Methods and apparatus for digital attestation

• US 9,077,543 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2009
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Luft, Achim, Bienas, Maik, Schmidt, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAO, MICHAEL W
• Application Number:
  US12/576,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20110087887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: 726/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• 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 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/61 Time-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing proof of multiple entities being co-located at a specific time and location. An attestor transmits an attestation message via short range communication; the attestation message includes a time stamp, a location stamp, and a verifiable digital signature. An attestee that stores the attestation message can produce the attestation message at a later time to any interested party, as proof of co-location with the attestor at the specified time and location. In one exemplary embodiment, the methods and apparatus are substantially “open” for public implementation. Such public implementation enables attestors and attestees without prior affiliation, to provide attestation. Furthermore, the device-agnostic methods and apparatus can provide attestation capabilities even in previously deployed systems and devices.

Claims

1. An apparatus adapted to generate a digital attestation, the apparatus comprising:

a radio interface;

a time reference unit;

a location reference unit;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium adapted to store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to;

generate the digital attestation by;

determining a location stamp comprising geo-location coordinates by the location reference unit;

determining a time stamp by the time reference unit; and

generating the digital attestation comprising the location stamp, the time stamp, and a secure signature;

compare the digital attestation with a second digital attestation received from a wireless device to determine whether;

the secure signature of the digital attestation differs from a second secure signature of the second digital attestation,

the location stamp of the digital attestation and a second location stamp of the second digital attestation indicate physical proximity of the apparatus to the wireless device, and

the time stamp of the digital attestation and a second time stamp of the second digital attestation indicate contemporaneous co-location of the apparatus to the wireless device; and

when the comparison of the digital attestation with the second digital attestation is successful;

store the digital attestation and the second digital attestation, and

provide the digital attestation and the second digital attestation from storage in response to a request for the digital attestation and the second digital attestation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:

transmit the digital attestation to the wireless device; and

record an attestation event.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus generates the digital attestation in response to receipt of a request for digital attestation from the wireless device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the radio interface comprises a near-field communication (NFC) interface compliant with ISO/IEC Standard 18092:

2004.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secure signature of the digital attestation comprises a digital signature generated by a cryptographic hashing algorithm.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secure signature of the digital attestation comprises a signature generated based at least in part on one or more physical radio frequency channel parameters.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more physical radio frequency channel parameters comprise a channel impulse response (CIR).

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the radio interface comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) or a wireless personal area network (WPAN) interface, the apparatus comprises a cellular smartphone, and the instructions comprise an application program added to the non-transitory computer readable medium after purchase of the cellular smartphone by a user.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to ignore the second digital attestation received from the wireless device when the comparison of the digital attestation with the second digital attestation is not successful.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus and the wireless device have no pre-existing relationship with each other.

11. A method for securely recording contemporaneous co-location of a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

at the second device;

determining a location stamp comprising geo-location coordinates of the second device;

determining a time stamp of the second device;

generating an attestation comprising a secure signature of the second device, the location stamp, and the time stamp;

transmitting the attestation to the first device;

receiving a second attestation from the first device;

comparing the attestation to the second attestation to determine whether;

the location stamp of the attestation with a second location stamp of the second attestation, and the time stamp of the attestation with a second time stamp of the second attestation indicate contemporaneous co-location of the first device and the second device, and

the secure signature of the attestation differs from a second secure signature of the second attestation;

recording the attestation and the second attestation when the comparison of the attestation and the second attestation is successful; and

displaying at least a portion of either the attestation or the second attestation to a user of the second device as evidence of contemporaneous co-location of the first device and the second device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving by the second device a request for attestation from the first device, wherein at least the act of generating the attestation occurs in response to the request.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at the second device a beacon or probe signal from the first device;

responsive to the receiving of the beacon or probe signal, causing a negotiation between the first device and second device; and

upon successful completion of the negotiation, causing at least the act of generating the attestation.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the second device causing the first device to:

determine the second location stamp of the first device;

determine the second time stamp of the first device;

generate the second attestation comprising the second secure signature of the first device, the second location stamp, and the second time stamp; and

transmit the second attestation to the second device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the second device ignoring the second attestation from the first device when the comparison of the attestation and the second attestation is not successful.

16. An apparatus configured to receive a digital attestation from a second device, the apparatus comprising:

a radio interface;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium adapted to store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to;

receive and store a digital attestation from the second device, the digital attestation comprising a location stamp comprising geo-location coordinates, a time stamp, and a digital signature generated by the second device;

generate a second digital attestation comprising a second location stamp, a second time stamp, and a second digital signature;

compare the digital attestation from the second device with the second digital attestation to determine whether;

the location stamp of the digital attestation and the second location stamp of the second digital attestation indicate physical proximity of the apparatus to the second device,

the time stamp of the digital attestation and the second time stamp of the second digital attestation indicate contemporaneous co-location of the apparatus to the second device, and

the digital signature of the digital attestation differs from the second signature of the second digital attestation; and

display to a user of the apparatus location information determined based at least in part on the location stamp, a time determined based at least in part on the time stamp, and an identification of the second device determined based on the digital signature,

wherein the apparatus and the second device do not have any prior affiliation with one another.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:

determine whether the digital signature is valid; and

record the digital attestation when the digital signature is valid.

18. A method for securely recording contemporaneous co-location of a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

at the second device;

receiving a first attestation comprising a first secure signature indicative of the first device, a first location stamp comprising geo-location coordinates indicative of a location of the first device, and a first time stamp indicative of a time of the first attestation;

generating a second attestation comprising a second secure signature indicative of the second device, a second location stamp indicative of a location of the second device, and a second time stamp indicative of a time of the second attestation; and

based on at least one condition of an attestation protocol;

recording the first attestation as an entry within a database,

transmitting the second attestation to the first device; and

displaying at least a portion of the first attestation to a user of the second device in response to a user requesting the entry,

wherein the at least one condition of the attestation protocol comprises verifying contemporaneous co-location of the first device and the second device based on comparing the first location stamp to the second location stamp and the first time stamp to the second time stamp.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one condition of the attestation protocol further comprises one or more user defined preferences.