Systems and methods for performing user recognition based on biometric information captured with wearable electronic devices

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for performing biometrics based user recognition and monitoring based on biometric information captured using wearable monitoring devices. More specifically, the present application provides systems including monitoring devices built into one or more articles of clothing that capture data relating to the wearer of the device and other subjects, such as biometric information, health vitals, environmental information, location data and the like. The systems also include a mobile computing device configured to receive the captured data from the monitoring device and, in conjunction with a distributed biometric authentication and identity assertion platform, perform user recognition based on biometric information captured by the mobile device and/or the monitoring device. The present application also provides an infrastructure for collecting and managing the data collected by the monitoring device in an authenticated/verified manner.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method for performing user recognition with a mobile computing device according to biometric information captured by a monitoring device worn by a user, the method comprising:
 detecting, by the mobile computing device including a processor, a wireless transceiver, a storage medium, and instructions stored on the storage medium and executing in the processor, a wearable monitoring device in range of the wireless transceiver;   establishing, by the processor using the transceiver, a wireless communication link with the monitoring device;   receiving, by the processor over the wireless communication link, a monitoring device ID and monitoring data captured by the monitoring device, wherein the monitoring data includes captured biometric data of at least one subject;   analyzing, by the processor, at least the received biometric data, the analysis including:
 extracting, by the processor, biometric features of a type that is suitable for performing biometric user recognition, and 
 generating, by the processor using the extracted biometric features, a biometric identifier; 
   recognizing, by at least one or more of the processor and a remote server computing device in communication with the mobile device over a network based on the biometric identifier, a user identity that corresponds to the biometric identifier, the recognizing step including:
 comparing the biometric identifier to one or more enrolled biometric identifiers stored in a database, wherein the enrolled biometric identifiers are associated with respective user identities, and 
 identifying the user identity in response to a successful match of the biometric identifier to an enrolled biometric identifier that is associated with the user identity; and 
   creating, by the remote server computing device, a record in a database, wherein the record entry includes a result of the recognizing step and the device ID; and   transmitting, by the remote server over a network to a remote computing device, a confirmation indicating that the record entry was created and the result of the identifying step.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to a successful match, creating the record further comprises: storing a mobile device identifier that is unique to the mobile device in the record thereby associating the recognized user identity with the monitoring device that captured the biometric data and the mobile device used to identify the user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the monitoring data includes additional data captured by the monitoring device during the capture of the biometric data including one or more of: a location, orientation, position and time; and
 wherein creating the record comprises storing one or more portions of the additional data in the record.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recognizing step further comprises:
 identifying, from the database using the device ID, a particular user identity associated the device ID and an enrolled biometric identifier associated with the particular user identity; and   wherein the comparing step includes comparing the biometric identifier to the enrolled biometric identifier associated with the particular user identity.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, by the processor, the type of the biometric data received from the monitoring device among a plurality of types of biometric data based on one or more of:
 the received monitoring data, and 
 the device ID; and 
   extracting the biometric features according to the identified type of biometric data received.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the monitoring data is provided to the mobile device as a batch of monitoring data captured by the monitoring device over a period of time, and further comprising:
 analyzing, by the processor, the monitoring data; and identifying segments of the biometric data that corresponds to different subjects; and   performing at least the analyzing and recognizing steps for each of the segments of data that correspond to different subjects.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recognizing step further comprises transmitting, by the processor to the remote server computing device, the biometric identifier and the device ID, and wherein the remote server performs the steps of comparing the biometric identifier and identifying the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the confirmation is transmitted by the remote server to another computing device having a location that corresponds to a location of one or more of the mobile device and the monitoring device, and wherein the confirmation includes the user identity. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 monitoring, by one or more of the mobile device and the remote server, the biometric data;   identifying health characteristics of the subject based on the monitoring; and   storing, in the record, one or more of the health related characteristics and the biometric data.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 capturing, with the processor using a camera of the mobile computing device, at least one image of the user;   extracting, with the processor from the at least one image, biometric features of the user depicted in the one or more images;   generating, with the processor, a biometric identifier based on the extracted biometric features;   verifying, with the processor in conjunction with the remote server computing device, the identity of the user according to the biometric identifier; and   wherein creating the record includes storing the verified identity of the user in the record.   
     
     
         11 . A system for user recognition according to biometric information captured by a monitoring device worn by a user, comprising:
 a remote server computing device;   a database maintained by the remote server, the database including enrolled biometric identifiers associated with respective user identities;   a mobile computing device having a processor, a wireless transceiver, a storage medium, and instructions stored on the storage medium and executing in the processor, the one or more software modules further including:
 a communication module executing in the processor and configuring the processor to, using the transceiver, establish a wireless communication link with the monitoring device, receive a monitoring device ID and monitoring data captured by the monitoring device including biometric data of at least one subject; 
 an analysis module executing in the processor and configuring the processor to analyze at least the received biometric data, extract biometric features and generate a biometric identifier using the extracted biometric features; 
 an authentication module executing in the processor and configuring the processor to, in coordination with the remote server computing device, identify a user identity that corresponds to the biometric identifier by comparing the biometric identifier to one or more enrolled biometric identifiers stored in the database, and identifying the user identity in response to a successful match of the biometric identifier to an enrolled biometric identifier that is associated with the user identity; and 
   a database module executing in the processor and configuring the processor to, in coordination with the remote server, create a record in the database, wherein the record includes a result of the recognizing step and the device ID.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein, in response to a successful match, the database module further configures the processor to store a mobile device identifier that is unique to the mobile device in the record thereby associating the recognized user identity with the monitoring device that captured the biometric data and the mobile device used to identify the user. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 the monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device includes a microprocessor, a wireless transmitter and one or more microsensors configured to measure the biometric data and additional data including one or more of: a location, orientation, position and time.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the microsensors are MEMS sensor devices, and wherein the monitoring device is incorporated into a wearable article of clothing. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the database module further configures the processor to store one or more portions of the additional data in the record. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the analysis module further configures the processor to:
 identify the type of the biometric data received from the monitoring device among a plurality of types of biometric data based on one or more of:
 the received monitoring data, and 
 the device ID; and 
   extract the biometric features according to the identified type of biometric data received.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the monitoring data is received by the mobile device as a batch of monitoring data captured over a period of time, and wherein the analysis module further configures the processor to:
 analyze the monitoring data to identify segments of the biometric data that correspond to different subjects, and,   for each of the segments, extract respective biometric features, generate a respective biometric identifier and identify a user identity that corresponds to the respective biometric identifier.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the analysis module further configures the processor to monitor the biometric data and identify health characteristics of the subject based on the monitoring store, in the record, one or more of the identified health related characteristics and the biometric data. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a biometric capture module that executes in the processor and configures the processor to, using an associated camera device, capture at least one image of the user; and   wherein the analysis module further configures the processor to extract, from the at least one image, biometric features of the user depicted in the at least one image and generate a biometric identifier based on the extracted biometric features,   wherein the authentication module further configures the processor to, in coordination with the remote server computing device, verify the identity of the user according to the biometric identifier, and   wherein the created record includes the verified identity of the user in the record.