Location-aware beacon scanning and authentication for secure lock control and other IoT applications

An apparatus for unlocking a smart lock, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one hardware processor;
• at least one wireless transceiver coupled to the processor;
• at least one display component coupled to the processor;
• at least one data entry component coupled to the processor;
• at least one data storage component, coupled to the processor, and storing modules configured to perform a two-step proximity determination comprising:
• a location determination module configured to, in a first-step of the two-step proximity determination, determine whether the apparatus is within a geographic region associated with the smart lock;
• a wireless module configured to receive near-range communication signals;
• a scanning module configured to enable scanning for the near-range communication signals received by the wireless module upon determining that the apparatus is within the geographic region associated with the smart lock;
• a proximity module configured to, in a second-step of the two-step proximity determination, determine whether the apparatus is within a threshold proximity of the smart lock based on a near-range communication beacon signal from the smart lock;
• and
• a key module configured to transmit an authentication key to an authentication server based on the determination by the proximity module.

At least one computer-readable medium, carrying instructions, which when executed by a server computer in a wireless network, performs operations, the operations comprising:

• at the server computer, receiving from a mobile device, over the wireless network, an authentication key,
• wherein a two-step proximity determination was previously performed, the two-step proximity determination process comprising:
• in a first step of the two-step proximity determination, a geographic location of the mobile device was previously determined to have been within a predefined geographic region associated with an Internet of Things (loT) device,
• in a second step of the two-step proximity determination, upon determining that the mobile device was within the geographic region associated with the IoT device, near-range wireless capability of the mobile device was enabled to receive a near-range wireless signal transmitted from the IoT device;
• wherein a range of the IoT device for the near-range wireless signal is less than a range of signals between the mobile device and the wireless network;
• and
• wherein the mobile device had previously determined that the mobile device was within a threshold proximity to the IoT device;
• and
• at the server computer, transmitting the authentication key, over the wireless network, to the IoT device,
• wherein the IoT device then performs an action based on a positive evaluation of the received authentication key.