Nobody thinks of themselves as that person with the "funny" walk. But like or lump it, we all have a unique way of moving and now new technology from Alohar Mobile can use your gait for secure authentication. The new system will use sensors in the phone in your pocket to identify your walk.
Alohar Mobile CEO and founder, Sam Liang, spoke about the system during a panel discussion in Seattle on February 17. His company was granted a patent for the process in November 2014. Liang was an architect of Google's Location Server Platform before starting the company which is now owned by Alibaba.
Liang said that the company plans to create demo apps then make the platform available to developers to create their own authentication apps.
The speed, cadence and pace of the walker can be measured using the the phone's accelerometer, gyroscope or GPS besides a range of other ways to authenticate the user. The patent describes how the "bounce" of a mobile phone in a pocket or purse as the user walks is a unique identifier, as is the motion of the phone as it travels from the pocket or purse to the owner's ear.
The system can also create a profile of the user's daily movements around a city or town. If the phone travels on a usual route or to a strange location and tries to make a payment, the retailer could be alerted and told to request further authentication.
Alohar plans to to build even more advanced technology that will allow your mobile phone to even detect your moods.
"In the future, the phone will be able to tell, are you happy or depressed based on the way you walk, the speed you move around, the way you swing the phone," said Liang.
This type of technology is not universally welcomed however. Alohar Mobile caused quite a furor in 2012 when they launched their PlaceMe software. PlaceMe and its 2014 successor used mobile phones to track the movements of your whole family and raise concerns over privacy and how this very personal information might be shared.
