Back to results
US 11,540,137 B2Granted
Pairing devices based on distance
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsBrent M. Ledvina, Yannick L. Sierra, Kyle C. Brogle, Steven Andrew Myers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques disclosed herein relate to the pairing of a pairing initiator device and a pairing responder device for communication. The pairing initiator device and the pairing responder device range with each other to determine the distance between the pairing initiator device and the pairing responder device. Based on the distance being below a threshold distance, the pairing initiator device and the pairing responder device wirelessly pair with each other without further input from the user.
Claims20
A pairing initiator device comprising:
- a computer processor system;
- a transceiver;
- and
- a computer memory storing instructions executable by the computer processor system to cause the pairing initiator device to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, from a user, a command to wirelessly pair with a pairing responder device;
- receiving, from the pairing responder device, a first cryptographic indicator generated by the pairing responder device, wherein the first cryptographic indicator is useable by an attestation server to authenticate the pairing responder device;
- sending, from the pairing initiator device to the attestation server, the first cryptographic indicator;
- receiving, from the attestation server, an authentication indicator of the authenticity of the pairing responder device;
- and
- based on receiving the authentication indicator:
- ranging, using the transceiver, with a transceiver of the pairing responder device to determine a distance between the pairing responder device and the pairing initiator device;
- and
- based on the distance being below a threshold distance, wirelessly pairing the pairing responder device with the pairing initiator device without further input from the user.
10 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving, at a pairing initiator device, a pairing operation start command from a user to wirelessly pair with a pairing responder device;
- and
- based on receiving the pairing operation start command, performing a pairing operation to wirelessly pair with the pairing responder device, wherein the pairing operation includes:
- sending, from the pairing initiator device to the pairing responder device, a request to pair the pairing initiator device with the pairing responder device;
- receiving, from the pairing responder device at the pairing initiator device, a first cryptographic indicator generated by the pairing responder device that is useable, by an attestation server, to authenticate the pairing responder device;
- sending, from the pairing initiator device, the first cryptographic indicator to the attestation server;
- receiving, at the pairing initiator device from the attestation server, an authentication indicator of the authenticity of the pairing responder device;
- and
- completing the pairing operation based on receiving the authentication indicator;
- wherein the pairing operation start command is the only user input associated with the pairing operation.
7 more elements
A pairing responder device comprising:
- a computer processor system;
- a cryptographic circuit;
- a transceiver;
- and
- a computer memory storing instructions executable by the computer processor system to cause the pairing responder device to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, from a pairing initiator device, a request to wirelessly pair with the pairing responder device;
- generating, using the cryptographic circuit, a first cryptographic indicator useable by an attestation server to authenticate the pairing responder device;
- sending, from the pairing responder device to the pairing initiator device, the first cryptographic indicator for retransmission to the attestation server by the pairing initiator device;
- ranging, using the transceiver, with a transceiver of the pairing initiator device to determine a distance between the pairing responder device and the pairing initiator device;
- and
- based on the distance being below a threshold, wirelessly pairing the pairing responder device with the pairing initiator device without input from a user to the pairing responder device.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.