IDENTIFICATION OF PROXIMATE DEVICES

• US 20120244810A1
• Filed: 10/15/2010
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: K.Mizra LLC
• Original Assignee: Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek Tno
• Inventors: Klos, Victor Bastiaan, van Deventer, Mattijs Oskar, Laarakkers, Jeroen
• Granted Patent: US 9,912,661 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/65 Environment-dependent, e.g. using captured environmental data

Abstract

A method of identifying proximate client devices (1, 2) comprises the steps of:

• • providing a sensory identifier,
  • the first device (1) detecting the sensory identifier and sending a first request message (RQ1) comprising a first representation of the sensory identifier to a matching unit which is preferably part of a correlation server (5),
  • the second device (2) detecting the sensory identifier and sending a second request message (RQ2) comprising a second representation of the sensory identifier to the matching unit, and
  • the matching unit comparing the first representation and the second representation and sending an acknowledgement message (AC1, AC2) to each of the first device (1) and the second device (2) if a match is made.

Each request message (RQ1, RQ2) contains a pointer to at least one property of the respective device (1, 2). In addition, the matching unit applies matching rules relating to the properties to limit the number of possible matches.

Claims

1. A method of identifying proximate devices, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a sensory identifier (ID) capable of being detected by human senses,

the first device detecting the sensory identifier (ID) and sending a first request message (RQ1) comprising a first representation (RE1) of the sensory identifier to a matching unit,

the second device detecting the sensory identifier (ID) and sending a second request message (RQ2) comprising a second representation (RE2) of the sensory identifier to the matching unit,

the matching unit comparing the first representation (RE1) and the second representation (RE2) and sending an acknowledgement message (AC1, AC2) to each the first device and the second device if a match is made,

wherein each request message (RQ1, RQ2) contains at least one pointer to a property (PR1, PR2) of the respective device, and in that the matching unit applies matching rules to the properties (PR1, PR2) to limit the number of possible matches.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pointer to the property is constituted by the property (PR1, PR2) itself.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pointer to the property is constituted by a device identification (CI1, CI2) which allows the matching unit to retrieve the respective property.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a matching rule defines which properties of the devices are required for a match.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a matching rule defines which properties of the devices are likely to produce a match.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the first representation (RE1) and the second representation (RE2) involves determining a degree of similarity, degrees of similarity preferably being weighed with likelihoods.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the matching rules are adjusted on the basis of successful matches, preferably by using an expert system (ES).

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of sending a “

no match”

message (NM) to a device that was not matched with another device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the devices are mobile devices.

10. A computer program product for carrying out the method according to claim 1.

11. A matching unit for matching proximate devices which each detect a sensory identifier (ID) capable of being detected by human senses and which each send a respective request message (RQ1;

RQ2)) comprising a respective representation (RE1;

RE2) of the sensory identifier to a matching unit, the matching unit being arranged for comparing the first representation (RE1) and the second representation (RE2) and sending an acknowledgement message (AC1, AC2) to each of the first device and the second device if a match is made,

wherein in that the matching unit is arranged for applying matching rules relating to properties (PR1, PR2) of the respective device to limit the number of possible matches, each request message (RQ1, RQ2) containing a pointer to at least one property.

12. The matching unit according to claim 11, wherein the pointer to the property is constituted by the property (PR1, PR2) itself and/or is constituted by a device identification (CI1, CI2) which allows the matching unit to retrieve the respective property.

13. The matching unit according to claim 11, constituted by a server.

14. A system for interactive gaming comprising at least two devices and at least one matching unit according to according to claim 11.

15. The system according to claim 14, further provided with an expert system (ES) for adjusting the rules in dependence on matches made.