least part of the biometric verification data to a point in a quantization range from a set of quantization ranges, a quantization range in the set of quantization ranges corresponding to a quantization bit string, and stringing together one or more quantization bit strings obtained from the biometric verification data to form the verification bit string;

accessing error probabilities assigned to bits of the verification bit string, an error probability being indicative of a probability that a bit in the verification bit string corresponding to the error probability differs from a corresponding bit in an enrollment bit string, the enrollment bit string having previously been obtained by a biometric enrollment device from said biometric, including determining a distance between the point in the quantization range onto which the at least part of the biometric verification data is mapped and a closest edge of said quantization range and to assign an error probability to a corresponding bit in the verification bit string;

generating candidate bit strings from the verification bit string and the error probabilities;

applying a cryptographic hash function to said generated candidate bit strings to obtain candidate hashes; and

verifying if a candidate hash generated by the generating act matches a reference hash stored in a reference storage, the reference storage storing at least one reference hash, the at least one reference hash being obtained by the biometric enrollment device from the enrollment bit string and said cryptographic hash function.

14. A biometric enrollment method generating multiple reference hashes from an enrollment bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric enrollment method comprising acts of:

generating multiple diversified enrollment bit strings from the enrollment bit string;

obtaining the multiple reference hashes from the multiple diversified enrollment bit string and a cryptographic hash function; and

storing the multiple reference hashes.

15. A computer readable non-transitory media that includes a computer program that is configured to enable a programmable device when executing the computer program to perform a biometric verification method for comparing a reference hash with a verification bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric verification method comprising acts of:

obtaining biometric verification data from a biometric sensor;

quantizing the biometric verification data by mapping at least part of the biometric verification data to a point in a quantization range from a set of quantization ranges, a quantization range in the set of quantization ranges corresponding to a quantization bit string, and stringing together one or more quantization bit strings obtained from the biometric verification data to form the verification bit string;

accessing error probabilities assigned to bits of the verification bit string, an error probability being indicative of a probability that a bit in the verification bit string corresponding to the error probability differs from a corresponding bit in an enrollment bit string, the enrollment bit string having previously been obtained by a biometric enrollment device from said biometric, including determining a distance between the point in the quantization range onto which the at least part of the biometric verification data is mapped and a closest edge of said quantization range and to assign an error probability to a corresponding bit in the verification bit string;

vgenerating candidate bit strings from the verification bit string and the error probabilities;

vapplying a cryptographic hash function to said generated candidate bit strings to obtain candidate hashes; and

verifying if a candidate hash generated by the generating act matches a reference hash stored in a reference storage, the reference storage storing at least one reference hash, the at least one reference hash being obtained by the biometric enrollment device from the enrollment bit string and said cryptographic hash function.

16. A computer readable non-transitory media that includes a computer program that is configured to enable a programmable device when executing the computer program to perform a biometric enrollment method for generating multiple reference hashes from an enrollment bit string obtained from a biometric, the biometric enrollment method comprising acts of:

generating multiple diversified enrollment bit strings from the enrollment bit string;

obtaining the multiple reference hashes from the multiple diversified enrollment bit string and a cryptographic hash function; and

storing the multiple reference hashes.