Patent Publication Number: US-2007116291-A1

Title: System and method for utilizing a proximity network system for providing wireless communication network authentication

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates generally to proximity networks and more particularly to creating a network using passive printed circuit tags that provide user authentication.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Today, many electronic devices can communicate with other devices through the use of radio frequency (RF) wireless connections such as Bluetooth or wireless fidelity (WiFi). As wireless communications become the dominant form of interconnection between electronic devices in both the home and the office, security to prevent unauthorized access to these wireless communications systems becomes of greater importance. Although most conventional communication systems include some form of security such as authentication and/or encryption, even the best security systems may be subject to being hacked or breached by unauthorized users.  
      One technology that has been used to provide both location tracking and security is the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. A disadvantage in using RFID technology is that it can be complex and expensive, requiring the use of bulky cards that are affixed to the tracking object. Another type of technology called “poly apply” by the PolyApply Consortium (www.polyapply.org) is used to produce an electronic circuit on a flat surface such a paper or a polymer tape. Examples utilizing this technology include U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,299 to Eberhardt, which is herein incorporated by reference, which describes a radio frequency identification tag having a circuit chip which is coupled to an antenna and comprises a conductive pattern that is printed onto a substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,138 to Eberhardt et al., which is incorporated by reference, describes an integrated circuit assembly that includes an integrated circuit coupled to printed circuit conductors such as tag electrodes on a flexible substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,110 to Pennaz et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, describes an RFID tag that uses an integrated circuit that is easily connected to an antenna. U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,332 to Eberhardt et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a radio frequency identification tag whose integrated circuit is easily bonded to a substrate. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,727 to Diprizio et al., which is also herein incorporated by reference, discloses a capacitively powered radio frequency identification device that uses a substrate with first and second surfaces to form the capacitor for charging the device.  
      Thus, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technology to produce a substantially flat RF circuit that can be energized when in proximity to an electric field is currently available for use. Since an antenna can be co-located with the circuit, these devices can be easily concealed for specialized use. A disadvantage associated with the “poly apply” technology is that it is utilized for large-scale location applications and not for providing authenticating information on smaller networks. Moreover the technology has been used as a single use application and not in tandem or multiple applications for enabling authenticated communications within groups or subgroups within a network. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
      The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating operation of an identification tag in a proximity detection system.  
       FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating communications between two devices having various tags utilizing corresponding algorithms.  
       FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating communications between three devices having a plurality of tags utilizing corresponding communications encryption algorithms. 
    
