METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING SECURE APPLICATION EXECUTION EVENTS DURING CONTACTLESS RFID/NFC COMMUNICATION

• US 20080162361A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: GAASTRA, LYLE A., SKLOVSKY, VLADIMIR, FORMOSO, RUBEN R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,311,427 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists

Abstract

A system (211) and method (300) for reliable monitoring of secure application execution events is provided. The system can include a Near Field Communication (NFC) modem (140) for communicating transaction events of a secure contactless transaction (358) with a NFC reader (170), a secure controller (200) for monitoring state transitions caused by the transaction events, and a mobile host communicatively coupled to the secure controller for receiving hardware event notifications of the state transitions. The secure controller can generate message using a hardware interrupt to a mobile host based on secure applet state transition monitoring by setting up the events flag such as a Transaction Completion Flag (TCF) (372) into an Events Status Register (232) to identify a status of a secure contactless transactions

Claims

1. A system for reliable monitoring of secure applet events suitable for use in a mobile device, comprising:

a Near Field Communication (NFC) modem for providing NFC communication, including transaction events, with a NFC reader;

a secure controller (SC) for secure applications execution and secure data processing, monitoring state transitions caused by the transaction events and generating a messaging mechanism via hardware, the SC communicatively coupled to the NCF modem; and

a mobile host communicatively coupled to the SC for receiving event notifications of the state transitions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure controller generates a hardware interrupt or a message for indicating a completion of data transaction.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the secure controller sets up a Transaction Completion Flag (TCF) or any other flags of Events into an Events Status Register (ESR) to identify a status of a secure contactless transaction.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the a timeout generates hardware interrupt signals for an event completion.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure controller includes:

a RFID/NFC communication interface to the NFC modem for communicating transaction events between a mobile host and a secure controller;

a data manager operatively coupled to the RFID/NFC communication interface for signaling transaction event occurrences and handling transaction event data for control access to a secure protected memory, and a memory mailbox; and

a communication interface (CIF) operatively coupled to the data manager for conveying messages to the mobile host in response to transaction event occurrences.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the secure controller includes:

a timer communicatively coupled to the data manager for identifying transaction event times, wherein the data manager generates timeout signal messages to the mobile host in case of any event failures to notify mobile host on an occurred transaction.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the data manager includes:

a secure protected memory for storing data and transaction events communicated between the NFC modem and the NFC reader; and

a mailbox for messaging exchange between the mobile host and the secure controller during secure applications execution.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mailbox includes:

an events status register (ESR) for specifying a number of transaction event parameters and a status of the transaction events.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the mailbox includes:

at least one data register for identifying data and transaction events in the secure protected memory.

10. A method for secure contactless transaction, comprising:

monitoring state transitions events of a secure application execution during a secure contactless transaction; and

notifying a mobile control application of the secure applet state transitions upon an event occurrence by a messaging mechanism.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing access to an event status register (ESR) and an event register buffer (ERB) in secure protected memory, in order to read events of applet transitions, even while an application is conducting secure contactless transactions.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing simultaneous access to a mail-box from a mobile host and a data manager of a secure controller.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising setting up access of a mobile host to set up ESR registers of mail-box for required events monitoring by data manager.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising setting a flag into ESRs and additional event parameters into ERB by data manager upon the occurrence of monitored events.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a hardware interrupt by setting a flag in an events status registers (ESR) of a mailbox to notify mobile host on occurred event.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating a message to the mobile host via a timer-based Applications Programming Interface (API) to notify mobile host on occurred event.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a timeout for a transaction event and messaging to mobile host.

18. An electronic wallet for secure contactless transactions, comprising:

a NFC/RFID modem for reliable monitoring of secure application execution events of a secure contactless transaction;

a secure controller communicatively coupled to the NFC/RFID modem for identifying events associated with the secure contactless transaction based on a hardware mechanism, and

a mobile host for receiving a status of the events from the secure controller, the mobile host presenting the status and the events through a user interface.

19. The electronic wallet of claim 18, wherein the secure controller notifies the mobile host of secure contactless transactions in view of a state transitions, and the mobile host displays information associated with the secure contactless transaction.

20. The electronic wallet of claim 18, wherein the secure controller includes:

a processor communicatively coupled to the RFID/NFC CIF for coordinating secure contactless events; and

a timer communicatively coupled to the processor for identifying transaction event times.

21. The electronic wallet of claim 18, wherein the secure controller includes:

a RFID/NFC communication interface (CIF) to the NFC modem for sending and receiving messages; and

a data manager for processing transaction events and notifying a mobile host of event occurrences via an interrupt mechanism.

22. The electronic wallet of claim 18, wherein the data manager comprises:

a secure protected memory for sharing data associated with the transaction events; and

a mailbox operatively coupled to the secure protected memory, the mailbox having;

an Event Status Register that sets a Transaction Completion Flag (TCF) for completed transaction events, and

a set of data registers for accessing shared data in the secure protected memory; and

a communication interface (CIF) for sending messages to the mobile host.

23. The electronic wallet of claim 18, wherein the secure controller further includes:

a queue line of monitored events; and

a NFC RF stack for buffering transaction events.