Access control in bluetooth® low energy devices

• US 9,510,136 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Aruba Networks Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Dunsbergen, Ben, Kubo, Kiyo
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivero, Alejandro
• Application Number:
  US14/529,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20160128112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause performance of operations comprising: successfully establishing a Bluetooth connection between a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device and another device, receiving, by the BLE device from the other device, a request for a change in a configuration, determining, by the BLE device, if the BLE device is in a configuration-changes-enabled state, responsive to determining that the BLE device is in a configuration-changes-enabled state, changing the configuration based on the request, and responsive to determining that the BLE device is not in a configuration-changes-enabled state, refraining from changing the configuration.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, causes performance of operations comprising:

establishing a Bluetooth connection between a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon and a BLE device;

determining, by the BLE beacon, if the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state, sending a notification from the BLE beacon to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state;

receiving, by the BLE beacon from the BLE device, a request for a change in a configuration of the BLE beacon in response to receipt of the notification;

responsive to receiving the request, changing the configuration based on the request; and

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is not in a configuration-changes-enabled state, refraining from changing the configuration.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

prior to receiving the request;

receiving, by the BLE beacon a particular code from the BLE device while the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-disabled state;

determining that the particular code is valid for setting the configuration-changes-enabled state;

responsive to determining that the particular code is valid;

modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state is further responsive to determining that the particular code is received from the BLE device within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the BLE beacon is to exchange messages with the BLE device when the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state and when the BLE beacon is not in the configuration-changes-enabled state.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, causes performance of operations comprising:

establishing a Bluetooth connection between a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon and a BLE device;

responsive to determining that a particular access code is received within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection;

at least temporarily maintaining the Bluetooth connection;

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, sending a notification from the BLE beacon to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

receiving, by the BLE beacon from the BLE device, a request for a change in a configuration of the BLE beacon;

responsive to receiving the request, changing the configuration of the BLE beacon; and

responsive to determining that the particular access code is not received within the particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection;

terminating, by the BLE beacon, the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

6. The medium of claim 5, wherein the operation further comprise:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, extending or initiating a timer for the terminating of the Bluetooth connection.

7. The medium of claim 5, wherein determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time comprises determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of a time that was initiated upon establishing the Bluetooth connection.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise, responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, stopping the timer.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise, responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, storing information indicating that the Bluetooth connection is authorized.

10. A system comprising:

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon configured to;

establish a Bluetooth connection with a BLE device;

determine if the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state, sending a notification to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state;

responsive to receiving a request from the BLE device, change the configuration based on the request;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is not in a configuration-changes-enabled state, refrain from changing the configuration; and

the BLE device, configured to;

establish the Bluetooth connection with the BLE beacon;

receive the notification from the BLE beacon; and

send, in response to receipt of the notification, a first Bluetooth signal comprising the request for the change in the configuration of the BLE beacon.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

prior to receiving the request;

receive a particular code from the BLE device while in a configuration-changes-disabled state;

determine that the particular code is valid for setting the configuration-changes-enabled state; and

responsive to determining that the particular code is valid;

modify the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state is further responsive to the determining that the particular code is received from the BLE device within a particular period of time from successfully establishing the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the BLE beacon is configured to exchange messages with the BLE device when the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state and when the BLE beacon is not in the configuration-changes-enabled state.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that a particular access code is received within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection;

at least temporarily maintain the Bluetooth connection;

responsive to determining that the particular access code is not received within the particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection;

terminate the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

15. The system of claim 14, the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, extend or initiate a timer for the termination of the Bluetooth connection.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time comprises determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of a timer that was initiated upon establishing the Bluetooth connection.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, stop the timer.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, store information indicating that the Bluetooth connection is authorized.