    
      Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Before describing in detail embodiments that are in accordance with the present invention, it should be observed that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of method steps and apparatus components related to a proximity network system. Accordingly, the apparatus components and method steps have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.  
      In this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.  
      It will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention described herein may be comprised of one or more conventional processors and unique stored program instructions that control the one or more processors to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of the proximity network described herein. The non-processor circuits may include, but are not limited to, a radio receiver, a radio transmitter, signal drivers, clock circuits, power source circuits, and user input devices. As such, these functions may be interpreted as steps of a method to perform proximity network detection. Alternatively, some or all functions could be implemented by a state machine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certain of the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, a combination of the two approaches could be used. Thus, methods and means for these functions have been described herein. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill, notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choices motivated by, for example, available time, current technology, and economic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principles disclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such software instructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.  
      Turning now to  FIG. 1 , a proximity network system  100  includes a base station transceiver  101  operating on a WiFi standard such as IEEE 802.11, 802.16 or the like. Those skilled in the art will recognize that while WiFi is used in this example, Bluetooth or wide area network standards are also possible. The network includes a plurality of devices such as a personal computer (PC)  103 , a printer  105 , a household appliance  107  such as a kitchen oven, range or dishwasher, an entertainment device  109  such as a digital video disc (DVD) player or gaming device, as well as other devices  111  used around the home. Each device  103 - 111  includes at least one tag  113  that is affixed to the device that works to personally authenticate the device, allowing it access to the home network  101 . As long as the tag  113  is continually affixed to a device, the tag will continue to be energized through its proximity to the device. By way of example, the tag might be affixed directly to the personal computer  103  and an external drive  115  or other media device such as a compact disk (CD) or floppy disk (not shown). In one instance, the tag will allow the PC  103  access to the network. When affixed to the external drive  115  the tag will allow access of the external drive  115  to the PC  103  allowing it to share its data with the PC  103 .  
      Similarly, the household appliance  107  such as a kitchen oven can be used with a digital reader  117  that includes a tag  113 . In this embodiment, the tag  113  not only allows access to the home network  101  but can also verify that data such as a recipe received by the reader  117  can instruct the household appliance  107  regarding cooking temperatures and the cooking time duration for operation. It should be evident to those skilled in the art, although a recipe is used here by way of example, that any digital data can be input to the household appliance  107  through the use of a tag  113 . The invention also allows an entertainment device  109  such as a DVD player to utilize a tag  113  to not only gain access to the home network  101  but also control the media used with the device. For example, a DVD media  119  can be used with a tag  113  to authenticate each DVD that can be used with the DVD player. If the tag  113  is not affixed to the DVD  119 , then the DVD media cannot be used with the DVD player  109 .  
      As seen in  FIG. 2 , a block diagram illustrates how the proximate network system  100  operates using the tag  113 . Each tag is typically a passive device printed with a polymer on a flat surface such as a paper or tape adhesive. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the tag  113  is a substantially flat device that may be configured like that devised by the PolyApply consortium as discussed herein. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that other configurations having a substantially flat design with a minimal profile may also be possible in accordance with the present invention. The tag  113  is a passive device and is an electronic circuit which is energized by moving the tag  113  into proximity to an electric field  201 . In operation, a reader antenna  203  coupled to the electric field  201 , couples with a tag antenna  205 . The proximity of the reader antenna  203  and the tag antenna  205  allows enough energy to be exchanged in order to charge and/or energize a capacitor or other device for operating a circuit on the tag  113 . Since the tag  113  is a passive device, it cannot be charged unless it is in proximity to the electric field  201 .  
       FIG. 3  is a diagram depicting an embodiment of the invention where the tags described herein are used in a method  300  for allowing device interaction for authentication or other communications within the network. A first device  301  includes both tags # 1  and # 2  while a second device  303  also includes tags # 1  and # 2 . Device  301  first initiates a communication  305  to device  303  which is an encrypted message using an encryption algorithm common to tag # 1 . Device  303  then responds by transmitting an encrypted acknowledgment  307  back to the device  301 . Similarly, the device  303  may also transmit an encrypted message  309  using an algorithm associated with tag # 1  where an encrypted acknowledgment  311  is also sent from device  301  in return. Encrypted messages may also be sent using the algorithms associated with tags # 1  and # 2  such that only devices having both of these tags will be allowed to correctly authenticate and interpret communications between the correct devices. For example, device  301  may send an encrypted message  313  using algorithms associated with tags # 1  and # 2  where device  303  acknowledges receipt of the message by sending separate acknowledgment messages  315  and  317  for the messages using the same encryption algorithms. This allows only network devices having the appropriate tags to receive and encrypt messages intended for those devices. This allows devices in the network to be easy grouped or sub-grouped such that messages intended only for an intended group can be communicated without involvement of other devices outside the group.  
      Similarly,  FIG. 4  is a diagram depicting another embodiment of the invention where three (3) tags are used in combination with three (3) devices in a method  400  to allow the devices to selectively interact by exchanging encrypted communications.  FIG. 4  illustrates the exchange of those network communications. As will be evident to those skilled in the art, any number of tags may be used in tandem or combination with their associated encryption algorithms to receive encrypted communications. As noted previously, these communications may be directed to groups or sub-groups of devices within the network. In this example, devices  401 ,  403  and  405  all represent devices operating in the network as described in  FIG. 1 . Device  401  transmits an encrypted message  407  using algorithms associated with tags # 1 , # 2  and # 3  to device  403  and device  405 . Similarly, device  403  has affixed tags # 1  and # 2  while device  405  has affixed tags # 1  and # 3 . Thus, each device having the appropriate tag and encryption algorithms may send and receive ad hoc network communications using that algorithm. This allows communications to be targeted specifically to any groups and sub-groups of devices.  
      Next, device  403  transmits an encrypted acknowledgment  409  for message using the algorithm associated with tag # 1 . Device  403  also transmits an encrypted message to device  401  using an encryption algorithm associated with tag # 1 . Moreover, device  403  also sends an acknowledgment message  413  for the communication it received using tag # 2 . Similarly, device  405  transmits an encrypted acknowledgment message to device  401  acknowledging the recognition of the message using tag # 1 . Device  405  also sends a separate encrypted acknowledgment message  417  to device  401  for the message using tag # 3 . Hence, the method  400  allows devices  401 ,  403  and  405  to communicate amongst themselves using encryption algorithms based on the type of tag (# 1 , # 2 , and/or # 3 ) that are affixed to the device. Attaching tags to these devices allows each device to send and receive encrypted communications to other devices, allowing only those devices which are affixed with the appropriate tag to communicate and receive the appropriate network communications.  
      Thus, the invention is directed to a proximity system and method that uses a substantially flat tag or label that embodies an electronic circuit for use in authenticating a device and/or communications with other devices in a wireless network. The invention also includes an embodiment to allow media such CD (compact disc), DVD or otherwise to include identification tags so that they can be used with their associated devices. In yet another embodiment, the tag can be used to hold authentication information and encryption information or other data used in the operation of home appliances or entertainment devices to convey specific operational instructions.  
      In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present invention. The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.