Patent Landscape Analysis Report on:

Biometric Authentication using Ultrasound Technology

We are glad to share with a comprehensive Patent Landscape Analysis for patent activities in the field of biometric authentication using ultrasound technology during the period of 1993 to till date.This landscape is based on published patent applications and granted patents in US jurisdiction and mainly focuses on theparameters, such as:Patent application publication trend (year wise), patenting activities of key players, patent filing trend,technologyanalysis etc.

In this emerging era of e-commerce, secure online transactions play a vital role. Though online transaction is a convenient option, yet it is prone to hacking, leading to frauds and related crimes. Thepasswords and PINs,commonly used for online banking,have become absolutely inadequate to protect security of user or consumer. Apart from this, in all spheres of life, especially in any public place or corporate world, security issues are increasing and there is always risk of an unauthorized person entering into restricted areas with an intention of theft, terrorist attack etc.In order to overcome such problems,biometric systems are often deployed at such places to ensure data security to the internet users. It also assists in authentication of an individual on basis of physical, physiological or behavioural characteristics.

There are several systems and products in the market that relate to biometric authentication and their demandis growing exponentially. With increasing demand, innovation and number of patents in this domain are also increasing. Patent has

an effective tool not just to protect such innovations but also to strengthen core technologies.Biometric is considered to be the most suitable authentication system for security as every individual is unique and hence identification of specific traits is a reliable way of authentication. As the specific traits cannot be borrowed, stolen or forgotten, counterfeiting is practically impossible, that makes biometric authentication an extremely effective technology for authentication of individual. Biometric characteristicsmay be physical, physiological or behavioural. Physiological characteristics relate to physiological parameters of body, such as, fingerprints, geometry of hand, finger or palm, retina, iris, and any of the facial features. Behavioural characteristics include parameters such as, signature, voice and keystroke pattern etc.

Biometric scanners, such as optical, capacitance, direct pressure, thermal, ultra sound are employed to carry out the process of authentication. However, ultrasound scanner is gaining popularity today for being highly accurate and moreover it is insulated from the effects of dirt, paint, ink and other image contaminants.

Below are some of the analyses with respective graphical representation.

1) PATENT APPLICATION PUBLICATION TREND

Fig 1: Patent Application Publication Trend

An analysis of patent applications that are published in the field of ultrasound based biometric authentication revealed that in the last five years, the number of patent applications published has increased drastically. Year 2013 has been a remarkable year with maximum number of published patent application.

2) PATENTING ACTIVITIES OF KEY PLAYERS

Fig 2: Patenting Activities of Key Players

An analysis for the patents granted in the field of biometric authentication using ultrasound technology revealed that ELWHA, a US-based firm, holds the highest number of patents in this field. Among the key players, ELWHA has been assigned with almost 22% of total number of patents in this technology.

3) PATENT FILING TREND

Fig 3: Patent Filing Trend

The chart represents the patent filing trend in the field of biometric authentication using ultrasound technology in the US jurisdiction till date

4) RECENT TREND IN TECHNOLOGY

Fig 5: Recent Trend in Technology

A technology analysis of the patents/patent applications filed in the field of biometric authentication using ultrasound during last five years revealed that number of patent under the IPC G06F (ELECTRICAL DIGITAL …) is increasing every year.

CONCLUSION

Hence, the landscape analysis carried out to identify the patenting activities in US in the field of biometric authentication using ultrasound technology clearly shows two things, firstly,  that  ultrasound based biometric authentication is becoming the most sought after authentication technology among various sectors like communication (AT&T), banking (AMERICAN EXPRESS and BANK OF AMERICA) and identification (APPLE, NEXTGENID) etc. and secondly although biometric authentication is not the primary sector of business for billion dollar companies like APPLE, IBM etc., according to this landscape study, these companies are showing significant interest in this field. This is evident by the fact that these companies hold more patent in this field than the companies’ whose main area of business is biometric authentication.

Please click here in order to view the detailed and more descriptive report of this Patent Landscape Analysis.

