Pairing procedure

• US 10,581,607 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Hu, Zhongliang, Tanila, Teemu, Kohvakka, Mikko
• Primary Examiner(s): Huang, Cheng-Feng
• Application Number:
  US15/590,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20170324559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

To automate establishment of an ad hoc connection between a user apparatus and a device, username-password pairs and identifying information-code pairs are maintained in a database server. The user apparatus sends an inquiry identifying information of the device and a username and a password of a user of the user apparatus, and receives in a response a code for establishing the ad hoc connection.

Claims

1. A computerized method for pairing first and second devices and a user apparatus comprising:

receiving, by the user apparatus, from the first device in a discoverable mode, an identifier of the first device;

causing, by the user apparatus, sending an inquiry from the user apparatus to a database server, the inquiry comprising the identifier of the first device, and a username and a password of a user of the user apparatus;

searching the database server for a username-password pair that matches the received username and password and retrieving, in response to a matching username-password pair being found, first and second codes associated with the received identifier of the first device;

receiving, by the user apparatus, from the database server, in a response to the inquiry, the first and second codes for a pairing process;

sending the first and second codes by the user apparatus to the first device;

comparing the first and second codes with codes stored on the first device;

establishing a pairing connection between the user apparatus and the first device in response to the first code being the same as one of the codes stored on the first device; and

establishing a pairing connection between the user apparatus and the second device in response to the second code being the same as another of the codes stored on the first device.

2. The computerized method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the user apparatus, from the database server, in the response to the inquiry two or more codes, each code being associated with an identifier of a corresponding first device;

causing, by the user apparatus, performing, for each received code, the sending the code from the user apparatus to the corresponding first device during a two-way ad hoc connection pairing between the user apparatus and the corresponding first device.

3. The computerized method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving in the user apparatus a third code via a user interface;

causing, by the user apparatus, sending the third code instead of the code received from the database server in the response to the first device from the user apparatus during the two-way ad hoc connection pairing between the user apparatus and the first device.

4. The computerized method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second codes are PIN codes or passkeys for BLUETOOTH pairing.

5. A system comprising:

one or more user apparatuses configured to send, in response to a user apparatus receiving an identifier of a first device from the first device in a discoverable mode, an inquiry from the user apparatus to a database server, the inquiry comprising the identifier and a username and a password of a user of the user apparatus, and to send, in response to receiving from the database server a code in a response to the inquiry, the code from the user apparatus to the first device during a two-way ad hoc connection pairing between the user apparatus and the first device;

a database server configured to maintain in a memory username-password pairs and identifier-code pairs, to search, in response to a received inquiry from the user apparatus, the inquiry comprising an identifier, a username and a password, from the memory, a username-password pair that matches to the received username and password, to retrieve, in response to a matching username-password pair being found, from the memory at least a code that is associated with the received identifier, and to send to the user apparatus at least the code in a response to the inquiry;

one or more communications networks between the user apparatus and the database server;

a local connection network;

one or more of the first device, each first device being configured to receive in a discoverable mode, over the local connection network, during the two-way ad hoc connection pairing, the code from the user apparatus, compare the received code with a code stored to the first device, and in response to the received code being the same as the stored code cause the two-way ad hoc connection pairing to be established to the user apparatus;

one or more second devices, each second device being configured to trust to the first device, the first device being configured to establish a connection via the first device between the user apparatus and the one or more second devices, wherein the first device is configured with at least two different codes, at least one of the codes indicating the one or more second devices, and the first device being configured to establish the connection between the user apparatus and the one or more second devices in response to another received code being the same as the at least one of the codes.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the two-way ad hoc connection is a BLUETOOTH connection.