Method of controlling electronic device using wearable device and method of operating electronic device

• US 10,374,804 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2015
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Seung-Ho, Kwon, Ki-Hyoun, Han, Jerome, Son, Sung-Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lakhia, Viral S
• Application Number:
  US14/837,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,440 Days
• Field of Search: 726 2- 6, 713180-185, 455411
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2139 Recurrent verification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3234 involving additional secure or trusted devices, e.g. TPM, smartcard, USB or software token network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using an additional device in a packet data network H04L63/0853
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/33 using wearable devices, e.g. using a smartwatch or smart-glasses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent

Abstract

In a method of controlling an electronic device using a wearable device, the electronic device is paired with the wearable device. A cryptographic key, which corresponds to the electronic device, is stored in a secure storage device included in the wearable device. A distance between the wearable device and the electronic device is estimated by the wearable device. An unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, is transmitted from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is smaller than a threshold distance. The electronic device is unlocked based on the unlock signal.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an electronic device using a wearable device, comprising:

pairing, by the wearable device, the electronic device with the wearable device;

receiving, by the wearable device, a cryptographic key from the electronic device;

storing the cryptographic key in a secure storage device included in the wearable device;

estimating, by the wearable device and subsequent to the pairing, a distance between the wearable device and the electronic device as an estimated distance by transmitting a detection signal to the electronic device, receiving a response signal transmitted from the electronic device in response to the detection signal, and calculating the estimated distance based on an intensity of the response signal; and

automatically transmitting an unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is closer than a threshold distance,

wherein the electronic device is automatically unlocked based on the unlock signal including the cryptographic key, and

wherein the unlock signal is independent from user input to the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the cryptographic key, which corresponds to the electronic device, in the secure storage device included in the wearable device is performed prior to the estimating and includes:

receiving, by the wearable device, the cryptographic key from the electronic device; and

storing, by the wearable device, the cryptographic key in the secure storage device in association with a distinctive identifier of the electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the cryptographic key, which corresponds to the electronic device, in the secure storage device included in the wearable device includes:

receiving, by the wearable device, the cryptographic key through a user interface of the wearable device; and

storing, by the wearable device, the cryptographic key in the secure storage device in association with a distinctive identifier of the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the secure storage device of the wearable device is only accessed by a predetermined application operating on a trusted execution environment (TEE) on the wearable device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein unlocking the electronic device based on the unlock signal includes:

automatically transmitting the unlock signal from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is closer than the threshold distance;

comparing, by the electronic device, the cryptographic key included in the unlock signal with an unlock key stored in the electronic device; and

unlocking, by the electronic device, a lock system of the electronic device when the cryptographic key included in the unlock signal matches the unlock key stored in the electronic device without receiving user input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearable device receives the threshold distance through a user interface of the wearable device, and stores the threshold distance in the secure storage device in association with a distinctive identifier of the electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device receives an automatic unlock flag through a user interface of the electronic device, and internally stores the automatic unlock flag;

and

when the electronic device receives the unlock signal from the wearable device, the electronic device unlocks a lock system of the electronic device based on the unlock signal if the automatic unlock flag has a first value, and maintains the lock system of the electronic device in a locked state if the automatic unlock flag has a second value.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating, by the wearable device, the distance between the wearable device and the electronic device periodically after the wearable device transmits the unlock signal to the electronic device;

transmitting a lock signal from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is not less than the threshold distance; and

locking the electronic device based on the lock signal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

connecting, by the electronic device, to a website corresponding to a first address;

determining, by the electronic device, whether the first address is stored in an address table, which is internally stored in the electronic device; and

logging on, by the electronic device, to the website corresponding to the first address automatically using a user name and a password, which are received from the wearable device, when the first address is stored in the address table.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is smaller than the threshold distance includes:

determining, by the wearable device, a movement pattern of the wearable device using a sensor included in the wearable device as a determined movement pattern; and

transmitting the unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device based on a reference movement pattern, which is stored in the secure storage device, and the determined movement pattern.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device when the estimated distance is smaller than the threshold distance includes:

generating, by the wearable device, a first sensing data by detecting a movement of the wearable device using a sensor included in the wearable device;

transmitting a sense request signal from the wearable device to the electronic device;

generating, by the electronic device, a second sensing data in response to the sense request signal by detecting a movement of the electronic device using a sensor included in the electronic device;

transmitting the second sensing data from the electronic device to the wearable device;

determining, by the wearable device, a movement pattern of a user based on a combination of the first sensing data and the second sensing data as a determined movement pattern; and

transmitting the unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device based on a reference movement pattern, which is stored in the secure storage device, and the determined movement pattern.

12. A method of operating an electronic device, comprising:

pairing, by a wearable device, the electronic device with wearable device; and

receiving an unlock signal automatically transmitted from the wearable device subsequent to the pairing based on the wearable device estimating a distance between the wearable device and the electronic device to be closer than a threshold distance, the unlock signal including a cryptographic key that is received and stored by the wearable device in a secure storage based on the pairing, wherein the distance between the wearable device and the electronic device is estimated based on an intensity of a response signal transmitted from the electronic device to the wearable device in response to a detection signal received by the electronic device from the wearable device,

wherein a lock system of the electronic device is automatically unlocked based on the unlock signal including the cryptographic key and independent from user input to the electronic device after the cryptographic key is stored in the secure storage included in the wearable device.

13. A wearable device for controlling a paired electronic device, the wearable device comprising:

a communication device;

a secure storage device configured to receive and store a cryptographic key which corresponds to the electronic device, based on the wearable device pairing with the electronic device; and

a processor configured to, in combination with the communication device and the secure storage device, estimate a distance between the wearable device and the electronic device subsequent to the pairing, and transmit an unlock signal including the cryptographic key, which is stored in the secure storage device, from the wearable device to the electronic device in response to the wearable device estimating the estimated distance to be closer than a threshold distance, to automatically unlock the electronic device based on the unlock signal including the cryptographic key and independent from user input to the electronic device after the cryptographic key is stored in the secure storage included in the wearable device,

wherein the distance between the wearable device and the electronic device is estimated based on an intensity of a response signal received by the wearable device from the electronic device in response to the wearable device transmitting a detection signal to the electronic device.

14. The wearable device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to, in combination with the communication device and the secure storage device, receive the cryptographic key from the electronic device and store the cryptographic key in the secure storage device in association with a distinctive identifier of the electronic device and prior to the processor estimating the distance.

15. The wearable device of claim 13, further comprising a user interface;

wherein the processor is configured to, in combination with the communication device and the secure storage device, receive the cryptographic key through the user interface of the wearable device, and store the cryptographic key in the secure storage device in association with a distinctive identifier of the electronic device.

16. The wearable device of claim 13,

wherein the processor is configured to, in combination with the secure storage device, operate a trusted execution environment (TEE);

and

wherein the secure storage device is only accessed by a predetermined application operating on the TEE on the wearable device.

17. The wearable device of claim 13, wherein the secure storage device is configured to store the threshold distance.

18. The wearable device of claim 13,

wherein the processor is configured to, in combination with the communication device and the secure storage device:

estimate the distance between the wearable device and the electronic device periodically after transmitting the unlock signal to the electronic device;

and transmit a lock signal to the electronic device when the estimated distance is not less than the threshold distance to lock the electronic device.

19. The wearable device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to, in combination with the communication device and the secure storage device, receive a first address from the electronic device, and transmit a user name and password, to the electronic device, for logging on to a website corresponding to the first address stored.