Near-field communication (NFC) system and method for private near-field communication
First Claim
1. A method of near-field communication (NFC), the method comprising:
- electromagnetically coupling an NFC receiver with an NFC transmitter through a resonance-coupled channel, the resonance-coupled channel formed by mutually coupled reactive elements operating under near field conditions;
generating, by the NFC receiver, a reference signal;
generating, by the NFC receiver, a mask based on a privacy level;
generating, by the NFC receiver, a channel-masking signal by modulating the reference signal with the mask;
performing, by the NFC receiver and transmitter, a calibration process, the calibration process comprising;
transmitting, by the NFC transmitter, a known training sequence by affecting an impedance of the resonance-coupled channel;
receiving, by the NFC receiver, the known training sequence;
determining, by the NFC receiver, calibration parameters, including both amplitude and phase scaling parameters, based on channel load impedances due to near-field channel conditions;
generating, by the NFC receiver, a scaled channel-masking signal by applying the scaling parameters to the channel-masking signal;
applying, by the NFC receiver, the scaled channel-masking signal to the resonance-coupled channel;
modulating, by the NFC transmitter, the impedance of the resonance-coupled channel based on bit values of stored binary data; and
unmasking, by the NFC receiver, a signal received through the resonance-coupled channel and determining the stored binary data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of a near-field communication (NFC) system and method for private near-field communication are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a resonance-coupled channel is masked with a random channel-masking signal. The channel-masking signal may be scaled based on near-field channel conditions. Signals received through the channel may be unmasked with the scaled channel-masking signal to determine data that may have been conveyed by an NFC transmitting device by affecting the impedance of the resonance-coupled channel. In some embodiments, a reference signal may be scrambled with a mask to generate the channel-masking signal. The mask may include at least one of a random symbol mask, an amplitude mask and a phase mask. For additional privacy, the mask may include a random symbol mask and at least one of an amplitude mask and a phase mask.
16 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method of near-field communication (NFC), the method comprising:
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electromagnetically coupling an NFC receiver with an NFC transmitter through a resonance-coupled channel, the resonance-coupled channel formed by mutually coupled reactive elements operating under near field conditions; generating, by the NFC receiver, a reference signal; generating, by the NFC receiver, a mask based on a privacy level; generating, by the NFC receiver, a channel-masking signal by modulating the reference signal with the mask; performing, by the NFC receiver and transmitter, a calibration process, the calibration process comprising; transmitting, by the NFC transmitter, a known training sequence by affecting an impedance of the resonance-coupled channel; receiving, by the NFC receiver, the known training sequence; determining, by the NFC receiver, calibration parameters, including both amplitude and phase scaling parameters, based on channel load impedances due to near-field channel conditions; generating, by the NFC receiver, a scaled channel-masking signal by applying the scaling parameters to the channel-masking signal; applying, by the NFC receiver, the scaled channel-masking signal to the resonance-coupled channel; modulating, by the NFC transmitter, the impedance of the resonance-coupled channel based on bit values of stored binary data; and unmasking, by the NFC receiver, a signal received through the resonance-coupled channel and determining the stored binary data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A near-field communication (NFC) system comprising:
- an NFC transmitter comprising a circuit, the circuit comprising;
a transmitter reactive element, a switch arranged to receive data stored in the NFC transmitter, and an impedance element connected to the transmitter reactive element via the switch, the switch configured to switch an impedance of the circuit based on the data received by the switch at a switching rate based on a resonance frequency of a resonance-coupled channel; and an NFC receiver electromagnetically coupled with the NFC transmitter under near field conditions to receive the data from the NFC transmitter through the resonance-coupled channel and to generate a mask based on privacy level, the NFC receiver comprising; a reference signal source to supply a reference signal; a channel-masking signal generator connected with the reference signal source, the channel-masking signal generator configured-to generate a random channel-masking signal by modulating the reference signal with the mask; a scaling element connected with the channel-masking signal generator, the scaling element configured to determine scaling parameters based on the near field conditions the NFC receiver and transmitter are configured to perform a calibration process, the NFC transmitter being configured to transmit a known training sequence by affecting an impedance of the resonance-coupled channel, the NFC receiver being configured to receive the known training sequence and the NFC receiver being configured to determine calibration parameters, including both amplitude and phase scaling parameters, based on channel load impedances due to near-field channel conditions; the NFC receiver configured to generate a scaled channel-masking signal by applying the scaling parameters to the channel-masking signal; the NFC receiver configured to apply the scaled channel-masking signal to the resonance-coupled channel; the NFC transmitter configured to modulate the impedance of the resonance-coupled channel based on bit values of stored binary data; the NFC receiver configured to unmask a signal received through the resonance-coupled channel and determine the stored binary data. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
- an NFC transmitter comprising a circuit, the circuit comprising;
Specification