Protection of a communication channel of a telecommunication device coupled to an NFC circuit against misrouting
AssigneeProton World International N.V.
InventorsThierry Huque, Olivier Van Nieuwenhuyze
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Abstract
A method for protecting data contained in a security module of a telecommunication device equipped with a near-field communication router and with a microcontroller, wherein data relative to the routing between the security module and gates of the router assigned to near-field communications are transmitted over a channel accessible by the router only, or by a control signal which is not generated by the microcontroller for the router.
Claims20
A method to protect data stored in a security module of a telecommunication device equipped with a near-field communication (NFC) router and with a microcontroller, the method comprising:
- providing a routing table, the routing table arranged to define communication pipes between the security module, the NFC router, and the microcontroller;
- defining a router administration pipe, the router administration pipe separate from the routing table and inaccessible to applications executed by the microcontroller;
- defining in the routing table a first pipe between the security module and the microcontroller;
- and
- passing a control signal directly from the NFC router to the security module, the control signal indicating that the NFC router is in proximity to an NFC reader, the control signal passed over the router administration pipe.
A mobile telecommunications device, comprising:
- a microcontroller;
- a security module;
- and
- a wireless communication router, the wireless communication router having radio frequency (RF) gates coupled to RF transceiver circuitry of the wireless communication router and terminals coupled to the security module and the microcontroller, the wireless communication router further having internal gates coupled between the terminals and the RF gates, wherein one or more pipes are configurable to communicatively couple various ones of the terminals to various ones of the RF gates, wherein a routing table is configurable to define the one or more pipes and thereby define one or more communication paths between the microcontroller, the security module, and the wireless communication router, wherein the routing table is arranged to define at least one pipe of the one or more pipes between the microcontroller and the security module, and wherein a valid control signal indicating that the wireless communication router is in proximity to a wireless communication reader is only passed to the security module on a router administration pipe directly between the wireless communication router and the security module, wherein the router administration pipe is separate from the routing table and inaccessible to applications executed by the microcontroller.
A method to protect data stored in a telecommunication device, comprising:
- detecting first access to a subscriber identity module in the telecommunication device;
- loading a routing table, the routing table defining a first communication pipe between a microcontroller circuit and a security module;
- prohibiting a communication transaction between the wireless communication circuit and the security module before a first control signal has been detected;
- detecting the first control signal, the first control signal indicating that the wireless communication circuit is in proximity to a wireless communication reader, the first control signal passed directly on a router administration pipe, the router administration pipe separate from the routing table and inaccessible to applications executed by the microcontroller;
- and
- communicating secure data from the security module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.