Systems and methods for detecting data insertions in biometric authentication systems using pseudo data segments

1. A method applied in a system which transfers a stream of data segments between first and second electronic modules, which data segments are captured by a sensor, the method determining whether a data segment received in the second module is one of the data segments captured by the sensor or determining whether the data segment received in the second module is an unauthorized data segment inserted into the stream of data segments, the method comprising:

providing a first data segment acquired with a sensor in the first module;

transmitting the first data segment from the first module for receipt in the second module;

providing a first in a plurality of pseudo digital data segments in the first module for transmission to the second module;

providing a second in the plurality of pseudo digital data segments, which is a replica of the first pseudo digital data segment, in the second module, where the first pseudo digital data segment and the second pseudo digital data segment are generated independent of one another based on common information;

inserting the first pseudo digital data segment into the data stream and transmitting it from the first module for receipt in the second module; and

determining whether an unverified data segment received by the second module is the first pseudo data segment transmitted from the first module based on a comparison between at least a portion of the unverified data segment and at least a portion of the second pseudo digital data segment.

2. The method of claim 1 where the comparison is based on a threshold value for a correlation between the at least a portion of the unverified data segment and the at least a portion of the second pseudo digital data segment.

3. The method of claim 2 where the threshold value is for a correlation between an entirety of data in the unverified data segment and an entirety of data in the second pseudo digital data segment.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising inserting additional ones of the plurality of pseudo digital data segments into the data stream on an intermittent basis for receipt by the second module.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising inserting additional ones of the plurality of pseudo digital data segments into the data stream on a random basis for receipt by the second module.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first module comprises an image sensor and the data stream comprises a plurality of image data frames.

7. The method of claim 1 applied in a biometric authentication system.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising issuing an alert if the comparison of the determining step identifies the unverified data segment received by the second module as an unauthorized data segment.

9. The method of claim 1 , where the first pseudo digital data segment and the second pseudo data segment are generated independent of one another based on common information comprising one of the group of time, a timing signal and a code.

10. The method of claim 1 , where the first module comprises an image sensor and the data segments comprise data biometric data derived from image data frames.

11. The method of claim 1 , where the sensor is an image acquisition device and the pseudo data segments are pseudo image frames.

12. The method of claim 11 where the pseudo image frames are randomly interlaced with frames of image data captured by the sensor and are used to make authentication determinations.

13. The method of claim 1 further including performing identity authentication of a person based on biometric attributes present in a stream 246 of image data frames corresponding to a plurality of data segments captured by the sensor, where:

the first module is an Image Acquisition Module and the second module is a Biometric Authentication Module; and

the first and second modules are spatially separated from one another, requiring communication over a data link which includes a wireless link or a network cable.

14. The method of claim 1 where

the sensor is an image acquisition device;

the first module is an Image Acquisition Module and the second module is a Biometric Authentication Module; and

the comparison determines (i) whether the Pseudo Image Frame has arrived in the Biometric Authentication Module, and (ii) an absence of the Pseudo Image Frame from the Biometric Authentication Module indicates an intrusion has occurred during transmission of a stream of image data frames comprising the data segments from the Image Acquisition Module to the Biometric Authentication Module.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions representing software executable in a system of a type which operates to transfer a stream of data segments, captured by a sensor, between first and second electronic modules, wherein each electronic module is one in a pair of first and second physically separated modules, and wherein the system comprises a computer system including a microprocessor, memory media and storage media and connected to a network, which program instructions, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to perform method steps for determining whether a data segment received in the second module is (i) one of the data segments captured by the sensor or (ii) an unauthorized data segment inserted into the stream of data segments, the method steps comprising:

providing a first data segment acquired with a sensor in the first module;

transmitting the first data segment from the first module for receipt in the second module;

providing a first in a plurality of pseudo digital data segments in the first module for transmission to the second module;

providing a second in the plurality of pseudo digital data segments, which is a replica of the first pseudo digital data segment, in the second module, where the first pseudo data segment and the second pseudo data segment are generated independent of one another based on common information;

inserting the first pseudo digital data segment into the data stream and transmitting it from the first module for receipt in the second module; and determining whether an unverified data segment received by the second module is the first pseudo digital data segment transmitted from the first module based on a comparison between at least a portion of the unverified data segment and at least a portion of the second pseudo digital data segment.