Patent Publication Number: US-2023161859-A1

Title: Control device and control method

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is based upon and claims benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-190024, filed on Nov. 24, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The present invention relates to a control device and a control method. 
     In recent years, a technology that performs communication between devices and authenticates a communicating party device has been developed. For example, following JP 2012-253424 A discloses a technology where an entry/exit management device performs near field wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal by using a near field wireless communication technology such as Near Field Communication (NFC), and performs personal authentication on the wireless communication terminal. 
     SUMMARY 
     However, in a case where a plurality of communication devises are authentication process targets, an authentication process is performed on all communication devices in order, and therefore a time has been taken until authentication succeeds in some cases. 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned issue, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved control device and control method that can reduce a time taken to perform communication between devices and authenticate a communicating party device. 
      In order to solve the above issue, a certain aspect of the present invention provides a control device including a control section configured to perform a process of deciding whether or not there is identification information that is stored in advance and matches with identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded among each identification information obtained from one or more communication devices, and a process of controlling execution of an authentication process of authenticating a communication device, according to a decision result. 
     Furthermore, in order to solve the above issue, another aspect of the present invention provides a control method including at a processor: deciding whether or not there is identification information that is stored in advance and matches with identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded among each identification information obtained from one or more communication devices; and controlling execution of an authentication process of authenticating a communication device, according to a decision result. 
     As described above, the present invention can reduce a time taken to perform communication between devices and authenticate a communicating party device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is an explanatory view for explaining each component of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the control system according to the embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S) 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that components having substantially same functional configurations will be assigned the same reference numerals in the description and the drawings, and overlapping description thereof will be omitted. 
     Furthermore, in the description and the drawings, a plurality of components having substantially same functional configurations will be distinguished by assigning different alphabets or numbers to tails of the same reference numerals in some case. In this regard, in a case where each of the plurality of components having the substantially same functional configurations do not need to be distinguished in particular, each of a plurality of components will be assigned only the same reference numerals. 
     1. Outline 
       FIG.  1    is an explanatory view for explaining each component of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in  FIG.  1   , the control system according to the present embodiment includes a control device  20  that is mounted on a vehicle  2  that is an example of a movable body, and one or more communication devices  10  ( 10 A to  10 C) that are owned by a user and can establish communication connection with the control device  20  by wireless communication. According to the present embodiment, for example, the communication device  10 C among the communication devices  10 A to  10 C illustrated in  FIG.  1    is used to unlock a door lock of the vehicle  2 . 
     The control device  20  has an authentication function of establishing communication connection with the communication device  10  by wireless communication, and performing an authentication process of authenticating the communication device  10 . The control device  20  is mounted on or placed in the vehicle  2 . A place at which the control device  20  is located in the vehicle  2  is not limited in particular. 
     The communication device  10  has a wireless communication function that can transmit and receive data by wireless communication with another device. Furthermore, the present embodiment assumes that, for example, the communication device  10 C has authentication information that is necessary for the above authentication process. The authentication information may be, for example, an encryption key including information that indicates an algorithm used to encrypt or decrypt predetermined information. In this description, the encryption key used for the authentication process will be referred to as an authentication key. As illustrated in  FIG.  1   , for example, the communication device  10 C includes an authentication key K. Note that the authentication key may be a common key in a case where a common key cryptography is used, or may be a private key in a case where the common key cryptography is used. 
     The user can unlock the door lock of the vehicle  2  by using the communication device  10 C. The communication device  10 C may be, for example, a smartphone. When the user places the smartphone close to the vehicle  2 , the control device  20  in the vehicle  2  establishes communication connection with the smartphone by wireless communication, and executes an authentication process of authenticating the smartphone. When succeeding in authenticating the smartphone, the control device  20  performs control to unlock the door lock of the vehicle  2 . 
     Summary of Issue 
     However, there is a case where the user uses a smartphone case that houses the smartphone, and places the smartphone close to the vehicle to unlock the door lock in a state where various communication devices such as a transportation Integrated Circuit (IC) card or a payment IC card are housed in the smartphone case. In this case, the control device provided in the vehicle communicates with all communication devices, and a plurality of communication devices become authentication process targets. In addition to a case where the smartphone case is used, the various communication devices that are housed in a pocket, a bag, and a staff identity card of the user hang from a neck are also likely to communicate with the control device. There is a problem that the control device has difficulty in identifying a communication device that has authentication information that is a necessary authentication key to unlock the door lock of the vehicle among a plurality of communication devices with which communication connection has been established, and therefore perform an authentication process on all communication devices in order, and a time is taken until authentication succeeds. 
