Patent ID: 7649997

Claim:
A method for secure communication, the method comprising: detecting a first device in proximity to a second device, wherein the detecting is performed using a gateway communication link; receiving a request at the first device to communicate with the second device to establish an audio conversation between a plurality of users; automatically performing a registration process using a key exchange protocol in response to receiving the request, the registration process comprising: determining existence of an encryption key between the first device and the second device; and initiating creation of the encryption key in response to a determination that the encryption key does not exist, the initiating occurring without user input, and wherein the creation includes: at each of the first device and the second device, generating a unique public key, exchanging the unique public keys, and creating an encryption key based on the exchanged unique public key; communicating with the second device using the encryption key to secure the audio conversation; wherein the first device is a vehicle and the second device is a telephone, the first device and second device communicating via wireless link, and further wherein the gateway communication link is interfaced to a human-vehicle interface (HVI) over a vehicle network, the HVI enabling one of the plurality of users to initiate the request; and performing user authentication of the communication.