CLIAMS:We claim:

1. A method of providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said method comprises of:

receiving a building access control request from a user;
checking authenticity of said received building access control request; and
allowing access to said home control gateway if said authentication check is successful.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein said building access control request further comprises of biometric data pertaining to said user.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein checking authenticity of said received building access control request further comprises of verifying authenticity of biometric data pertaining to said user.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein checking authenticity of said received building access control request by verifying authenticity of biometric data pertaining to said user further comprises of:

capturing said biometric data pertaining to said user, wherein said biometric data is facial image of said user;
extracting facial feature point information from said captured biometric data; and
comparing said extracted facial feature point information with data stored in a feature database, wherein said feature database possesses original facial feature point information pertaining to said user.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein said original facial feature point information is pre-configured with said feature database.

6. A system for providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said system comprises of:

a user equipment; and
a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter configured to communicate with said UE and said building gateway.

7. The system as in claim 6 is further configured to provide said biometric authentication based secured access to said building gateway by:

capturing biometric data pertaining to said user using said UE, wherein said biometric data is facial image of said user;
extracting a facial feature point information from said captured biometric data using said Zigbee biometric data transmitter;
transmitting said plurality of extracted facial feature point information to said building gateway from said Zigbee biometric data transmitter; and
comparing said extracted facial feature point information with data stored in a feature database using said building gateway, wherein said feature database possesses original facial feature point information pertaining to said user.

8. The system as in claim 7, wherein said building gateway provides means to pre-configure said original facial feature point information pertaining to said user with said feature database.

9. A Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device to provide biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said device configured for:

receiving biometric data pertaining to said user using a facial image reception module;
extracting facial feature point information from said received biometric data using a facial feature points extractor module;
converting said facial feature point information based on at least one custom defined protocol format stored in a Zigbee device protocol stack; and
transmitting said converted facial feature point information to a building gateway using a Zigbee interface.

10. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device as in claim 9 is further configured to connect to a User Equipment using an audio jack interface.

11. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device as in claim 9 is further configured to connect to said building gateway using a Zigbee interface.

Date: 2nd December 2013 Signature:
Vikram Pratap Singh Thakur
Patent Agent
,TagSPECI:
FORM 2
The Patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules, 2005
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(SEE SECTION 10 AND RULE 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION

“BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION FOR ZIGBEE BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEM”
APPLICANTS:
Name : HCL Technologies Limited
Nationality : Indian
Address : HCL Technologies Ltd., 50-53 Greams
Road,Chennai – 600006, Tamil Nadu, India
The following Specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] The embodiments herein relate to Zigbee building automation and, more particularly, to employ biometric authentication in Zigbee based building automation systems.

BACKGROUND
[002] Building automation is a well known technology which enables automation of various devices/systems in a building where it is employed. The automation may provide centralized control mechanism to monitor and control various appliances in the building such as lighting, entertainment systems, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems), security systems such as locks and so on to improve convenience of the user.
[003] Traditionally, the user was allowed to control various systems/devices configured with the automation system using a centralized controlling module which is placed at a convenient place in the building with the centralized controlling module acting as a central gateway. With advent of technology, mechanisms were developed to help users to remotely access and control the configured systems through the central gateway. The user may use an application installed in any user device such as mobile phone, personal computer and so on, to gain access to the central gateway and control the configured devices/systems. One prominent technology/specification used in the building automation is Zigbee.
[004] Use of Zigbee requires low data rates, long battery life, and offers secured networking. As a result, Zigbee is widely used in building automation systems. However, disadvantage of current systems that facilitate remote access to Zigbee home automation systems is that they do not provide any mean to authenticate the user. This poses a security threat as even unauthorized users can access and control the building automation system.

