KR20060114261A - Restriction method of using electronic device using fingerprint - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of restricting use of fingerprints in electronic devices such as digital television receivers. That is, in the present invention, in the use of an electronic device such as a digital television receiver, a function of restricting the use of the electronic device by using a fingerprint and at the same time, the electronic device environment value stored corresponding to each user to the user approved through the fingerprint. It is automatically set so that the use of the electronic device is convenient, and the use time limit for each authorized user is prevented so that adolescents or children can use the electronic device late at night.

Description

Restriction method of using electronic device using fingerprint {METHOD FOR LIMITING USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES BY USE OF FINGERPRINTS}

1 is a schematic block diagram of a digital television receiver to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

2 is a block diagram of a remote controller having a fingerprint input device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process for setting and using electronic devices for each user using a fingerprint in a digital television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Brief description of the major symbols in the drawings>

100: tuner unit 102: channel decoder

104: demultiplexer 106: MPEG-2 decoder

108: video processing unit 110: audio processing unit

112: display unit 114: speaker

116: microcomputer 118: key input unit

120: memory unit 122: fingerprint comparison unit

124: IR receiver 126: remote control

128: fingerprint decoding unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of limiting the use of electronic devices, and more particularly to a method of limiting use of fingerprints in electronic devices such as digital television receivers.

In recent years, digitalization of terrestrial, satellite, and cable broadcasting is rapidly progressing, and with the advancement of video / audio compression technology and transmission compression technology due to the remarkable development of communication technology, it is possible to realize digital TV in hundreds of multi-channel environments. In the DTV broadcasting as described above, unlike the conventional analog broadcasting, the number of the channels reaches tens of hundreds.

As the number of channels provided by digital TV increases, users have more choices to select broadcast programs, so that they can enjoy a variety of programs. It takes a lot of time and also has a cumbersome problem. In addition, due to the provision of various channels and broadcast programs, broadcast programs having contents that are inappropriate for adolescents and children to watch, especially during the late night hours, are rapidly increasing.

Therefore, if the access time to the digital television receiver is limited through user-specific recognition using biometric information, it is expected that the blocking of the adult broadcasting program broadcast in the late night time zone of adolescents or children can be effectively performed. In addition, if the user is authorized to use the device as described above, if the user's preference channel is memorized and automatically set for the user when the device is authenticated, the user may not have to reset the channel for each user. It is expected that the user's convenience will be greatly increased.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of limiting use of fingerprints in an electronic device such as a digital television receiver.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for limiting the use of an electronic device using a fingerprint, the method comprising: (a) receiving a key input for using an electronic device from a user; and (b) a user for using the electronic device. Requesting input of fingerprint data of the user; (c) checking whether the user is authorized to use the electronic device by inspecting the input fingerprint of the user; and (d) setting the corresponding user if the user is authorized. And setting (e) a corresponding operation according to a key input from the user according to the set use environment. .

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the operation of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a digital television receiver to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Hereinafter, an operation of each part of the digital television receiver will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

First, the key input unit 118 and the remote controller (remocon) 126 generates a key data signal according to the user's key operation to apply to the micom (116). The memory unit 120 stores an operation program for operating the digital television receiver, and stores and outputs various program information output from the tuner unit 100 under the control of the microcomputer 116.

The tuner 100 tunes and receives a bit stream of a channel corresponding to the tuning control signal of the microcomputer 116 among the bit streams received from the terrestrial wave or satellite. The channel decoder 102 decodes the signal selected from the tuner unit 100 in a VSB, QPSK, QAM, or the like manner according to a transmission method, and applies the demultiplexed signal to the demultiplexer 104.

The demultiplexer 104 receives the digital stream decoded by the channel decoder 102, divides the video stream into video, audio, and additional information streams, and applies the decoded video stream to the MPEG-2 decoder 106. Then, the MPEG decoder 106 separates and decodes the broadcast signal provided from the demultiplexer 104 into an audio signal and a video signal, and then performs a predetermined signal processing process through the video / audio processing units 108 and 110 to display the TV receiver display unit ( 112) to be displayed on the screen.

The video processor 108 receives a video signal decoded and output from the MPEG-2 decoder 106 and converts the video signal into a displayable video signal on a screen of the display 112 of a TV receiver such as a CRT, a PDP, an LCD, or the like. The audio processor 110 receives the audio signal decoded and output from the MPEG-2 decoder 106 and reproduces the audio signal through the audio output unit such as the speaker 114.

The IR receiver 124 receives an operation command and fingerprint data of a remote controller operated by a user. The fingerprint decoding unit 128 decodes the fingerprint data of the user for use of the digital television receiver received through the IR receiving unit 124.

The microcomputer 116 controls the overall operation of each part of the digital TV receiver according to the operation program stored in the memory unit 120, and the remote controller 126 input from the key data signal from the key input unit 118 and the IR receiver 124. According to the key data from the control signal for generating a corresponding function is generated and applied to the function unit. That is, for example, the tuner 100 provides a tuning control signal for tuning a broadcast channel selected by a user, and generates a decoding control signal for decoding the tuned broadcast signal.

