Patent ID: 8925069

Claim:
An electronic device comprising: a communication interface including a port configured to connect to and communicate with another electronic device; a connection manager coupled to the communication interface; authentication logic coupled to the connection manager; and a memory coupled to the connection manager and configured to store a list of known-good device identifiers and a list of known-bad device identifiers, the connection manager being configured to: receive a device identifier of a connected device via the communication port; prevent the connected device from interoperating with the host device in the event that the received device identifier is on a list of known-bad device identifiers; allow the connected device to interoperate with the electronic device via the communication port in the event that the received device identifier is on a list of known-good device identifiers; in the event that the received device identifier is on neither the list of known-bad device identifiers nor the list of known-good device identifiers: perform an authentication operation with the connected device via the communication port; in the event that the authentication operation completes successfully, add the received device identifier to the list of known-good device identifiers and allow the accessory to interoperate with the electronic device; and in the event that the authentication operation does not complete successfully, prevent the connected device from interoperating with the electronic device; detect that the connected and interoperating device has become disconnected from the communication channel; initiate a timeout period in response to detecting that the connected and interoperating device has become disconnected; and in the event that the device identifier is not received again before the timeout period elapses, remove the device identifier from the list of known-good device identifiers.