Systems and Methods for Providing NFC Secure Application Support in Battery On and Battery Off Modes

• US 20130144793A1
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: ROYSTON, Philip Stewart
• Granted Patent: US 9,064,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/72
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3255 using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing secure application support for NFC devices in both battery on and battery off modes are provided. A first application that requires available host battery supply and a second application that does not require available host battery supply are loaded onto a mobile device. When the second application is enabled, the reader requests user input on a POS device. The first application is enabled when host battery supply is available, and the second application is enabled when no host battery supply is available.

Claims

1. A near filed communications (NFC) device, comprising:

a power harvesting module;

a memory storing a list of application identifiers (AIDs); and

a controller, wherein the controller is configured to;

receive a request for an AID from a reader device corresponding to an application that requires entry of a personal identification number (PIN),

access the list of AIDs,

select, based on a power mode of the NFC device, the AID from the list of AIDs to send to the reader device, and

transmit the AID to the reader device.

2. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

select a first AID from the list of AIDs if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode; and

select a second AID from the list of AIDs if the NFC device is operating in a battery off mode.

3. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

select a first AID from the list of AIDs if a host device coupled to the NFC device has sufficient power to enable entry of a personal identification number (PIN) on the host device; and

select a second AID from the list of AIDs if the host device does not have sufficient power to enable entry of the PIN on the host device.

4. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

select a first AID corresponding to a first financial application from the list of AIDs if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode, wherein the first financial application is configured to interact with a host device coupled to the NFC device to request entry of a personal identification number (PIN) on the host device; and

select a second AID corresponding to a second financial application from the list of AIDs if the NFC device is operating in a battery off mode, wherein the second financial application is configured to emulate a contactless credit card.

5. The NFC device of claim 4, wherein the second financial application is configured to provide credit card information to a point of sale (POS) device.

6. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a personal identification number (PIN) for execution of an application corresponding to the AID.

7. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the list of AIDs is an AID table.

8. The NFC device of claim 7, wherein the AID table is configured to indicate a location, in a secure memory coupled to the NFC device, of an application corresponding to the AID.

9. The NFC device of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to select an entry in the AID table based on the power mode of the NFC device.

10. The NFC device of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to:

access information in the AID table indicating which applications are configured for execution in a battery off mode;

select, based on the accessed information, a first AID from the AID table as the AID if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode; and

select, based on the accessed information, a second AID the AID table as the AID if the NFC device is operating in the battery off mode.

11. The NFC device of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to access a battery off enabled flag entry in each entry of the AID table to access information indicating which of the applications are configured for execution in the battery off mode.

12. The NFC device of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to:

access information in the AID table indicating which applications are enabled for execution in a battery off mode;

select, based on the accessed information, all AIDs in the AID table corresponding to applications not enabled for execution in the battery off mode if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode;

select, based on the accessed information, all AIDs in the AID table corresponding to applications enabled for execution in the battery off mode if the NFC device is operating in the battery off mode; and

transmit all entries in the AID table corresponding to the selected AIDs to the reader device.

13. A communications device, comprising:

a battery; and

an NFC device, wherein the NFC device is configured to;

check a power level of a battery to determine a power mode of the NFC device,

receive a request for an application identifier (AID) from a reader device, access a list of AIDs,

select a first AID in the list of AIDs corresponding to a first financial application as the AID if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode,

select a second AID in the list of AIDs corresponding to a second financial application as the AID if the NFC device is operating in a battery off mode, and

transmit the AID to the reader device.

14. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the first financial application is configured to interact with the communications device to request entry of a personal identification number (PIN) on the communications device, and wherein the second financial application is configured to emulate a contactless credit card.

15. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the first financial application is configured to interact with the communications device to request entry of a personal identification number (PIN) on the communications device, and wherein the second financial application is configured to process transactions that do not require entry of a PIN.

16. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the NFC device is further configured to receive a personal identification number (PIN) for executing of the first financial application or the second financial application.

17. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the list of AIDs is an AID table, and wherein the NFC device is further configured to:

access information in the AID table indicating which applications are configured for execution in the battery off mode; and

select, based on the accessed information, the first AID or the second AID.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, from a reader device, a request for an application identifier (AID) corresponding to an application that requires user input;

determining a power mode of an NFC device;

sending, responsive to determining that the NFC device is operating in a full power mode, a first message to the reader device indicating the availability of applications requiring user input on a host device coupled to the NFC device; and

sending, responsive to determining that the NFC device is operating in a battery off mode, a second message to the reader device indicating the availability of applications that do not require user input on the host device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

accessing information in an AID table indicating which applications are configured for execution in the battery off mode.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

selecting, based on the accessed information, all AIDs in the AID table corresponding to applications not enabled for execution in the battery off mode if the NFC device is operating in a full power mode;

selecting, based on the accessed information, all AIDs in the AID table corresponding to applications enabled for execution in the battery off mode if the NFC device is operating in the battery off mode; and

transmitting all entries in the AID table corresponding to the selected AIDs to the reader device.