     The control device  20  according to the embodiment of the present invention has been conceived focusing on the above point, and makes it possible to reduce a time taken to perform communication between devices and authenticate a communicating party device. More specifically, the control device  20  controls execution of an authentication process of a communication device by using identification information for identifying a communication device whose authentication has previously succeeded. 
     Each component included in this control system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below. 
     2. Configuration Example 
     2-1. Communication Device  10   
     The communication device  10  is owned by the user, and has a communication function of communicating with other devices. Furthermore, the communication device  10  has unique identification information. The communication device  10  may be, for example, a smartphone or an IC card. According to the present embodiment, for example, the example illustrated in  FIG.  1    assumes a case where the communication device  10 A is a transportation IC card, the communication device  10 B is a payment IC card, and the communication device  10 C is a smartphone that can unlock the door lock of the vehicle  2 , that is, that includes the authentication key K that is necessary for the authentication process performed together with the control device  20 . 
     The unique identification information described herein is information that makes it possible to uniquely identify each of the communication devices  10 . An unique identification number may be, for example, a combination of numbers or symbols, or may be another example. Furthermore, the above unique identification number may be, for example, a manufacturing number that is uniquely assigned at a time of manufacturing of the communication device  10 . 
     The communication device  10  has a communication function of performing communication that conforms to predetermined wireless communication standards with the control device  20 . This communication function may be realized by a communication device that transmits and receives data to and from another device in a short communication distance. The short communication distance may be, for example, approximately 5 cm, 10 cm, 1 m or 10 m or less. According to the present embodiment, NFC whose communication distance is approximately 10 cm is used as an example of a communication system of wireless communication performed between the communication device  10  and the control device  20 . However, other frequency bands or other wireless communication standards may be naturally used. 
     Furthermore, the authentication key K of the communication device  10 C may be stored in a storage section included in the communication device  10 C. Alternatively, the communication device  10 C may obtain the authentication key K held in an external storage device or a server configured to be able to communicate with the communication device  10 C. 
     The communication device  10  has been described above. Note that the communication device  10 C may be realized by the smartphone, or may be realized by an IC card or a card type small device. Furthermore, the communication device  10 C may be realized by various devices such as a tablet terminal and a wearable device. 
     2-2. Control Device  20   
     Next, a configuration of the control device  20  according to the present embodiment will be described. As illustrated in  FIG.  1   , the control device  20   according to the present embodiment includes a communication section  210 , a control section  220 , and a storage section  230 . 
     Communication Section  210   
     The communication section  210  has a function of transmitting and receiving data to and from other devices. For example, the communication section  210  according to the present embodiment establishes communication connection with each communication device  10 , and obtains identification information of each communication device  10 . Furthermore, the communication section  210  transmits an authentication request signal to the communication device  10  under control of the control section  220 , and receives an authentication response signal from the communication device  10 . The communication section  210  establishes communication connection with the communication device  10  by, for example, wireless communication. For example, NFC is used as a communication system of wireless communication in the present embodiment. However, other frequency bands or other wireless communication standards may be naturally used. 
     Control Section  220   
     The control section  220  includes, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), and, when a program stored in the storage section  230  is expanded on a Random Access Memory (RAM) and executed by the CPU, a function of the control section  220  can be realized. In this case, a computer readable recording medium having the program recorded therein can be also provided. Alternatively, the control section  220  may be configured as a dedicated hardware component, or may be configured as a combination of a plurality of hardware components. 
     The control section  220  controls all operations of the control device  20 . For example, the control section  220  causes the communication section  210  to establish communication connection with the communication device  10 . Furthermore, this control section  220  has functions of an identification information storage process section  221 , a decision section  222 , and an authentication process section  223 , too. 
     The identification information storage process section  221  performs control of storing, in the storage section  230 , identification information of a communication device whose authentication has succeeded. 
     The decision section  222  performs a process of deciding whether or not there is identification information that matches with identification information that is stored in advance in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded among each identification information obtained from the one or more communication devices  10 . 
     The authentication process section  223  performs the authentication process on the communication device  10  according to a result of the decision made by the decision section  222 . More specifically, the authentication process section  223  performs control of performing the authentication process on the communication device  10  that has been decided by the decision section  222  to match with the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded. Consequently, even when a plurality of communication devices are authentication targets, it is possible to reduce a time taken until authentication of the communication devices succeeds. 
     The authentication process section  223  can perform the authentication process of authenticating the communication device  10  based on data transmitted and received to and from the authentication process target communication device  10  via the communication section  210 . In this case, the authentication process section  223  can perform the authentication process by using the authentication key stored in advance in the storage section  230 . A method of the authentication process that uses the authentication key is not limited in particular, yet includes, for example, a following example. 