Innovative Product of the Month

ReMeDi® Tele-Medicine Solution

Neurosynaptic  Communications , a Bangalore based company, has indigenously developed a low-cost ReMeDi™ Medical Data Acquisition Unit and Software, todeliver primary health services to rural, remote populations through Telemedicine. It is always observed that access to basic healthcare is a daunting challenge in rural India. Over 70% of the country’s population lives in villages, yet 80% doctors, 75% dispensaries and 60% hospitals are in urban areas. About 70-80% private practitioners are semi- or unqualified and absentee rate at government rural clinics is ~40%. For rural population, healthcare is 1.5 times costlier. Quality healthcare is sought very late in the disease cycle, resulting in high mortality & morbidity besides huge expenses. Clearly, there is a huge demand-supply gap for the rural health services, where quality care is most needed. ReMeDi® Tele-Medicine Solution offers solution to this which can measure basic physiological parameters like patient’s ECG, Temp, BP, HR & oxygen saturation, as well as real-time transmission of heart and lung sounds through electronic stethoscope probe and provide vital information about the patient to a doctor for preliminary diagnosis. The medical device uses only 2W of power. The solution also includes video conferencing between doctors and patients which can work at a bandwidth of as low as 32 Kbps. A preliminary diagnosis of cardio-vascular problems can be carried out using stethoscope, ECG and blood pressure measurement. With images, taken using a normal web camera, doctors can provide eye care, dermatology and ENT services.

While the ReMeDi™ technology is designed to work with extremely low bandwidths by compressing video, audio and data information, this works on all kinds of Internet based connectivity. The ReMeDi™ technology is built in a way that a person with – typically a high school graduate - can operate it with minimal training. Training processes are also considered a part of technology itself. Certain benefits of the system are early detection of ailments, high quality branded healthcare, very much cost effective as per consult cost Rs 30 to 50, close proximity distance of the telemedicine  centre and nearly 75 % of walk in patients taken care of with tele-consultation.A combination of such appropriate technologies that require lower dependency on skilled personnel and bridge the access gap in rural  areas is surely a significant innovative product.

Interesting Patent

Title of the invention: Garment for identifying location on body of the garment wearer

Publication number:         US20060191053 A1

Publication type:              Application

Application number:          US 11/066,815

Publication date:              Aug 31, 2006

Filing date:                      Feb 25, 2005

Inventors:                        Francis Coppola

ABSTRACT: The present invention discloses a garment having printed thereon a figure comprising uniquely identifiable regions that when worn permit the wearer to identify for a third party a particular location on the wearer’s body.

Exclusive Interview with Mr V Rengasamy, Retd. Deputy Controller of Patents. Designs and Trademarks, Indian Patent Office

This section is an initiative by Origiin to introduce latest innovations and valuable expert opinions on protection, exploitation of Intellectual property by Intellectual Property experts to provide inspiration to the readers and also make our readers aware about the emerging technologies, products and innovations. This section also aims at bringing out the importance of patent protection and the way such innovations make difference in evolution of scientific progress in the country.

In this issue, we are extremely happy to publish interview of V Rengasamy, Retd. Deputy Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks.

Mr Rengaswamy examined the most talked about patent application of Novartis and raised objections based on section 3 (d) of Indian Patent Act. Though his decision was appealed at various forums including IPAB, High Court and Supreme Court, but Mr Rengaswamy’s observations & analysis on section 3 (d) was found to be valid by Supreme Court.

Mr Rengaswamy is post-graduate in Chemistry from Madurai-Kamaraj University. He started his career in 1977 at Central Drugs Laboratory, Govt. of India, Kolkata. Then he moved to National Test House, Govt. of India, Kolkata in 1982.Mr Rangaswamy joined the Indian Patent Office, Kolkata, as Examiner of Patents & Designs in 1983 and later in the year 1985 he got transferred to the Indian Patent Office, Chennai. Mr Rengaswamy has attended many seminars and training programmes such as Orientation Seminar on General Aspects of Industrial Proper at WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland; training course on Patent Examination at the Netherlands Patent Office,training course on Intellectual Property at Colombo; attended Europe Asia Patent Information Conference at Singapore;attended WIPO Regional Forum on ESTs at Colombo etc.

Below are his expert opinions on various issues of patents particularly in pharmaceutical area falling under section 3 (d) of Indian IP regime.

Origiin: Hello Sir. It is a great pleasure and honor for us to interact with you and publish your thoughts in our newsletter.

Mr Rengasamy: Thank you. I feel privileged to share my views and thoughts with your esteemed organization.

Origiin: During your tenure as Assistant Controller at Indian Patent Office, Novartis filed for patent application related to anti cancerous drug Glivec. You were the first one to reject the application on the ground of section 3 (d). Your decision was even upheld by Supreme Court on further appeal by Novartis. It was indeed a big news all over the world.  Would you like to share your experience regarding this case?

Mr Rengasamy: Surely, I would like to share my experience on this historic judgment by our Supreme Court. I had been fortunate to have handled this case right from day one. Also by chance, I happened to be the Controller for that case. Just to brief you on the case: Novartis claimed beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate salt, in their anti-cancer drug Glivec. This was a very fit case to be rejected on the ground of section 3 (d) of the Patents Act, 1970 as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005; because they could not prove any improvement in the therapeutic efficacy of the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate salt over the known forms of imatinibmesylate salt. Moreover, the specification itself stated that beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate can be equally used where imatinib base is used. This proved that there was no inventive step in their invention and it is a clear case of ever-greening.

