Shared secret for wireless devices

• US 9,392,443 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Roberts, Michael John
• Primary Examiner(s): ZHAO, DON GORDON
• Application Number:
  US14/448,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20160037336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0872 using geo-location information, e.g. location data, time, relative position or proximity to other entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/088 Usage controlling of secret information, e.g. techniques for restricting cryptographic keys to pre-authorized uses, different access levels, validity of crypto-period, different key- or password length, or different strong and weak cryptographic algorithms network architectures or network communication protocols for using time-dependent keys in a packet data network H04L63/068
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

In some examples, a device may include a communication interface configured to exchange signals with another device, and a computing component configured to autonomously calculate a centroid of a plurality of devices of which the device is a part, based at least in part on relative distances between the device and others of the plurality of devices and relative distances among the others of the plurality of devices, and autonomously establish the centroid as a shared secret.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a communication interface configured to exchange signals wirelessly with another device; and

a computing component configured to;

autonomously calculate a centroid of a mutually identifiable plurality of devices of which the device is a part, based at least in part on first respective distances between the device and each of others of the plurality of devices and second respective distances between pairs of the others of the plurality of devices;

autonomously establish the centroid as a shared secret without communicating the shared secret to the others of the plurality of devices; and

transmit a wireless signal encrypted with the shared secret to at least one of the others of the plurality of devices;

wherein the at least one of the others of the plurality of devices has calculated the centroid based on the mutually identifiable plurality of devices.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the computing component is further configured to:

determine, autonomously, a coordinate system including coordinates of the others of the plurality of devices relative to the device as an origin of the coordinate system, based at least in part on the first respective distances and the second respective distances,

wherein to autonomously calculate the centroid of the plurality of devices is based at least in part on the coordinates of the determined coordinate system.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the computing component is further configured to share the first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices;

and

wherein to autonomously calculate a centroid of the plurality of devices is based at least in part on the shared first respective distances.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein to share the first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices includes transmitting signals that are encoded with a received signal level as a key.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the computing component is further configured to:

determine an order for calculating the first respective distance to each of the others of the plurality of devices in turn, and

calculate the first respective distances to each of the others of the plurality of devices in the determined order.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein to share the first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices is executed in the determined order.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the computing component is further configured to:

identify the others of the plurality of devices; and

develop an array of the first and second respective distances.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further configured to periodically monitor the first respective distances.

9. An encryption method to develop a shared secret by each of a mutually identifiable plurality of devices, the method comprising, by a first device:

establishing a reference point of a coordinate system relative to the first device;

identifying others of the plurality of devices to calculate a centroid of the plurality of devices;

calculating a first respective distance to each of the others of the plurality of devices;

sharing the calculated first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices;

autonomously calculating the centroid of the plurality of devices relative to the reference point based at least in part on the shared first respective distances without communicating the centroid to the others of the plurality of devices; and

wirelessly communicating a signal encrypted using the calculated centroid as a shared secret to at least one of the others of the plurality of devices;

wherein the at least one of the others of the plurality of devices has calculated the centroid based on the mutually identifiable plurality of devices.

10. The encryption method of claim 9, wherein the calculating of a first respective distance includes:

transmitting signals to the others of the plurality of devices, including a received signal level of a signal received by the others of the plurality of devices from the each of the plurality of devices; and

determining a distance between the each of the plurality of devices and the others of the plurality of devices based at least in part on the received signal levels received by the others of the plurality of devices, respectively.

11. The encryption method of claim 10, further comprising:

establishing an origin of the coordinate system as the reference point; and

determining, autonomously, the coordinate system including coordinates of the others of the plurality of devices relative to the origin based at least in part on the distance between the first device and the others of the plurality of devices;

wherein the calculating of the centroid of the system is based at least in part on the determined coordinates.

12. The encryption method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving an order for the calculating of the first respective distance to each of the others of the plurality of devices in turn,

wherein the calculating of the first respective distance to each of the others of the plurality of devices is in the received order.

13. The encryption method of claim 12, wherein the sharing of the calculated first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices is executed in the received order.

14. The encryption method of claim 9, wherein the identifying comprises:

developing an array of the calculated first respective distances between each of the plurality of devices and each of the others of the plurality of devices.

15. The encryption method of claim 9, further comprising:

periodically monitoring the first respective distances to the others of the plurality of devices.

16. The encryption method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting a change in the distance between one of the each of the plurality of devices and one of the others of the plurality of devices;

recalculating the first respective distances to the others of the plurality of devices;

sharing the recalculated first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices;

autonomously recalculating a centroid of the plurality of devices based at least in part on the shared recalculated first respective distances; and

wirelessly communicating using the recalculated centroid as a shared secret.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, if executed, cause a computing component of a device to perform operations comprising:

autonomously calculating a centroid of a mutually identifiable plurality of devices of which the device is a part, based at least in part on first respective distances between the device and each of others of the plurality of devices and second respective distances between pairs of the others of the plurality of devices;

autonomously establishing the centroid as a shared secret without communicating the shared secret to the others of the plurality of devices; and

transmitting a wireless signal encrypted with the shared secret to at least one of the others of the plurality of devices;

wherein the at least one of the others of the plurality of devices has calculated the centroid based on the mutually identifiable plurality of devices.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, storing executable instructions that, if executed, cause the computing component of the device to perform operations further comprising:

calculating the first respective distances between the device and each of the others of the plurality of devices; and

sharing the calculated first respective distances with the others of the plurality of devices.