Secure pairing of devices via pairing facilitator-intermediary device

• US 9,743,443 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2016
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Panther, Heiko Gernot Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Darren B
• Application Number:
  US15/012,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20160150583A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to systems and circuitry for and/or methods of establishing communication having one or more pairing facilitator-intermediary devices (for example, a network connected server) to enable or facilitate pairing and/or registering at least two devices (e.g., (i) a portable biometric monitoring device and (ii) a smartphone, laptop and/or tablet) to, for example, recognize, interact and/or enable interoperability between such devices. The pairing facilitator-intermediary device may responsively communicates information to one or more of the devices (to be paired or registered) which, in response, enable or facilitate such devices to pair or register. The present inventions may be advantageous where one or both of the devices to be paired or registered is/are not configured (e.g., include a user interface or certain communication circuitry that is configured or includes functionality) to pair devices without use of a facilitator-intermediary device.

Claims

1. A method for pairing a portable monitoring device with a computing device, comprising:

receiving by the computing device a selection of the portable monitoring device for pairing with the computing device;

sending by the computing device via a computer network to a server an instruction to receive first pairing information;

receiving by the computing device via the computer network from the server the first pairing information in response to sending the instruction;

sending the first pairing information from the computing device to the portable monitoring device;

receiving by the computing device second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, the second pairing information being obtained by the portable monitoring device from the server via the computer network;

pairing the computing device with the portable monitoring device after said sending of the first pairing information from the computing device to the portable monitoring device and said receiving by the computing device of the second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, said pairing performed to begin a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the computing device, wherein pairing the computing device with the portable monitoring device comprises creating a link between the computing device and the portable monitoring device; and

receiving by the computing device the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link,

wherein the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first pairing information includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a first secret code, wherein the second pairing information includes an identifier of the computing device and a second secret code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable monitoring device does not transmit data to the server via the computer network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving by the computing device the first pairing information from the server and said sending the first pairing information from the computing device to the portable monitoring device are performed automatically.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing access to a user account on a display device of the computing device via a web service; and

displaying the activity data on the display device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable monitoring device is a biometric device and the computing device is a smart phone or a tablet or a computer, wherein the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, wherein the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable monitoring device is configured to communicate bi-directionally with the server via the computer network to send data to the server and to receive the second pairing information from the server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable monitoring device lacks a user interface for receiving the selection, wherein the portable monitoring device has a dead front display.

9. A computing device comprising:

a user interface configured to receive a selection of a portable monitoring device for pairing with the computing device;

a communication unit configured to send via a computer network to a server an instruction to receive first pairing information,

the communication unit being configured to receive via the computer network from the server the first pairing information in response to sending the instruction,

the communication unit configured to send the first pairing information to the portable monitoring device,

the communication unit being configured to receive second pairing information from the portable monitoring device, the second pairing information being obtained by the portable monitoring device from the server via the computer network; and

a processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device after the first pairing information is sent from the communication unit to the portable monitoring device and the second pairing information is received by the communication unit from the portable monitoring device,

the processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device to begin a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the computing device,

the processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device via creating a link between the computing device and the portable monitoring device,

the communication unit configured to receive the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link, and

wherein the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the second pairing information includes an identifier of the computing device and a first secret code, wherein the first pairing information includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a second secret code.

11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the portable monitoring device does not transmit data to the server via the computer network.

12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive the first pairing information from the server and send the first pairing information the portable monitoring device automatically.

13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the user interface is configured to provide access to a user account via a web service, wherein the user interface includes a display device configured to display the activity data.

14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the portable monitoring device is a biometric device and the computing device is a smart phone or a tablet or a computer, wherein the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, wherein the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

15. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the portable monitoring device is configured to communicate bi-directionally with the server via the computer network to send data to the server and to receive the second pairing information from the server.

16. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the portable monitoring device lacks a user interface for receiving a selection, wherein the portable monitoring device has a dead front display.

17. A method for pairing a portable monitoring device with a computing device, comprising:

receiving by the computing device a selection of the portable monitoring device for pairing with the computing device;

sending by the computing device via a computer network to a server an instruction to receive pairing information,

the portable monitoring device being configured to send data to the server via the computer network and not being configured to receive pairing-related information from the server via the computer network;

receiving by the computing device via the computer network from the server the pairing information in response to sending the instruction;

sending the pairing information from the computing device to the portable monitoring device;

pairing the computing device with the portable monitoring device after said sending of the pairing information to the portable monitoring device, said pairing performed to begin a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the computing device, wherein pairing the computing device with the portable monitoring device comprises creating a link between the computing device and the portable monitoring device; and

receiving by the computing device the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link,

wherein the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the pairing information includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a secret code.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the selection includes an identification of the portable monitoring device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said receiving by the computing device the pairing information from the server and said sending the first pairing information from the computing device to the portable monitoring device are performed automatically.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing access to a user account on a display device of the computing device via a web service; and

displaying the activity data on the display device.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the portable monitoring device is a biometric device and the computing device is a smart phone or a tablet or a computer, wherein the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, wherein the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the server is configured to transmit the pairing information to the computing device via a secure connection between the server and the computing device.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the portable monitoring device lacks a user interface for receiving the selection, wherein the portable monitoring device has a dead front display.

25. A computing device comprising:

a user interface configured to receive a selection of a portable monitoring device for pairing with the computing device;

a communication unit configured to send via a computer network to a server an instruction to receive pairing information,

the portable monitoring device being configured to send data to the server via the computer network and not being configured to receive pairing-related information from the server via the computer network,

the communication unit configured to receive via the computer network from the server the pairing information in response to sending the instruction,

the communication unit configured to send the pairing information to the portable monitoring device; and

a processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device after the pairing information is sent from the communication unit to the portable monitoring device,

the processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device to begin a transfer of activity data from the portable monitoring device to the computing device,

the processor configured to pair the computing device with the portable monitoring device via creating a link between the computing device and the portable monitoring device,

the communication unit configured to receive the activity data from the portable monitoring device via the link,

wherein the activity data is representative of a physiological metric collected by one or more sensors embedded in the portable monitoring device.

26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the selection includes an identification of the portable monitoring device.

27. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive the pairing information from the server and send the pairing information to the portable monitoring device automatically.

28. The computing device of claim 27, wherein the user interface is configured to provide access to a user account via a web service, wherein the user interface includes a display device configured to display the activity data.

29. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the portable monitoring device is a biometric device and the computing device is a smart phone or a tablet or a computer, wherein the biometric device includes a display unit to display information, wherein the biometric device is configured to be worn by a user.

30. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the pairing information includes an identifier of the portable monitoring device and a secret code.