Method, Apparatus and Computer Program Product Implementing Anonymous Biometric Matching

Abstract

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 concerning the individual associated with the matching biometrics. In this manner the 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 .- 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . An electronic device comprising:
 at least one memory configured to store at least one computer program; and   a processor configured to execute the at least one computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the electronic device is configured to transform each biometric in a first collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform; and to transmit the first collection of transformed biometrics to a remote entity so that the first collection of biometrics can be compared to a second collection of transformed biometrics.   
     
     
         12 . The electronic device of  claim 11  wherein when the computer program is executed the electronic device is further configured to transform each biometric in a first collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform by randomly selecting a transform from a collection of transforms and applying the randomly selected transform to the biometric. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic device of  claim 12  wherein when the computer program is executed the electronic device is further configured to create a record identifying each cancelable non-invertible biometric transform used to transform each biometric in the first collection of biometrics, and to transmit the record to the remote entity. 
     
     
         14 . The electronic device of  claim 12  wherein when the computer program is executed the electronic device is further configured to create a record identifying another collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms that contains at least all of the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms used to transform each of the biometrics in the first collection of biometrics, and to transmit the record to the remote entity. 
     
     
         15 . The electronic device of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a network interface configured to transmit the first collection of transformed biometrics over a network to the remote entity. 
 
     
     
         16 . An electronic device comprising:
 at least one memory configured to store at least one computer program; and   a processor configured to execute the at least one computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the electronic device is configured to receive a first collection of transformed biometrics, each of the biometrics transformed with at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to generate a transformed biometric; to transform a second collection of biometrics using the at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform; to compare the transformed biometrics from the first collection with the transformed biometrics from the second collection, and to identify transformed biometrics from the first collection that match transformed biometric from the second collection.   
     
     
         17 . The electronic device of  claim 16  wherein each biometric of the first collection of transformed biometrics is separately transformed with a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform randomly selected from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, the electronic device further configured to separately transform each biometric from the second collection of biometrics with each of the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from the cancelable non-invertible biometric collection of transforms to generate a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric from the second collection of biometrics, and to compare each of the transformed biometrics from the first collection with each transformed biometric from the second collection at least until a match is found for each transformed biometric from the first collection or until the particular transformed biometric from the first collection has been compared to all of the transformed biometrics generated from the second collection of biometrics. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic device of  claim 16  wherein each biometric of the first collection of biometrics is separately transformed with a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform selected from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, the electronic device further configured to receive a record indicating which cancelable non-invertible biometric transform was used to transform each of the biometrics from the first collection; to generate a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric of the second collection by separately transforming the particular biometric with each of the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms used to transform the biometrics from the first collection; and to compare each transformed biometrics from the first collection to biometrics from the second collection that have been transformed with the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as the transformed biometric from the first collection, at least until a match is found or until the particular transformed biometric from the first collection has been compared to all of the transformed biometrics generated from the second collection of biometrics using the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as applied to the particular biometric from the first collection. 
     
     
         19 . The electronic device of  claim 16  further comprising:
 a network interface configured to receive the second collection of transformed biometrics over a network from an external entity. 
 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory medium tangibly embodying a computer program, the computer program configured to operate an electronic device when executed, wherein when executed, the computer program is configured to cause the electronic device to transform each biometric in a first collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform; to transmit the first collection of transformed biometrics to a remote entity so that the first collection of transformed biometrics can be compared to a second collection of transformed biometrics, the second collection of transformed biometrics transformed with the at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform; and to receive a result of the comparison, wherein the result indicates whether any transformed biometrics from the second collection of transformed biometrics were found to match a transformed biometric from the first collection. 
     
     
         21 . The computer program product of  claim 20 , wherein to transform each biometric in a first collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform further comprises for each biometric to randomly select a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform from a collection of transforms and to apply the randomly selected transform to the biometric. 
     
     
         22 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory medium tangibly embodying a computer program, the computer program configured to operate an electronic device when executed, wherein when executed the computer program is configured to operate the electronic device to receive a first collection of transformed biometrics, each of the biometrics transformed with at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform to generate a transformed biometric; to transform a second collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform; to compare the transformed biometrics from the first collection with the transformed biometrics from the second collection, and to identify transformed biometrics from the first collection that match transformed biometrics from the second collection. 
     
     
         23 . The computer program product of  claim 22  wherein each biometric of the first collection of transformed biometrics is separately transformed with a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform randomly selected from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, and where to transform the second collection of biometrics using at least one cancelable non-invertible biometric transform further comprises to separately transform each biometric from the second collection of biometrics with each of the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms from the cancelable non-invertible biometric collection of transforms to generate a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric from the second collection of biometrics. 
     
     
         24 . The computer program product of  claim 23  wherein to compare the transformed biometrics from the first collection with the transformed biometric from the second collection further comprises to compare each of the transformed biometrics from the first collection with each transformed biometric from the second collection at least until a match is found for each transformed biometric from the first collection or until the particular transformed biometric from the first collection has been compared to all of the transformed biometrics generated from the second collection of biometrics. 
     
     
         25 . The computer program product of  claim 22  wherein each biometric of the first collection of biometrics is separately transformed with a cancelable non-invertible biometric transform selected from a collection of cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms, where the computer program when executed is further configured to receive a record indicating which cancelable non-invertible biometric transform was used to transform each of the biometrics from the first collection; to generate a collection of transformed biometrics for each biometric of the second collection by separately transforming the particular biometric with each of the cancelable non-invertible biometric transforms used to transform the biometrics from the first collection; and to compare each transformed biometrics from the first collection to biometrics from the second collection that have been transformed with the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as the transformed biometric from the first collection, at least until a match is found or until the particular transformed biometric from the first collection has been compared to all of the transformed biometrics generated from the second collection of biometrics using the same cancelable non-invertible biometric transform as applied to the particular biometric from the first collection.