Method of accessing applications in a secure mobile environment

• US 8,949,937 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2009
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Corda, Alexandre, Brule, Dominique, Smith, Mathew
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Benoit, Esther
• Application Number:
  US13/001,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20110113473A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,086 Days
• Field of Search: 726/3
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3227 using secure elements embedded in M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3574 Multiple applications on card
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/36 using electronic wallets or electronic money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A method of accessing in a mobile communication device (4) an application (5, 14, 26), the application (5, 14, 26) being issued by a Service Provider (2), from a trusted application, also known as wallet (12), in which mobile device (4) a secure element (7) such as a SmartMX device is comprised that comprises a service manager (8) that manages the application (5, 14, 26), comprising managing by the service manager (8) a link between the application (5, 14, 26) and an application-codec (6, 15) also being issued by the Service Provider (2), wherein the application-codec (6, 15) is designed for interfacing between the service manager (8) and the application (5, 14, 26) and for processing an access request requesting access to the application (5, 14, 26)received from the service manager (8) and triggered by the wallet (12), and, triggered by the wallet (12), accessing the application (5, 14, 26) via the service manager (8) by means of utilization of the link between the application (5, 14, 26) and the application-codec (6, 15), such that the application-codec (6, 15) linked with the respective application (5, 14, 26) performs accessing (23) the application (5, 14, 26) under control of the service manager (8).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

managing, by a service manager in a mobile communication device, a link between an application and an assigned application-codec installed in a secure element, wherein the assigned application-codec comprises an interface between the service manager and an application that translates application access requests received from the service manager which are format invariant;

processing the translated application access requests;

returning the processed application access requests to the service manager;

triggering, with a wallet, the returned application access requests;

retrieving, with the service manager, the application-codec assigned to a respective application by utilizing the link between the application and the application-codec;

sending the triggered application access requests to the retrieved application-codec linked with the respective application; and

returning results delivered by the application-codec to the wallet.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via a wireless communication network from a Service Provider, the application and a link-indication about an application-codec to be used for accessing the received application,

storing the received application in an application memory of the mobile communication device, and

generating, in the secure element, a linking-record that reflects the link between the application and the assigned application-codec based on the received link-indication.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, with a Trusted Service Manager from the Service Provider, the application, an application-codec assigned to the application, and a link-indication about an application-codec assigned to the application; and

submitting, with the Trusted Service Manager, the received application and the received link-indication to the service manager.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

installing, with the Trusted Service Manager, the application-codec in the secure element of the mobile communication device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

performing communication between the wallet and the service manager via a standardized interface that is configured for applying a common protocol in a communication with the wallet.

6. A service manager computer program product embodied upon a non-transitory computer-readable medium that is directly loadable into a secure element with an arithmetic-logic unit and a memory, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of claim 2 when said service manager computer program product is run on the secure element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure element is configured as a SmartMX device.

12. A trusted application of a mobile communication device constituting a graphical user interface for applications, wherein the trusted application is configured to retrieve a list of applications installed in an application memory of the mobile communication device as well as to retrieve information about the installed applications by triggering the service manager computer program product according to claim 6, which is loaded into a secure element of the mobile communication device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing, with the wallet, both NFC applications and MIFARE applications.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the wallet as a graphical user interface.

8. A mobile communication device configured for communication in a wireless communication network comprising:

an application issued by a Service Provider; and

a wallet; and

a secure element, the secure element having a service manager that manages the issued application;

an application-codec that is configured for interfacing between the service manager and the issued application and processing access requests requesting access to an application received from the service manager and triggered by the wallet; and

the service manager is configured for managing a link between the application and an application-codec issued by the Service Provider and requesting access to the application by utilization of a link between the application and the application-codec, such that the application-codec when linked with a respective application is configured to access the respective application.

10. A system comprising at least one mobile communication device according to claim 8.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, comprising:

a Trusted Service Manager which is configured for receiving, from the Service Provider via a computer network, the application, the application-codec, and a link-indication about an application-codec assigned to the received application, submitting the received application and the received link-indication to the service manager, and installing the received application-codec in the secure element of the mobile communication device.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the wallet is configured to manage both NFC applications and MIFARE applications.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the wallet is configured to operate as a graphical user interface.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the service manager is configured to receive the application-codec and store the received application codec in the secure element.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the service manager is configured to store a linking record that reflects a link between a first application and a respective application codec in the secure element.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the service manager is configured to receive a link indication from the Service Provider in lieu of an already received application codec.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the service manager is configured to generate a linking record based upon a link indication that corresponds to an already received application codec.

9. A Service Provider configured for issuing an application to be stored in a mobile device, the mobile device comprising a wallet, and a SmartMX device having a service manager configured to manage the application, wherein the Service Provider is configured for processing an access request requesting access to an application received from the service manager, and issuing a link-indication about an application-codec to be used for accessing the application, wherein the application codec is configured for interfacing between the service manager and the received application.