Managing connections between a user device and peripheral devices

A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a set of instructions to manage connection between a user device and a peripheral device;

• the set of instructions, when carried out by circuitry of the user device, causing the circuitry of the user device to perform a method of:
• obtaining a current peripheral identifier from an operating system running on the user device, the current peripheral identifier identifying the peripheral device;
• based on the current peripheral identifier, performing a peripheral recognition operation that attempts to recognize the peripheral device;
• and
• based on a result of the peripheral recognition operation, performing a peripheral access operation that determines whether the user device is allowed to connect with the peripheral device,
• wherein obtaining the current peripheral identifier from the operating system includes:
• calling a discovery routine of the operating system via an application programming interface (API) of the operating system, and
• receiving a discovery result via the API of the operating system in response to calling the discovery routine, the discovery result indicating discovery of the peripheral device and including the current peripheral identifier;
• wherein calling the discovery routine includes:
• invoking, as the discovery routine, a Bluetooth peripheral scanning service of the operating system, the Bluetooth peripheral scanning service being configured to scan for Bluetooth available peripheral devices;
• and
• wherein receiving the discovery result includes:
• acquiring a discovery notification message from the Bluetooth peripheral scanning service, the discovery notification message (i) indicating discovery of a Bluetooth peripheral device as the peripheral device and (ii) containing a Bluetooth peripheral device instance that includes the current peripheral identifier.

A user device, comprising:

• a wireless communications interface;
• memory;
• and
• control circuitry coupled to the wireless communications interface and the memory;
• the memory storing instructions that, when carried out by the control circuitry, cause the control circuitry to:
• obtain a current peripheral identifier from an operating system running on the user device, the current peripheral identifier identifying a peripheral device,
• based on the current peripheral identifier, perform a peripheral recognition operation that attempts to recognize the peripheral device, and
• based on a result of the peripheral recognition operation, perform a peripheral access operation that determines whether the user device is allowed to connect with the peripheral device through the wireless communications interface;
• wherein the control circuitry, when obtaining the current peripheral identifier from the operating system, is constructed and arranged to:
• call a discovery routine of the operating system via an application programming interface (API) of the operating system, and
• receive a discovery result via the API of the operating system in response to calling the discovery routine, the discovery result indicating discovery of the peripheral device and including the current peripheral identifier;
• wherein the control circuitry, when calling the discovery routine, is constructed and arranged to:
• invoke, as the discovery routine, a Bluetooth peripheral scanning service of the operating system, the Bluetooth peripheral scanning service being configured to scan for Bluetooth available peripheral devices;
• and
• wherein the control circuitry, when receiving the discovery result, is constructed and arranged to:
• acquire a discovery notification message from the Bluetooth peripheral scanning service, the discovery notification message (i) indicating discovery of a Bluetooth peripheral device as the peripheral device and (ii) containing a Bluetooth peripheral device instance that includes the current peripheral identifier.

A method of managing connection between a user device and a peripheral device, the method comprising:

• obtaining a current peripheral identifier from an operating system running on the user device, the current peripheral identifier identifying the peripheral device;
• based on the current peripheral identifier, performing a peripheral recognition operation that attempts to recognize the peripheral device;
• and
• based on a result of the peripheral recognition operation, performing a peripheral access operation that determines whether the user device is allowed to connect with the peripheral device;
• wherein the user device stores a list of disregarded peripheral identifiers identifying disregarded peripheral devices;
• wherein the list of disregarded peripheral identifiers includes the current peripheral identifier to prevent the user device from connecting with the peripheral device;
• and
• wherein the method further comprises:
• receiving an edit instruction that instructs the user device to remove the current peripheral identifier from the list of disregarded peripheral identifiers, and
• in response to the edit instruction, removing the current peripheral identifier from the list of disregarded peripheral identifiers.