Simplified device pairing employing near field communication tags

• US 8,432,261 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Talty, Timothy J., Ames, Michael B.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOLLOWAY III, EDWIN C
• Application Number:
  US12/713,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20110210831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.51, 340/10.5, 340/10.1, 340/572.1, 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 713/150, 713/169
• US Class Current: 340/10.51
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• 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 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/18 using different networks or channels, e.g. using out of band channels cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving distinctive intermediate devices or communication paths H04L9/0827; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for authentication using a plurality of channels H04L9/3215
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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

Abstract

A system and method for simply and securely pairing two Bluetooth devices. A Near Field Communication (NFC) read-only tag is placed in a first Bluetooth device such that a user of a second Bluetooth device can pass the second device near the tag, which then transfers encryption key data for the first Bluetooth device to the second Bluetooth device. An algorithm is employed for initiating the pairing process with the first Bluetooth device, which can ordinarily remain in a silent mode for security reasons. Once the pairing process has been initiated, and the second Bluetooth device has been passed near the NFC tag, the pairing process is completed with no further action required by the users.

Claims

1. A method for establishing secure wireless communications between two electronic devices, said method comprising:

providing a first electronic device which uses a protocol for wireless communications with other devices, said first device containing a Near Field Communication reader/writer;

providing a second electronic device which uses the same protocol for wireless communications as the first device, said second device including a Near Field Communication read-only tag which contains secret information about the second electronic device;

passing the first device near the second device, such that the first device can read the secret information from the Near Field Communication read-only tag;

transmitting the secret information from the second device to the first device in order to initiate the establishment of secure communications;

computing and wirelessly transmitting by the first electronic device an authentication certificate which is calculated from the secret information which was read from the Near Field Communication tag;

providing a software algorithm on the second electronic device, to detect the transmitted authentication certificate and, upon detection of a valid certificate, cause the second electronic device to temporarily switch from a non-discoverable mode to a discoverable mode; and

completing the establishment of communications by exchanging additional data as required by the wireless communications protocol being used.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the protocol for wireless communications is Bluetooth.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the protocol for wireless communications is Wi-Fi wireless local area network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first electronic device is a cellular telephone.

5. A system for establishing secure wireless communications between two electronic devices, said system comprising:

a first electronic device which uses a protocol for wireless communications with other devices, said first device containing a Near Field Communication reader/writer;

a second electronic device which uses the same protocol for wireless communications as the first device, said second electronic device including a Near Field Communication read-only tag, said tag containing secret information about the second device, such that the first electronic device can read the secret information from the tag when the first electronic device is placed near the tag; and

a triggering mechanism for causing the second electronic device to temporarily switch from a non-discoverable mode to a discoverable mode upon detection by the second electronic device of a valid authentication certificate, where the authentication certificate is wirelessly transmitted by the first electronic device after being calculated from the secret information which was read from the Near Field Communication tag.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the triggering mechanism is a software algorithm residing on the second electronic device.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the first electronic device and the second electronic device are both Wi-Fi wireless devices.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the first electronic device and the second electronic device are both Wi-Fi wireless devices.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein the first electronic device is a cellular telephone.

10. A system for establishing secure wireless communications between two Bluetooth-compatible electronic devices, said system comprising:

a first Bluetooth-compatible electronic device containing a Near Field Communication reader/writer;

a second Bluetooth-compatible electronic device including a Near Field Communication read-only tag, said tag containing secret information about the second device, such that the first electronic device can read the secret information from the tag when the first electronic device is placed near the tag; and

a triggering mechanism for temporarily causing the second electronic device to switch from a non-discoverable mode to a discoverable mode upon detection by the second electronic device of a valid authentication certificate, where the authentication certificate is wirelessly transmitted by the first electronic device after being calculated from the secret information which was read from the Near Field Communication tag.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the triggering mechanism is a software algorithm residing on the second electronic device.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein either the first or second electronic device is a cellular telephone.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein either the first or second electronic device is a personal music player.