In my 35 years of career in this field, I felt so accomplished and honored, when our Supreme Court gave this historical judgment, upholding my decision.

Origiin: Do you think the perception that United States IP model is logical and needs to be changed? Recently when whole world was questioning Indian IP policy, many big players like Honeywell, Boeing and Abbot came forward and supported Indian IPR regime saying that Indian IP framework is very much adequate to protect IP with no known cases of IP violation. Is this a good sign to believe that perceived philosophy will change gradually?

Mr Rengasamy: I quite personally believe that this perceived philosophy will always change gradually.

Origiin: Indian Patent Act 2005 is in compliance with WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) but does not comply with WTO plus, which gives protection to even incremental innovation and this has been a prime demand from global Pharma companies. Is there any likelihood of this in near future?

Mr Rengasamy: It is a policy decision that government has to take. In my personal opinion, I don’t think that there is any possibility that our government will go for WTO plus in the near future.

Origiin: Although the number of patents filed in India has been increased significantly for past 3-4, years yet we are way behind compared to China and other counter parts. Is it because of lack of innovation or lack of awareness?

Mr Rengasamy: It is both. Most of the research scholars in India are reluctant to apply for a patent even when there is a patentable innovation. This can be gauged from the fact that only a few patent applications are filed by research scholars in India whereas their strength is in thousands. The story is the same in the case of big corporate too.

Origiin: Despite India being a potential growth market, foreign companies that are controlled by US trade lobby are speculative about coming to India owing to India’s strict IP laws. Is this an unfavorable condition towards Indian economy?

Mr Rengasamy: In my personal opinion, this is partly true. India is still a developing country with huge population. Health care for every Indian is still a distant dream, unlike other developed countries. Unless our government makes health care either free or affordable for every Indian, our government may not be in a position to embrace strict IP laws. This is a huge challenge for us. I personally foresee many years to go by, before we reach this situation. Having said that, I acknowledge that we are on the right track towards free/affordable health care for every individual, as we see from the trends of various State governments offering cheap health insurance to cover every citizen.

Origiin: What would be your message to Indian innovators?

Mr Rengasamy: Every Indian innovator should come forward to protect their innovation. Different government agencies should do their best to increase awareness about intellectual property, particularly patents, among research scholars.I would also like to add that IP Offices in India in collaboration with various Industry bodies reach out to various educational institutions as well as corporate, to spread awareness and encourage protecting their IP rights.

During my tenure at Patent Office, I personally had been part of many such activities, visiting various educational institutions as well as corporate.India has immense talent and the same has to be brought out and protected through IP. This is my message to all.

Origiin: Thank you so much Sir for your valuable thoughts.

Mr Rengasamy: Thanks for the opportunity. It has been a pleasure to be part of this interview.

Innovative Product of the Month

Gecko – a product to make your smart phone much smarter

In an attempt to feature one innovative product of the month, this time, we bring to our readers a unique product called ‘Gecko’, invented by a Bangalore based innovative start-up company, Connovate Technology Private Limited, founded by Mr Bahubali Shete. The product Gecko makes your smart phone much smarter. Gecko can add all smart features to the smart phones, such as, it can secure, trigger, remind, capture, track and even find the objects in case of lost.

The product is equipped with accelerometer which enables users to connect Gecko with smartphone via low energy Bluetooth. This, in return, helps Gecko to control gesture and triggers many activities. The device is packed with a TI CC2541 SoC, removable coin cell battery along with a buzzer and LED lights for sending alert signals. Gecko along with Gecko app can make life much easier as it creates endless possibilities by enabling number of applications like, by sending you an alarm if you have missed your daily dose of medicine, or letting you know if your pet or kid tries to sneak out of the house or to catch an intruder if the door opens without the owner’s knowledge. Gecko also comes with an extension port that helps to connect with other devices and trigger actions. This is useful for controlling music on phone such as changing volume or switching track by just a flick of your hand without taking out the phone from pocket. The hand-held Gecko is great to trigger the camera to snap a picture, shoot a video or even trigger multiple photos taken at set intervals. All this you can do by simply waving the arm with Gecko in your hand and it will trigger the picture. The device comes with four available gestures, including turning it to the left and right and shaking it once or twice. The best part of Gecko is that the Gecko app tell the owner where he has left his Gecko by remembering the last location where it went out of your phone’s range in case he has lost the Gecko itself.