      For example, the authentication process section  223  first generates a random number, and transmits the random number as an authentication request single from the communication section  210  to the communication device  10 . Next, the communication device  10  encrypts the random number by the authentication key, and returns the random number as an authentication response signal to the control device  20 . Furthermore, the authentication process section  223  of the control device  20  decrypts the random number by using the authentication key stored in the storage section  230 , and decides whether the random number matches with the above generated random number. This authentication is also referred to as request response authentication. The control device  20  and the communication device  10  may perform mutual authentication of mutually performing this request response authentication on each other. Note that keys used for encryption and decryption may be different. Furthermore, authentication keys used for performing mutual authentication may be different. 
     The present embodiment has described as an example of authentication information that the authentication key including the algorithm for performing encryption and decryption is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the authentication information may be, for example, a predetermined password, a unique ID, a numerical value, a calculation formula, or a program. 
     When authentication by the authentication process section  223  succeeds, the control section  220  can control unlocking of the door lock of the vehicle  2 . Alternatively, the control section  220  permits an operation of unlocking the door lock. Note that the operation that is permitted in a case where authentication succeeds is not limited to unlocking of the door lock, and may be, for example, turning on of a predetermined light provided to the vehicle  2 , or may be starting of the engine. Control of various operations of the vehicle  2  may be performed by the control device  20 , or may be performed by another device mounted on the vehicle  2 . 
      Storage Section  230   
     The storage section  230  is configured to store various pieces of information. For example, the storage section  230  stores, for example, programs and parameters used by the control section  220 . Furthermore, the storage section  230  may store, for example, a process result of the control section  220  or information received by the communication section  210  from other devices. For example, the storage section  230  stores the authentication key that is an example of the authentication information. Note that contents of information stored in the storage section  230  is not limited in particular. Furthermore, the storage section  230  may be realized by, for example, a Rear Only Memory (ROM) or a RAM. Furthermore, as the storage section  230 , a magnetic storage device such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), a semiconductor storage device, an optical storage device, or a magnetooptical storage device may be used. 
     The storage section  230  according to the present embodiment stores identification information of the successfully authenticated communication device  10  under control of the identification information storage process section  221 . 
     A configuration example of the control device  20  according to the present embodiment has been described above. Note that the configuration of the control device  20  according to the present embodiment is not limited to the example illustrated in  FIG.  1   . For example, the control device  20  may include a plurality of devices. Furthermore, when communicating with the another device mounted on the vehicle  2 , the control device  20  can transmit and receive data by using an in-vehicle communication network that conforms to arbitrary standards such as a Controller Area Network (CAN), a Local Interconnect Network (LIN), or a Local Area Network (LAN). 
     Furthermore, the functions of the control section  220  may be realized by, for example, an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) mounted on the vehicle  2 , or a microcomputer mounted on the ECU. Furthermore, at least part of the functions of the control section  220  may be realized by an external device that is not mounted on the vehicle  2 . The external device includes, for example, a cloud server on the Internet, a smartphone owned by a passenger, or a tablet terminal. 
     3. Operation 
     Next, an operation of the control system according to the present embodiment will be organized with reference to  FIG.  2   .  FIG.  2    is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the control system according to the embodiment. This operation example will describe a case as an example where the user places the communication device  10 A to the communication device  10 C close to the vehicle  2 , and establishes communication connection with the control device  20  mounted on the vehicle  2  by NFC. The control device  20  establishes NFC communication with the communication device  10  that comes close within a range where NFC communication can be performed, request transmission of identification information to the communication device  10  with which communication connection has been established, and obtains the identification information. This operation example assumes a case where the communication device  10 C that is the smartphone, the communication device  10 A that is the transportation IC card housed in the smartphone case, and the communication device  10 B that is the payment IC card housed in the smartphone case likewise are collectively placed close within the range where NFC communication can be performed. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  2   , the control device  20  first establishes communication connection with the communication device  10 A by NFC (step S 103 ). When NFC communication with the control device  20  is established, the communication device  10 A transmits identification information of the communication device  10 A to the control device  20  in response to a request from the control device  20  (step S 106 ). 
     Next, the control device  20  establishes communication connection with the communication device  10 B by NFC (step S 109 ). When NFC communication with the control device  20  is established, the communication device  10 B transmits identification information of the communication device  10 B to the control device  20   in response to a request from the control device  20  (step S 112 ). 
