Application routing configuration for NFC controller supporting multiple NFCEEs

• US 10,028,078 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Nguyen, Dong Duc Hai
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US15/194,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20160309287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• Field of Search: 340 101- 105, 455 411, 455 412, 455558, 23546225, 23546245, 370252, 370338, 726 7
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks

Abstract

The present document relates to Near Field Communication (NFC). In particular, the present document relates to the routing of application related information in a system comprising multiple NFC Execution environments (NFCEE). A method for identifying an application on an NFC enabled device (200) comprising a plurality of NFC execution environments (204, 205, 206, 207) is described, wherein the application is hosted by one of the plurality of NFC execution environments (204, 205, 206, 207). In one aspect an example method comprises: receiving an external request for accessing the application over an air interface (202) of the NFC enabled device (200); forwarding the request to more than one of the plurality of NFC execution environments (204, 205, 206, 207); receiving more than one response to the request from the more than one of the plurality of NFC execution environments (204, 205, 206, 207), respectively; and analyzing the more than one response to identify a positive response indicating that the application is hosted by a corresponding one of the plurality of NFC execution environments (204, 205, 206, 207).

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

Near Field Communication (NFC) execution environments; and

an NFC controller in communication with the NFC execution environments and configured to;

maintain an NFC routing table that stores associations of the NFC execution environments with NFC applications hosted by the NFC execution environments;

receive, over an air interface, an external request for a particular NFC application; and

communicate the external request, according to the NFC routing table, to a specific NFC execution environment hosting the particular NFC application, wherein the specific NFC execution environment is directly identified by the NFC controller.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein each of the NFC applications is identified by an application identifier (AID), and wherein the NFC routing table contains a mapping between each AID and each NFC execution environment.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the external request identifies a particular AID for the particular NFC application.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the NFC controller is further configured to:

match the particular AID of the external request with an entry in the NFC routing table.

5. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the external request is a SELECT command.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the NFC routing table is stored in at least one of the NFC controller or a device host of the electronic device, and wherein the NFC controller is configured to use the NFC routing table to identify the specific NFC execution environment without interacting with the device host.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein each NFC execution environment directly registers each respective NFC application with the NFC controller prior to being addressable by a remote reader.

8. A method performed by an electronic device including a Near Field Communication (NFC) controller and NFC execution environments, the method comprising:

maintaining an NFC routing table that stores associations of the NFC execution environments with NFC applications hosted by the NFC execution environments;

receiving, over an air interface, an external request for a particular NFC application; and

communicating the external request, according to the NFC routing table, to a specific NFC execution environment hosting the particular NFC application, wherein the specific NFC execution environment is directly identified by the NFC controller.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the NFC applications is identified by an application identifier (AID), and wherein the NFC routing table contains a mapping between each AID and each NFC execution environment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the external request identifies a particular AID for the particular NFC application.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

matching the particular AID of the external request with an entry in the NFC routing table.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the external request is a SELECT command.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the NFC routing table is stored in at least one of the NFC controller or a device host of the electronic device, and wherein the NFC controller is configured to use the NFC routing table to identify the specific NFC execution environment without interacting with the device host.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

updating the routing table when at least one of a certain NFC application or a certain NFC execution environment is added or removed.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that are configured to, when executed by an electronic device including a Near Field Communication (NFC) controller and NFC execution environments, cause the electronic device to:

maintain an NFC routing table that stores associations of the NFC execution environments with NFC applications hosted by the NFC execution environments;

receive, over an air interface, an external request for a particular NFC application; and

communicate the external request, according to the NFC routing table, to a specific NFC execution environment hosting the particular NFC application, wherein the specific NFC execution environment is directly identified by the NFC controller.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein each of the NFC applications is identified by an application identifier (AID), and wherein the NFC routing table contains a mapping between each AID and each NFC execution environment.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the external request identifies a particular AID for the particular NFC application.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the electronic device to:

match the particular AID of the external request with an entry in the NFC routing table.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the external request is a SELECT command.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the NFC routing table is stored in at least one of the NFC controller or a device host of the electronic device, and wherein the NFC controller is configured to use the NFC routing table to identify the specific NFC execution environment without interacting with the device host.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the electronic device to:

update the routing table when at least one of a certain NFC application or a certain NFC execution environment is added or removed.