Feature activation using near field communication

• US 9,584,498 B1
• Filed: 04/04/2014
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: DeMattio, Christopher J, Forehand, Monty A., Offenberg, Manuel A
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kaplan, Benjamin
• Application Number:
  US14/245,900
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1063 Personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1064 Restricting content processing at operating system level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/12 Protecting executable software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/74 operating in dual or compartmented mode, i.e. at least one secure mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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

The present disclosure relates to feature activation using near field communication. In an embodiment, a device may include a chip to receive and store wireless communications. An activation package may be stored to the chip, and identify a set of features to enable or disable on the device. The device may include a processor to detect the activation package and initiate device operations based on the identified set of features. In some embodiments, the chip may receive and store information while the device is in a powered-off state, and the processor may detect the activation package at a power on event.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining selected functions to activate on a device, the selected functions limiting functionality the device is enabled to perform from a plurality of functions that firmware of the device is capable of performing;

transmitting an indication of the selected functions to the device via wireless communication when the device is in a powered-off state;

receiving, at the device, the indication and storing the indication in a memory of the device while the device is in the powered-off state; and

implementing selected functions of the firmware during a power on procedure of the device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transporting the device to a remote location prior to transmitting the indication; and

providing the indication and security information to an activation client at the remote location, the security information configured to authenticate the indication of the selected feature set to the device.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving information identifying the device from the activation client; and

authenticating the device based on the information identifying the device prior to providing the indication and security information to the activation client.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an activation package from a remote activation authority, the activation package including security data to authenticate the activation package; and

transmitting the activation package including the indication of the selected functions to the device.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

retrieving information identifying the device from a near field communication (NFC) chip of the device; and

transmitting the information identifying the device to the remote activation authority.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting the indication of the selected functions to the device via wireless communication includes transmitting the indication to a near field communication (NFC) tag of the device.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting the indication of the selected functions to a plurality of devices approximately simultaneously.

8. A device comprising:

a memory configured to;

receive, via wireless transmission when the device is in a powered-off state, an indication of selected functions limiting functionality the device is enabled to perform from a plurality of functions that firmware of the device is capable of performing;

store the indication;

a processor configured to;

detect, at a power-on event, the indication stored to the memory; and

implement an operating state including the selected functions based on the indication.

9. The device of claim 8 comprising the processor further configured to:

enable the selected functions from the plurality of functions and disable non-selected functions from the plurality of functions based on the indication.

10. The device of claim 8 further comprising:

the memory includes a near-field communication (NFC) chip adapted to store data received from an NFC transmitter without powering on the device.

11. The device of claim 10 further comprising:

the NFC chip stores device identification information capable of being read by an NFC receiver without a need to power on the device.

12. The device of claim 8, further comprising:

a non-volatile data storage medium;

the processor further configured to retrieve the indication from the memory and store the indication of the selected functions to the non-volatile data storage medium.

13. The device of claim 12 further comprising the device is a data storage device having the memory, the non-volatile data storage medium, the processor, and an interface that can physically connect and disconnect from a host computer, the interface configured to allow data communications between the data storage device and the host computer.

14. The device of claim 8 further comprising:

the indication is included in an activation package including security information;

the processor further configured to;

authenticate the activation package based on security information included in the activation package; and

implement the operating state including the selected functions only after authenticating the activation package.

15. The device of claim 8 comprising the processor further configured to:

identify functions from the plurality of functions to deactivate based on the indication; and

deactivate the identified functions.

16. The device of claim 8 further comprising:

a plurality of firmware versions stored to the device, each of the plurality of firmware versions including a subset of the plurality of functions; and

the indication of selected functions identifies a selected firmware version from the plurality of firmware versions to implement on the device; and

the processor is configured to implement the selected firmware version to control operation of the device.

17. The device of claim 8 further comprising:

the indication of selected functions corresponds to a feature set selected by a purchaser of the device.

18. A storage device storing instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method comprising:

implementing initial firmware settings to control functions of a computer peripheral hardware device;

detecting an activation package at a power on event, the activation package stored to a near field communication (NFC) chip coupled to the computer peripheral hardware device while the computer peripheral hardware device was in a powered-off state, the activation package identifying one or more different firmware settings different from the initial firmware settings to implement on the computer peripheral hardware device; and

implement an operating state of the computer peripheral hardware device based on the activation package, the operating state including the one or more different firmware settings.

19. The storage device of claim 18, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the method further comprising:

authenticating the activation package based on security information included in the activation package; and

implementing the operating state only after authenticating the activation package.

20. The storage device of claim 18, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the method further comprising:

permanently disabling a function of the initial firmware settings based on the activation package.