     Next, the control device  20  establishes communication connection with the communication device  10 C by NFC (step S 115 ). When NFC communication with the control device  20  is established, the communication device  10 C transmits identification information of the communication device  10 C to the control device  20  in response to a request from the control device  20  (step S 118 ). 
     Thus, the control device  20  obtains the identification information from each communication device  10  with which NFC communication has been established. Note that, although communication connection is established and the identification information is obtained in order of the communication device  10 A, the communication device  10 B, and the communication device  10 C, this order is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. 
     Subsequently, the decision section  222  of the control device  20  performs a process of deciding whether or not there is identification information that matches with identification information that is stored in advance in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded among the pieces of identification information of the communication device  10 A to the communication device  10 C obtained in above step S 106 , step S 112 , and step S 118  (step S 121 ). The storage section  230  stores the identification information of the communication devices  10  whose authentication has succeeded by an authentication process previously performed by the control device  20 . This operation example will describe a case where the identification information of the communication device  10 C including the authentication key K is stored in the storage section  230  as the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded. 
     Next, when it is decided in above step S 121  that there is the matched identification information, the control device  20  determines the communication device  10  having the matched identification information as a communicating party for performing the authentication process (step S 124 ). In this operation example, the control device  20  decides that the identification information of the communication device  10  matches with the identification information that is stored in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded, and determines as the communicating party the communication device  10 C for performing the authentication process. 
     Note that, when it is decided in above step S 121  that there is no matched identification information, the control device  20  sequentially performs the authentication process on the communication device  10 A to the communication device  10 C. The order of the communication devices  10  on which the authentication process is performed in this case is the order of the pieces of identification information obtained by the control device  20 . 
     Next, the authentication process section  223  of the control device  20  performs the authentication process on the communication device  10 C that has been determined as the communicating party (step S  127 ). Although a specific procedure of the authentication process is not limited in particular, for example, the authentication process section  223  of the control device  20  may first generate the random number, and transmit the random number as the authentication request signal from the communication section  210  to the communication device  10 C. Next, the communication device  10 C encrypts the random number by the authentication key K, and returns the random number as the authentication response signal to the control device  20 . Furthermore, the authentication process section  223  of the control device  20  can perform authentication by decrypting the random number by using the authentication key stored in the storage section  230 , and deciding whether or not the random number matches with the above generated random number. 
     When authentication of the communication device  10 C succeeds, the control device  20  performs control to unlock the door lock of the vehicle  2 . Furthermore, the identification information storage process section  221  of the control device  20   stores, in the storage section  230 , the identification information of the communication device  10 C as identification information whose authentication has succeeded. The identification information whose authentication has succeeded may be overwritten and saved in the storage section  230 , or may be accumulated together with authentication success dates as an authentication success history. 
     The operation example of the control system according to the present embodiment has been described above. As described above, when establishing communication connection with the plurality of communication devices  10 , the control device  20  selects the communication device  10  that matches with the identification information of the communication device whose authentication has previously succeeded, and preferentially performs the authentication process. Consequently, even in a situation that the plurality of communication devices  10  can communicate with the control device  20 , it is possible to reduce a time taken until authentication succeeds. Furthermore, the above-described operation example has described the case where NFC is used as communication means. However, the present invention is not limited to this. 
     4. Supplementary Explanation 
     Next, the control system according to the present embodiment will be supplementarily explained. The above-described embodiment has described that the decision section  222  of the control device  20  obtains the pieces of identification information from all of the communication device  10 A to the communication device  10 C with which communication connection can be established, and then performs a process of deciding whether or not there is identification information that matches with identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded (see above steps S 103  to S 121 ). However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, every time the decision section  222  of the control device  20  obtains the identification information from the one communication device  10  among the one or more communication devices  10 , the decision section  222  may decide whether or not the identification information matches with identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded. For example, in the example illustrated in  FIG.  2   , when the identification information is obtained from the communication device  10 A in step S 106 , the decision section  222  may decide whether or not the identification information of the communication device  10 A matches with the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded. When the identification information of the communication device  10 A does not match, the authentication process section  223  then obtains the identification information from the communication device  10 B (step S 112 ), and decides whether or not the identification information of the communication device  10 B matches. Thus, when, for example, matched identification information is found at an early stage by deciding whether or not the identification information matches every time the identification information is obtained from the one or more communication devices  10 , it is possible to omit a decision process of deciding whether or not the identification information matches with those of the subsequent other communication devices  10 , and further reduce the time. 
