Electronic device communication system and method

• US 8,065,511 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Softex LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Softex Incorporated
• Inventors: Bhansali, Apurva Mahendrakumar, Jain, Manoj Kumar, Dube, Shradha, Rangarajan, Gayathri, Patel, Mehul Ramjibhai, Raikar, Rayesh Kashinath, Dhanani, Kamal Mansukhlal, Kapila, Ranjit, Varghese, Elza Abraham, Tucker, Thomas David
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tolentino, Roderick
• Application Number:
  US12/030,122
• Publication Number:
  US 20080137843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,379 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 713/187, 711/100, 711/164, 714/36, 726/26, 726/34
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/572 Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning

Abstract

A system and method for electronic device communication. A system includes a client device application including an encryption/decryption module, wherein the module directly transmits and receives data to and from the client device application; and a server device application including an encryption/decryption module coupled to the client device application through a communication medium, wherein the module directly transmits and receives data to and from the server device application.

Claims

1. A method for providing security for an electronic device, the method comprising:

transmitting a message from a local application in a client device to a remote application in a server device;

receiving an encrypted message at the local application from the remote application, wherein the encrypted message indicates whether the client device has been reported stolen;

in response to receiving the encrypted message from the remote application, decoding the encrypted message into a decoded message, wherein the operation of decoding the encrypted message comprises converting the encrypted message from an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format into a binary format;

using an encryption/decryption module in the client device to decrypt the decoded, encrypted message, wherein the operation of decrypting the decoded, encrypted message comprises using the encryption/decryption module to decrypt the decoded, encrypted message from the binary format;

determining, at the client device, whether the client device has been reported stolen, based at least in part on the decrypted message; and

automatically disabling the client device in response to a determination that the client device has been reported stolen,

wherein the operation of converting the encrypted message from the ASCII text format into the binary format comprises generating a first number of bytes of binary data from a second number of bytes of ASCII text, wherein the first number is different from the second number.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending queries from the local application to the remote application, at substantially random time intervals, wherein the queries ask if the client device has been reported stolen.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving the encrypted message from the remote application comprises using a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) to receive the encrypted message.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving the encrypted message from the remote application comprises receiving the encrypted message as a short messaging service (SMS) message.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the client device comprises device system information comprising at least one item from the group consisting of a serial number of the client device and a model number of the client device;

the encrypted message comprises device system information; and

the method further comprises, before disabling the client device, determining whether the device system information from the encrypted message matches the device system information for the client device.

6. A method for providing security for an electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a client device at a server device, wherein the query asks if the client device has been reported stolen;

in response to receiving the query, automatically determining whether the client device has been reported stolen; and

in response to determining that the client device has been reported stolen, automatically performing operations comprising;

generating a response that comprises a command for the client device to automatically disable itself;

using an encryption/decryption module in the server device to encrypt the response,

transmitting the encrypted response from the server device to the client device, wherein the encrypted response comprises the command for the client device to automatically disable itself, and

before transmitting the encrypted response from the server device to the client device, encoding the encrypted response,

wherein the operation of encoding the encrypted response comprises converting the encrypted response from a binary format into an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format, and

wherein the operation of converting the encrypted response from the binary format to the ASCII text format comprises generating a second number of bytes of ASCII data from a first number of bytes of binary data, wherein the second number is different from the first number.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the operation of transmitting the encrypted response to the client device comprises using a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) to transmit the encrypted response.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein the operation of transmitting the encrypted response to the client device comprises transmitting the encrypted message as a short messaging service (SMS) message.

9. A method according to claim 6, wherein:

the operation of generating the response comprises;

jumbling device system information for the client device, wherein the device system information comprises at least one item from the group consisting of a serial number of the client device and a model number of the client device; and

using the jumbled device system information to generate the response; and

the operation of using the encryption/decryption module in the server device to encrypt the response comprises using a built-in key to perform symmetric encryption on the response.

10. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine accessible storage medium; and

instructions in the non-transitory machine accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a client device, enable the client device to perform operations comprising;

transmitting a message from a local application in the client device to a remote application in a server device;

receiving an encrypted message at the local application from the remote application, wherein the encrypted message indicates whether the client device has been reported stolen;

in response to receiving the encrypted message from the remote application, decoding the encrypted message into a decoded message, wherein the operation of decoding the encrypted message comprises converting the encrypted message from an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format into a binary format;

using an encryption/decryption module in the client device to decrypt the decoded, encrypted message, wherein the operation of decrypting the decoded, encrypted message comprises using the encryption/decryption module to decrypt the decoded, encrypted message from the binary format;

determining, at the client device, whether the client device has been reported stolen, based at least in part on the decrypted message; and

automatically disabling the client device in response to a determination that the client device has been reported stolen,

wherein the operation of converting the encrypted message from the ASCII text format into the binary format comprises generating a first number of bytes of binary data from a second number of bytes of ASCII text, wherein the first number is different from the second number.

11. An article of manufacture according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending queries from the local application to the remote application, at substantially random time intervals, wherein the queries ask if the client device has been reported stolen.

12. An article of manufacture according to claim 10, wherein the operation of receiving the encrypted message from the remote application comprises using a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) to receive the encrypted message.

13. An article of manufacture according to claim 10, wherein the operation of receiving the encrypted message from the remote application comprises receiving the encrypted message as a short messaging service (SMS) message.

14. An article of manufacture according to claim 10, wherein:

the client device comprises device system information comprising at least one item from the group consisting of a serial number of the client device and a model number of the client device;

the encrypted message comprises device system information; and

the operations further comprise, before disabling the client device, determining whether the device system information from the encrypted message matches the device system information for the client device.

15. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine accessible storage medium; and

instructions in the non-transitory machine accessible storage medium which, when executed by a server device, enable the server device to perform operations comprising;

receiving a query from a client device, wherein the query asks if the client device has been reported stolen;

in response to receiving the query, automatically determining whether the client device has been reported stolen; and

in response to determining that the client device has been reported stolen, automatically performing operations comprising;

generating a response that comprises a command for the client device to automatically disable itself;

using an encryption/decryption module in the server device to encrypt the response,

transmitting the encrypted response from the server device to the client device, wherein the encrypted response comprises the command for the client device to automatically disable itself, and

before transmitting the encrypted response to the client device, encoding the encrypted response,

wherein the operation of encoding the encrypted response comprises converting the encrypted response from a binary format into an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format, and

wherein the operation of converting the encrypted response from the binary format to the ASCII text format comprises generating a second number of bytes of ASCII data from a first number of bytes of binary data, wherein the second number is different from the first number.

16. An article of manufacture according to claim 15, wherein the operation of transmitting the encrypted response to the client device comprises using a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) to transmit the encrypted response.

17. An article of manufacture according to claim 15, wherein the operation of transmitting the encrypted response to the client device comprises transmitting the encrypted message as a short messaging service (SMS) message.

18. An article of manufacture according to claim 15, wherein:

the operation of generating the response comprises;

jumbling device system information for the client device, wherein the device system information comprises at least one item from the group consisting of a serial number of the client device and a model number of the client device; and

using the jumbled device system information to generate the response; and

the operation of using the encryption/decryption module in the server device to encrypt the response comprises using a built-in key to perform symmetric encryption on the response.