Patent ID: 7366901

Claim:
A method comprising: storing in a processing device a first short-range radio address associated with a short-range radio transceiver embedded in a cellular device, wherein the processing device manages authentication and identification of messages communicated to a cellular device from said processing device, independent from a communication protocol used to communicate the messages; obtaining an authentication message using the processing device; providing a second short-range radio address associated with said short-range radio transceiver to be stored in the cellular device, wherein the first short-range radio address and the second short-range radio address are the same; calculating, using the processing device, a first message digest responsive to the authentication message and a first short-range radio address; transmitting, over a cellular network coupled to the processing device, a cellular message comprising the authentication message and the first message digest; wherein the cellular message is received by the cellular device; calculating a second message digest responsive to the authentication message and the second short-range radio address; and, wherein the cellular device compares the first message digest with a second message digest to authenticate the cellular message.