SUMMARY
[005] In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a method of providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway. The method comprises of receiving a building access control request from a user and checking authenticity of the received building access control request. Further, if the authentication is successful, then the user is provided access to the home control gateway.
[006] Embodiments further disclose a system for providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway. The system comprises of a user equipment and a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter is further configured to communicate with the UE and the building gateway.
[007] Embodiments herein also disclose a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device to provide biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway. The device configured for receiving biometric data pertaining to the user using a facial image reception module. Further, the device extracts facial feature point information from the received biometric data using a facial feature points extractor module and converts the facial feature point information based on at least one custom defined protocol format stored in a Zigbee device protocol stack. Further, the device transmits the converted facial feature point information to a building gateway using a Zigbee interface.
[008] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[009] The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of biometric authentication enabled Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that depicts various steps involved in the process of providing secured access to Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein; and
[0012] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that depicts various steps involved in the process of checking authenticity of a user to provide access to the Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0013] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0014] The embodiments herein disclose a secured access mechanism for users to Zigbee building automation system by using biometric authentication mechanism. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown embodiments.
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of biometric authentication enabled Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. The system comprises of a User Equipment (UE) 101, a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 and a building gateway 109. The UE 101 further comprises of an authentication data collector module 102, a camera interface 103 and an audio jack socket interface 104. The authentication data collector module 102 further comprises of a facial image transmission protocol module 102.a and an image capture module 102.b. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 further comprises of an audio jack interface 106, a feature recognition module 107 and a Zigbee interface 108.a. The feature recognition module 107 further comprises of a facial image reception module 107.a, a facial feature point extraction module 107.b, and a Zigbee device protocol stack 107.c. The building gateway 109 further comprises of a gateway authentication and control module 110 and a Zigbee interface 108.b. The gateway authentication and control module 110 further comprises of a gateway security handler 111, a Zigbee controller stack 112, a gateway core application module 113, a facial feature matcher 114 and a biometric database 115.
[0016] The UE 101 can be used to access and control systems/devices configured with the building gateway 109, from a remote location. To do this, a suitable interface such as an application is provided with the UE 101. For example, an application that provides options for the user to access and control the building gateway 109 may be installed in the UE 101 and the user can initialize this application to access and control functions of the building gateway 109 and thereby the associated systems and devices, using suitable option (s) provided in the application. To ensure a secured access to the building gateway 109, a biometric authentication procedure is used by the Zigbee building automation system.
[0017] Whenever the user tries to access the building gateway 109 from the UE 101, an authentication check is performed to verify authenticity of the user. In this procedure, the image capture module 102.b fetches an image of the user captured using a camera associated with the camera interface 103 and transmits the fetched image to the facial image transmission protocol module 102.a. The facial image transmission protocol module 102.a is configured to prepare the data according to custom defined protocol format which, in a preferred embodiment, may be Zigbee protocols, so as to make it compatible for further processing. For example, the captured image may be in digital format. To make this compatible for transmission across the audio jack interface, the data may be converted to analog format using the facial image transmission protocol module 102.a. The facial image transmission protocol module 102.a may also perform basic data transmission procedures such as but not limited to modulation, and encryption of data. The prepared data is then transmitted to the Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105, which is connected to the UE 101 using a suitable interface. In a preferred embodiment, the Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 is connected to the UE 101 via the audio jack socket interface 104, using a suitable connector.
[0018] The data transmitted from the UE 101 is received by the audio jack interface 106 of the Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 and is then fed as input to the facial image reception module 107.a. The facial image reception module 107.a converts the received analog data to digital format for further processing, using any suitable conversion mechanism. Further, the data is fed as input to the facial feature points extractor module 107.b. The facial feature points extractor module 107.b processes the received data i.e. facial image of the user, using any suitable mechanism such as but not limited to geometry based extraction, template based extraction, close segmentation based extraction, and appearance based extraction. This results in extraction of facial features from the fetched image.
[0019] The extracted facial feature information is then sent to the building gateway 109 through the Zigbee interface 108, based on specific standards defined and stored in the Zigbee device protocol stack 107.c. The gateway authentication and control module 110 in the building gateway 109 is responsible for providing secured by verifying authenticity of the user based on the extracted facial feature information. The biometric database 115 in the gateway authentication and control module 110 possesses pre-stored biometric information pertaining to facial features of the user. The facial feature matcher 114 fetches the received facial feature information from the Zigbee interface 108 through the Zigbee controller stack 112 and the gateway core application module 113 and compares the received facial feature data with the with the facial feature information stored in the biometric database 115. Access and control permission is provided to the user if a match is found or else, access is denied. In either case, the user may be notified by sending pre-configured message (s) to the UE 101.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that depicts various steps involved in the process of providing secured access to Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. The Zigbee building automation system provides means for the user to access and control building gateway 109 and configured systems and/or devices using the UE 101. The user may be provided with a suitable interface such as an application installed in the UE 101, so as to access the building gateway 109. To ensure secured access, a biometric authentication procedure over Zigbee protocol is used by the Zigbee building automation system. The user who intends to access the building gateway 109 from the UE 101 may be prompted to provide biometric information i.e. facial image in this embodiment for a verification check. The camera interface in the UE 101 is used to capture the facial image. Further, the captured image is to be transmitted along with a building gateway control access request, to the building gateway 109 for the verification check. In a preferred embodiment, a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 connected to the UE 101 using a suitable interface such as but not limited to the audio jack socket interface 104 is used to process fetched facial image and extract facial features from the image using a suitable processing technique. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the facial feature information is converted to Zigbee supported format based on standards predefined using specific Zigbee protocols. The information is further transmitted to the building gateway 109 using the Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105.
[0021] The building gateway 109 receives (202) the captured image and the building gateway control access request and checks (204) authenticity of the received information by comparing the received information with verification data stored in the biometric database 115. In a preferred embodiment, the verification data refers to original biometric data pertaining to the user. Further, if the authentication information is successfully verified, the user is provided (208) access to the gateway so as to control and/or manage functionalities of systems and/or devices configured with the building gateway 109. If the authentication check fails, the user is denied (210) access to the building gateway 109. The various actions in method 200 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 2 may be omitted.
[0022] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that depicts various steps involved in the process of checking authenticity of a user to provide access to the Zigbee building automation system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. Whenever the user tries to access the building gateway 109 from the UE 101, an authentication check is performed to verify authenticity of the user. In this procedure, the image capture module 102.b fetches an image of the user captured using a camera associated with the camera interface 103 and transmits the fetched image to the facial image transmission protocol module 102.a.
[0023] The data transmitted from the UE 101 is fetched (302) by the audio jack interface 106 of the Zigbee biometric security data transmitter 105 and is then fed as input to the facial image reception module 107.a. The facial image reception module 107.a converts the received analog data to digital format for further processing, using any suitable conversion mechanism. Further, the data is fed as input to the facial feature points extractor module 107.b. The facial feature points extractor module 107.b processes the received data i.e. facial image of the user, using any suitable mechanism and extracts (304) facial feature point information from the fetched image.
[0024] The extracted facial feature point information is then sent to the building gateway 109 through the Zigbee interface 108, based on specific standards such as custom defined protocol format defined and stored in the Zigbee device protocol stack 107.c. In an embodiment, the extracted facial feature point information may have to be converted to a Zigbee supported format before sending to the building gateway 109. Further, at the building gateway 109, the extracted facial feature point information is compared (306) with facial feature data stored in the biometric database 115. If a match is found in the comparison process, that indicates the user is an authorized person and is eligible to have access to the building gateway 109. A mismatch may indicate an unauthorized access and in that case access to the building gateway 109 is denied for the user. The various actions in method 300 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 3 may be omitted.
[0025] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the network elements. The network elements shown in Fig. 1 include blocks which can be at least one of a hardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software module.
[0026] The embodiment disclosed herein specifies a system for secured access to Zigbee based building automation systems. The mechanism allows biometric authentication check in Zigbee based building automation systems, providing a system thereof. Therefore, it is understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer readable means having a message therein, such computer readable storage means contain program code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The method is implemented in a preferred embodiment through or together with a software program written in e.g. Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) another programming language, or implemented by one or more VHDL or several software modules being executed on at least one hardware device. The hardware device can be any kind of device which can be programmed including e.g. any kind of computer like a server or a personal computer, or the like, or any combination thereof, e.g. one processor and two FPGAs. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an ASIC, or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software modules located therein. Thus, the means are at least one hardware means and/or at least one software means. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented in pure hardware or partly in hardware and partly in software. The device may also include only software means. Alternatively, the invention may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
[0027] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims as described herein.