In addition, the microcomputer 112 receives a user's fingerprint data transmitted from the remote controller 126 when the remote controller 126 requests the use of the digital television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. After decoding through the fingerprint comparator 122, the fingerprint data input through the check whether the fingerprint of the pre-registered normal user is approved to use the digital television receiver.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the remote controller 126 includes a fingerprint recognition unit 204 for inputting a user's fingerprint to input fingerprint information of the user as authentication information for using a digital television receiver. Receives infrared transmission to the digital television receiver through the IR transmitter 200.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation control flow for processing a configuration setting application for each user of a digital television receiver using a user's fingerprint and limiting usage time in a digital television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. Meanwhile, in the description of the present invention, a digital television receiver, which is one of the electronic devices, is described as an example in the method of restricting the use of electronic devices using a fingerprint for convenience of explanation, but the same applies to electronic devices such as PCs, DVD players, and game machines. Apply.

First, when there is a fingerprint input for use of the digital television receiver from the user through the fingerprint recognition unit 204 of the remote controller 126, the microcomputer 116 receives the user fingerprint data transmitted from the remote controller 126 in step S300. In operation S302, it is checked whether the fingerprint data input through the fingerprint comparator 122 matches the fingerprint data of a predetermined authorized user.

If the fingerprint data input by the user is not determined as the fingerprint data of the user who is permitted to use the preset digital television receiver, the microcomputer 116 proceeds from step S304 to step S306 and the fingerprint data. Determining that the user who inputs a user is not an authorized user, the power of the digital television receiver is turned off to prevent the unauthorized user from using the digital television receiver.

On the contrary, if the fingerprint data input by the user is determined as the fingerprint data of the user who is permitted to use the preset digital television receiver, the microcomputer 116 proceeds from step S304 to step S308. Therefore, it reads the electronic device environment values stored corresponding to each user and applies them to the digital television receiver. In this case, the usage environment value may be, for example, preference channel information previously stored for each user, or a screen display mode setting value for each user such as screen sharpness, contrast, resolution, and size.

Next, the microcomputer 116 refers to the approved user-specific digital television receiver usage time information in step S310 and checks whether the current authorized user can use the digital television receiver.

In this case, if the authorized user is not allowed to use the digital television receiver, the microcomputer 116 proceeds from step S310 to step S306 to turn off the power of the digital television receiver so that the user whose usage time is limited is normal. Prevents the use of digital television receivers outside of service time. For example, the use time limit means that the use time can be limited so that adolescents or children can not use during the late-night time when an adult broadcasting program is broadcasted, which means not only a digital television receiver but also a PC, a game machine, etc. late at night. It may be possible to set a time limit for each age so that it cannot be used.

 On the contrary, when the authorized user is allowed to use the digital television receiver, the microcomputer 116 proceeds from step S310 to step S312 and inputs a key from the user according to the configuration value corresponding to the user. Will perform the corresponding operation.

As described above, in the present invention, in the use of an electronic device such as a digital television receiver, a function of restricting the use of the electronic device by using a fingerprint and at the same time, use a stored electronic device corresponding to each user to a user authorized through the fingerprint. By automatically setting the environmental value to facilitate the use of the electronic device, and also by limiting the use time of the authorized user by age to prevent the use of the electronic device by adolescents or children late at night.

Meanwhile, in the above description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the claims rather than by the described embodiments.

As described above, in the present invention, in the use of an electronic device such as a digital television receiver, a function of restricting the use of the electronic device by using a fingerprint and at the same time, the electronically stored electronic user for the user approved through the fingerprint. It has the advantage of making the use of electronic devices convenient by automatically setting to the device use environment value, and also has the advantage of preventing the use of electronic devices by adolescents or children late at night by limiting the usage time by the authorized user's age There is this.

Claims (5)

As a method of restricting the use of electronic devices using fingerprints, (a) receiving a keystroke for use of any electronic device from a user, (b) requesting user input of fingerprint data for use of the electronic device; (c) checking whether the user is authorized to use the electronic device by examining a fingerprint of the input user; (d) setting the electronic device using time set for the user and the electronic device using environment value corresponding to each user in the case of the authorized user; (e) performing a corresponding operation according to a key input from a user according to the set use environment; Electronic device use restriction method using a fingerprint comprising a. The method of claim 1, Step (c) may include: (c1) receiving coded fingerprint data corresponding to a fingerprint input from a user through a data input device of the electronic device; (c2) checking whether the input fingerprint data matches a fingerprint data of an authorized user preset Electronic device use restriction method using a fingerprint comprising a. The method of claim 1, The electronic device is any one of a digital television receiver, a PC, a DVD player, a game machine. The method of claim 1, In the step (d), the use environment value of the electronic device, in the case of a digital television receiver, the user preference channel information or screen display mode setting information, characterized in that the electronic device using a fingerprint. The method of claim 1, In the step (d), the use time of the electronic device, the method of limiting the use of electronic devices using a fingerprint, characterized in that the differentially set according to the age of the authorized user.

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