So, this small and handy device with all of its state of the art technologies and which makes sure that you never lose anything in real world is surely an innovative one.

Interview

Exclusive Interview with Dr MS Swaminathan, the Father of Green Revolution

This section is an initiative by Origiin to introduce latest innovations and valuable expert opinions on protection, exploitation of Intellectual property by Intellectual Property experts to provide inspiration to the readers and also make our readers aware about the emerging technologies, products and innovations. This section also aims at bringing out the importance of patent protection and the way such innovations make difference in evolution of scientific progress in the country.

In this issue, we are extremely happy to publish interview of Dr M S Swaminathan, the Father of India’s Green Revolution.

Dr Swaminathan who holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, was the former director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as well as of International Rice Research Institute. He also became president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1988. He has also served as Independent Chairman of the FAO Council, along with as the Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action. Dr Swaminathan, a plant geneticist by training with a Ph.D. from Cambridge University has established the National Bureau of Plant, Animal and Fish Genetic Resources of India and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, besides serving as the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Dr MS Swaminathan has got many prestigious awards and fellowships. He was awarded the First World Food Prize in October 1987 and has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “the Father of Economic Ecology”, besides being one of three Indians to be included in TIME Magazine’s 1999 list of the “20 most influential Asian people of the 20th century”, along with Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Life Time Achievement Award of All Indian Management Association,Ramon Magsaysay Award for community Leadership and many more he has been awarded. He has many books to his credit. An Evergreen Revolution, I Predict: A Century of Hope Towards an Era of Harmony with Nature and Freedom from Hunger, Gender Dimensions in Biodiversity Management, Agro biodiversity and Farmers’ Rights, Sustainable Agriculture: Towards Food Security are some of his notable books.

Below are expert opinions of the “Living Legend” himself for various issues in food security, agricultural policies and biodiversity.

Origiin: Hello Dr Swaminathan. It is a great pleasure and honor for us to have opportunity to interact with you and publish your thoughts in the form of this interview.

Dr Swaminathan : Thank you and my best wishes are with Origiin.

Origiin: The world look upon to you as the “the Father of Economic Ecology” and refers you more popularly as the “Leader of Green Revolution”. You have been extensively associated with sustainable agriculture and food security. Please let us know how has your journey been so far in projecting food crisis to the world?

Dr Swaminathan: There is much greater understanding of the basic fact that where hunger rules, peace cannot prevail.  Also my message that the future belongs to nations with grains and not guns is now making an impact worldwide.  We are today much better prepared to face famines and food crisis than we were at the time of the great Bengal famine of 1942-43.

I give below an extract from my speech at the Indian Science Congress held at Varanasi on January 3, 1968.

“Exploitative agriculture offers great dangers if carried out with only an immediate profit or production motive. The emerging exploitative farming community in India should become aware of this. Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility and soil structure would lead, ultimately, to the springing up of deserts. Irrigation without arrangements for drainage would result in soils getting alkaline or saline. Indiscriminate use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides could cause adverse changes in biological balance as well as lead to an increase in the incidence of cancer and other diseases, through the toxic residues present in the grains or other edible parts. Unscientific tapping of underground water will lead to the rapid exhaustion of this wonderful capital resource left to us through ages of natural farming. The rapid replacement of numerous locally adapted varieties with one or two high-yielding strains in large contiguous areas would result in the spread of serious diseases capable of wiping out entire crops, as happened prior to the Irish potato famine of 1854 and the Bengal rice famine in 1942. Therefore the initiation of exploitative agriculture without a proper understanding of the various consequences of every one of the changes introduced into traditional agriculture, and without first building up a proper scientific and training base to sustain it, may only lead us, in the long run, into an era of agricultural disaster rather than one of agricultural prosperity.”

The above is the basis of the concept of the ever-green revolution viz increases in productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm.

Origiin: Can you please throw us some light on the role of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) towards development of Indian Agriculture and its policies on patent issues, plant variety protection, in situ and ex situ conservation, and the dissemination of information on CGIAR genetic resources research.

Dr Swaminathan : CGIAR has been playing a major role in genetic resources conservation and plant variety protection through Biodiversity International. I played an important role in setting up the International Board of Plant Genetic Resources in 1972-74, an organization now known as Biodiversity International. As Chairman of the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee for over 10 years, I helped to develop procedures for defensive patenting of important scientific material, so that they are always available for public good and not for private profit.

Origiin: Where does India stand in terms of Plant Variety Protection and Farmer’s right compared to her other counter parts? Are Indian farmers and breeders much aware of this privilege and Biodiversity Act?  