CLAIMS
We claim:

1. A method of providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said method comprises of:

receiving a building access control request from a user;
checking authenticity of said received building access control request; and
allowing access to said home control gateway if said authentication check is successful.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein said building access control request further comprises of biometric data pertaining to said user.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein checking authenticity of said received building access control request further comprises of verifying authenticity of biometric data pertaining to said user.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein checking authenticity of said received building access control request by verifying authenticity of biometric data pertaining to said user further comprises of:

capturing said biometric data pertaining to said user, wherein said biometric data is facial image of said user;
extracting facial feature point information from said captured biometric data; and
comparing said extracted facial feature point information with data stored in a feature database, wherein said feature database possesses original facial feature point information pertaining to said user.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein said original facial feature point information is pre-configured with said feature database.

6. A system for providing biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said system comprises of:

a user equipment; and
a Zigbee biometric security data transmitter configured to communicate with said UE and said building gateway.

7. The system as in claim 6 is further configured to provide said biometric authentication based secured access to said building gateway by:

capturing biometric data pertaining to said user using said UE, wherein said biometric data is facial image of said user;
extracting a facial feature point information from said captured biometric data using said Zigbee biometric data transmitter;
transmitting said plurality of extracted facial feature point information to said building gateway from said Zigbee biometric data transmitter; and
comparing said extracted facial feature point information with data stored in a feature database using said building gateway, wherein said feature database possesses original facial feature point information pertaining to said user.

8. The system as in claim 7, wherein said building gateway provides means to pre-configure said original facial feature point information pertaining to said user with said feature database.

9. A Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device to provide biometric authentication based secured access for a user to a Zigbee based building gateway, said device configured for:

receiving biometric data pertaining to said user using a facial image reception module;
extracting facial feature point information from said received biometric data using a facial feature points extractor module;
converting said facial feature point information based on at least one custom defined protocol format stored in a Zigbee device protocol stack; and
transmitting said converted facial feature point information to a building gateway using a Zigbee interface.

10. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device as in claim 9 is further configured to connect to a User Equipment using an audio jack interface.

11. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter device as in claim 9 is further configured to connect to said building gateway using a Zigbee interface.

Date: 2nd December 2013 Signature:
Vikram Pratap Singh Thakur
Patent Agent

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system and method to provide biometric authentication based secured access to a building gateway for a user to control system and device configured to the building gateway. A Zigbee biometric security data transmitter connected to the User Equipment (UE) of the user is configured to fetch a facial image captured using a camera interface associated with the UE. The Zigbee biometric security data transmitter further processes the fetched image and extracts facial feature points information from the fetched image. The extracted facial feature point information is then processed according to pre-defined Zigbee standards and is then sent over Zigbee network to the building gateway. At the building gateway, the received facial feature point information is compared with pre-configured verification data to check authenticity of the user. If verification is successful, the user is provided access to the building gateway; else, access is denied.
Fig. 1