Secure pairing of devices via pairing facilitator-intermediary device

• US 10,575,352 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2019
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Darren B
• Application Number:
  US16/254,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20190261438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to systems and circuitry for and/or methods of establishing communication having one or more pairing facilitator-intermediary devices (for example, a network connected server) to enable or facilitate pairing and/or registering at least two devices (e.g., (i) a portable biometric monitoring device and (ii) a smartphone, laptop and/or tablet) to, for example, recognize, interact and/or enable interoperability between such devices. The pairing facilitator-intermediary device may responsively communicates information to one or more of the devices (to be paired or registered) which, in response, enable or facilitate such devices to pair or register. The present inventions may be advantageous where one or both of the devices to be paired or registered is/are not configured (e.g., include a user interface or certain communication circuitry that is configured or includes functionality) to pair devices without use of a facilitator-intermediary device.

Claims

1. A method for pairing a portable monitoring device with a first computing device, the method comprising:

the first computing device;

sending, to a server, an instruction to facilitate pairing of the portable monitoring device with the first computing device;

receiving, from the server, first pairing information including an identifier of a second computing device previously paired with the portable monitoring device;

sending the first pairing information, including the identifier, from the first computing device to the portable monitoring device;

receiving, second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, the second pairing information being obtained by the portable monitoring device from the server via the second computing device using the identifier; and

pairing the first computing device with the portable monitoring device based on the first pairing information and the second pairing information, wherein pairing the first computing device with the portable monitoring device comprises creating a communication link between the first computing device and the portable monitoring device;

wherein;

the pairing is configured to facilitate a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the first computing device,

the method further comprises receiving by the first computing device the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link, and

the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing access to a user account on a display device of the first computing device via a web service; and

displaying the activity data on the display device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving by the first computing device the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the communication link.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first pairing information further includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a first secret code.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the second pairing information includes an identifier of the second computing device and a second secret code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable monitoring device does not transmit data directly to the server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving by the first computing device of the first pairing information and the sending of the first pairing information from the first computing device to the portable monitoring device are performed automatically.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the portable monitoring device comprises a biometric device and the first computing device comprises at least one of;

a smart phone, a tablet, and computer, wherein the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, and the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the portable monitoring device communicating bi-directionally with the server via a computer network to send data to the server and to receive the second pairing information from the server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the portable monitoring device lacks a user interface for receiving a pairing selection, and

the portable monitoring device has a dead front display.

12. A first computing device comprising:

a user interface configured to receive a selection of a portable monitoring device for pairing with the first computing device;

a communication unit configured to;

send via a computer network to a server an instruction to facilitate pairing the portable monitoring device with the first computing device,

receive, via the computer network from the server, first pairing information including an identifier of a second computing device previously paired with the portable monitoring device,

send the first pairing information to the portable monitoring device,

receive second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, the second pairing information being obtained by the portable monitoring device from the server via the second computing device using the identifier; and

a processor configured to pair the first computing device with the portable monitoring device based on the first pairing information and the second pairing information, wherein pairing the first computing device with the portable monitoring device comprises creating a communication link between the first computing device and the portable monitoring device;

wherein;

the communication unit configured to receive activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link, and

the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

13. The first computer device of claim 12, wherein:

the first pairing information further includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a first secret code, and

the second pairing information includes an identifier of the second computing device and a second secret code.

14. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein the portable monitoring device does not transmit data directly to the server.

15. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive the first pairing information from the server and send the first pairing information the portable monitoring device automatically.

16. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein:

the user interface is configured to provide access to a user account via a web service, and

the user interface includes a display device configured to display the activity data.

17. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein:

the portable monitoring device comprises a biometric device and the first computing device comprises at least one of;

a smart phone or a tablet or a computer,

the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, and

the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

18. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein the portable monitoring device is configured to communicate bi-directionally with the server via the computer network to send data to the server and to receive the second pairing information from the server.

19. The first computing device of claim 12, wherein:

the portable monitoring device lacks a user interface for receiving a selection, and

the portable monitoring device has a dead front display.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed cause a processor of a first computing device to:

send, to a server, an instruction to facilitate pairing of a portable monitoring device with the first computing device;

receive, from the server, first pairing information including an identifier of a second computing device previously paired with the portable monitoring device;

send the first pairing information, including the identifier, from the first computing device to the portable monitoring device;

receive second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, the second pairing information being obtained by the portable monitoring device from the server via the second computing device using the identifier;

pair the first computing device with the portable monitoring device based on the first pairing information and the second pairing information, the pairing performed to begin a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the first computing device, wherein pairing the first computing device with the portable monitoring device comprises creating a link between the first computing device and the portable monitoring device and the pairing is configured to facilitate a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the first computing device; and

receive the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link;

wherein

the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the first pairing information includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a secret code.