Dr Swaminathan : India is the only country in the world which has an integrated legislation on breeders’ and farmers’ rights.  The Act is known as Plant Variety Protection and Farmers’ Rights Act. I prepared the first draft of this integrated Act. In my view, farmers and breeders are allies in the struggle for food security. Therefore their rights should be mutually reinforcing and not antagonistic. Also we should rename UPOV as the International Union for the Protection of Breeders’ and Farmers’ Rights.

Origiin: Indian Cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge is counted as one of the world’s top ten hot spots of biodiversity. But there has been a substantial amount of IP infringement and attack on national biodiversity due to various external and internal instances. How strong is Indian Biodiversity Act to protect local flora and fauna?

Dr Swaminathan: India has a rich heritage in biodiversity based on culture, culinary habits and medicinal applications.  The Indian Biodiversity Act in whose formulation also I played a major role is very strong in the areas of conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits.

Origiin: Agricultural lands are being snatched away by large scale industries, real estate and infrastructure development leaving a little space for cultivation. How do we cope up with this problem?

Dr Swaminathan : At the moment, land is becoming a very expensive commodity.  Therefore there is tendency for land grab. We have dealt with this in detail in the report of the High Level Panel of Experts to the Committee on Food Security (of which I was Chairman until recently). We have shown that converting prime farm land for fuel production may lead to food shortages, particularly in an era of climate change.

Origiin: Is there acute shortage of investment in agriculture compared to other sectors in the country?

Dr Swaminathan : Investment in agriculture is rather low.  We need more investments particularly in the areas of rural communications, grain storage, soil health care and enhancement and water conservation and sustainable use.

Origiin: Sir, you had supported the government’s decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. What steps should state government take in order to safeguard the interest of farmers?

Dr Swaminathan : I did not support FDI in Retail except where it is going to help improve rural infrastructure in post harvest technology.  FDI should be a win-win both for rural families and for the commercial firm.  It should be based on a participatory process with emphasis on the livelihood security of the poor and on ethical behavior.

Origiin: What is your take on Genetically Modified Food? Recently America introduced the bill “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” in order to prevent maximum level of accidental GMO presence.

Dr Swaminathan : Genetic modification is a very important tool in all the sectors like medicine, industry and environment. Bio-remediation is important to control pollution.  However in the case of food biotechnology, there is need for caution. We need an effective regulatory mechanism in the areas of biotechnology and bio safety which can help to measure risks and benefits objectively and in a transparent manner.

Origiin: Do we see a second green revolution in India in near future?

Dr Swaminathan : I do not believe in a second green revolution.  What I would like to see is an ever-green revolution which leads to improvement in productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm.  We must mainstream ecology in technology development and dissemination.

 Origiin: Thank you so much Sir, for your valuable inputs.

Innovative product of the month

nonClonableID™ technology

To combat the global threat of counterfeiting of goods from every sectors like Pharma, Automotive, Agricultural, Defence, Luxury goods etc, Bicare nciD technology has come up with a unique system that implements brand security through nonClonableID™  technology. The said technology comprises of a unique fingerprint that can be seamlessly integrated with products, ID cards and documents to provide a totally secure and reliable identification and authentication solution. The product employs a unique materials-based fingerprint that are prohibitively difficult to copy. These tamper-evident fingerprints are irreproducible and cannot be duplicated even by Bilcare.The core technology used in the product relates to a randomly distributed micro and nano particles that generate the machine readable fingerprints that enable an object for real time authentication through hand held portable device. These fingerprints can be integrated with overt systems like barcodes/ RFID tags etc. and within any existing software/hardware infrastructure. Subsequently the scanning device scans the fingerprint and communicates the encrypted information with a secure server through mobility platforms such as GPRS, 3G or Broadband. By implementing this technology Bilcare offers a foolproof end-to-end solution to combat this growing problem of counterfeited goods.

Currently the technology is deployed in many sectors and ensures enhanced brand recognition in the market place, brand loyalty from patients and ensures proper dispensation of medication and compliance with medication regimen. For Agrochemicals,  it increases visibility across the supply chain whereby consignments can be tracked down to individual Stock Keeping Units. It also offers an integrated authentication and inventory system for the protection of heritage assets. For government sectors, the technology is offering solution to different areas like in document security, security forces duty management, property registration, currency registration etc.

With such innovation oriented features the nonClonableID™ technology surely deserves accolades and proves to be a great innovative product.

Bilcare Technology, recently received the Nation IP Award 2014 by Indian Patent Office under the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, on 26th day of April 2014,the day which is recognised as International IP Day.