COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20170188238A1
• Filed: 03/20/2015
• Published: 06/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: NAGAMATSU, Tatsuo
• Granted Patent: US 10,511,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/14 Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

[Object] To provide a communication apparatus, a communication method, and a program, each of which is capable of achieving both security and convenience of communication in transmission of information.

[Solution] A communication apparatus, including: an acquisition unit configured to acquire information on a position or external environment of the communication apparatus; and a control unit configured to control transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus in the case where the information acquired by the acquisition unit satisfies a predetermined condition. A communication method, including: acquiring information on a position or external environment of a communication apparatus; and controlling transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus in the case where the acquired information satisfies a predetermined condition.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus, comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire information on a position or external environment of the communication apparatus; and

a control unit configured to control transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus in the case where the information acquired by the acquisition unit satisfies a predetermined condition.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the first identification information is information that is stored in a storage unit of the communication apparatus and is unique between communication apparatuses.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein, in the case where the information acquired by the acquisition unit does not satisfy the predetermined condition, the control unit stops transmission of the information containing the first identification information or controls transmission of information containing second identification information of the communication apparatus generated at random.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition in which the position of the communication apparatus acquired by the acquisition unit falls within a predetermined geographical range.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information on the external environment contains information on another communication apparatus existing in a range in which the communication apparatus is communicable.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition in which the information on the other communication apparatus acquired by the acquisition unit contains information on a predetermined communication apparatus.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information on the external environment includes information indicating the external environment of the communication apparatus detected by a sensor, and

the predetermined condition includes a condition in which the external environment detected by the sensor is in a predetermined state.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein transmission containing the first identification information is performed in accordance with a state of the communication apparatus, and

in the case where the information acquired by the acquisition unit satisfies the predetermined condition, the control unit controls state transition of the communication apparatus.

9. A communication apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to communicate with another communication apparatus; and

a control unit configured to control transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus on the basis of communication with the other communication apparatus,

wherein the other communication apparatus acquires information on a position or external environment of the other communication apparatus and performs predetermined communication with the communication apparatus in the case where the acquired information satisfies a predetermined condition.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the control unit controls transmission of the information containing the first identification information on the basis of a control signal from the other communication apparatus while being connected to the other communication apparatus.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the control unit controls transmission of the information containing the first identification information in accordance with presence/absence of communication connection with the other communication apparatus.

12. A communication method, comprising:

acquiring information on a position or external environment of a communication apparatus; and

controlling transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus in the case where the acquired information satisfies a predetermined condition.

13. A program for causing a computer to realize:

an acquisition function of acquiring information on a position or external environment of a communication apparatus; and

a control function of controlling transmission of information containing first identification information of the communication apparatus in the case where the information acquired by the acquisition function satisfies a predetermined condition.