     Furthermore, the above-described embodiment has described the case as the example where there are the plurality of communication devices  10  as illustrated in  FIGS.  1  and  2   . However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the number of the communication devices  10  may be one (singular). Similar to the operation example in the present embodiment, even in a case where the number of the communication devices  10  is one, the control device  20  obtains the identification information of the communication device  10 , and decides whether or not the obtained identification information matches with the identification information that is stored in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded. 
     Furthermore, the above-described embodiment assumes that the storage section  230  of the control device  20  stores in advance only the identification information of the communication device  10 C as the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. As the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded, the storage section  230  of the control device  20  may store one identification information, or may store a plurality of pieces of identification information. 
     In a case where the plurality of pieces of identification information are stored in the storage section  230 , the decision section  222  of the control device  20  may extract identification information whose number of times of past success of authentication is the largest among the pieces of identification information stored in the storage section  230 , and decide whether or not there is identification information that matches with the extracted identification information among the obtained pieces of identification information of the one or more communication devices  10 . The storage section  230  may store the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded, and the number of times of success of authentication in association. When authentication of the communication device  10  succeeds, the identification information storage process section  221  performs a process of incrementing by 1 the number of times of success of authentication of the communication device  10  stored in the storage section  230 . On the other hand, when authentication of the communication device  10  fails, the identification information storage process section  221  may delete the identification information of the communication device  10  from the storage section  230 , or may update the number of times of success of authentication of the communication device  10  to 0. 
     Note that the present invention is not limited to the example where the number of times of success is stored in the storage section  230 . The decision section  222  may calculate the number of times of authentication success of each identification information from a history of each identification information that is stored in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded. The storage section  230  may store identification information whose authentication has succeeded, and a history of success dates. Furthermore, when authentication of the communication device  10  succeeds, the identification information storage process section  221  performs a process of further storing, in the storage section  230 , the history (the identification information and the authentication success dates) indicating that authentication of the communication device  10  has succeeded. 
     Furthermore, in a case where a plurality of pieces of identification information are stored in the storage section  230 , the decision section  222  of the control device  20  may extract identification information whose authentication has lastly succeeded based on the success date of each identification information among pieces of identification information that are stored in the storage section  230  and whose authentication has previously succeeded. The decision section  222  decides whether or not there is identification information that matches with the extracted identification information (the identification information whose authentication has lastly succeeded) among the obtained one or more communication devices  10 . Note that, when there is no matched identification information, the decision section  222  may extract identification information whose authentication has chronologically more previously succeeded, and decide whether or not the extracted identification information matches. 
     Furthermore, although the example described with reference to  FIG.  2    assumes that authentication of the communication device  10 C having the identification information that matches with the identification information whose authentication has previously succeeded succeeds, there may be assumed a case where the authentication fails due to some factors such as a case where there is a temporal restriction or a restriction of the number of times on the authentication key K. In this case, the identification information storage process section  221  of the control device  20  may delete the identification information of the communication device  10 C from the storage section  230 . Furthermore, the authentication process section  223  of the control device  20  sequentially performs the authentication process on the communication devices  10  (the communication device  10 A and the communication device  10 B in the example illustrated in  FIG.  2   ) other than the communication device  10 C. 
     5. Conclusion 
     The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. It should be understood by those who have common knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs that it is obvious that various change examples or alteration examples can be arrived at within the scope of the technical idea recited in the claims, and these change examples and alteration examples also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. 
     For example, the vehicle is used above as an example of the movable body that is mounted on the control device  20 . However, the movable body according to the present embodiment is not limited to the vehicle, and may be ships (such as passenger ships, cargo ships, or submarines) and aircrafts (such as airplanes, helicopters, gliders, or airships). Furthermore, the vehicle is not limited to cars, and may be buses, motorcycles, locomotives, or trains. Furthermore, the movable body is not necessarily limited to the above example, and may be a movable object. Furthermore, the control device  20  mounted on the movable body is merely an example, and the control device  20  may be mounted on other than the movable body, and perform the above-described control. 
     Furthermore, the above-described contents of the embodiment and supplementarily explained contents may be each combined. 
     Furthermore, the effect disclosed in this description is only explanatory or exemplary, and is not restrictive. That is, together with the above effect or instead of the above effect, the technology according to the present disclosure exhibits other effects that are obvious for those who have common knowledge in the technical field from the disclosure of this description. 
      Furthermore, all of each step related to the process of the control device in this description does not necessarily need to be processed in time series in the order described in the sequence diagram. 
     Furthermore, it is possible to create one or more programs that cause hardware such as a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM built in a computer to exhibit functions equivalent to those of the components included in the communication devices  10  or the control device  20 , and provide a computer readable recording medium, too, having the one or more programs recorded therein.