Near field telemetry link for passing a shared secret to establish a secure radio frequency communication link in a physiological condition monitoring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10039496-B2
Application number	US-201214364597-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2012
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

A physiological condition monitoring system (e.g., a continuous glucose monitoring system) includes a physiological condition meter and a physiological condition sensor. The physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are be placed in proximity to exchange a secret key using a near field wireless link, which is used to encrypt data to secure a radio frequency (RF) wireless channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for pairing a wireless physiological condition monitoring system, comprising:
placing a physiological condition meter in proximity with a physiological condition sensor;
receiving an instruction to initialize communication between the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor;
in response to the received instruction and the physiological condition meter being in proximity with the physiological condition sensor, generating a secret key at one of the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor using a random process, and transmitting the secret key to the one of the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor via a first communication link to provide a shared key that is shared between the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor; and
transmitting measurement data to the physiological condition meter from the physiological condition sensor via a secure wireless link based on the secret key;
wherein the secret key is not generated until after the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are placed proximally to each other, and
generating the secret key does not employ user input of an identifier of the physiological condition sensor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising encrypting the measurement data using the secret key.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first communication link is a near field communication (NFC) link formed when the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are proximate to each other.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the secure wireless link is a radio frequency (RF) link.

5. The method recited in claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving operational information from the physiological condition sensor at the physiological condition meter via the first communication link, the operational information comprising at least one of battery status, expiration data, and spoilage of the physiological condition sensor; and
determining if the physiological condition meter can transmit the secret key to the physiological condition sensor based on the operational information.

6. The method recited in claim 3 , further comprising actuating the physiological condition sensor based on the received instruction.

7. The method recited in claim 6 , wherein the received instruction comprises disposing the physiological condition sensor in a receptacle of the physiological condition meter, the receptacle configured to receive and actuate the physiological condition sensor.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the physiological condition sensor comprises memory for storing the secret key that is programmable a single instance.

9. The method of claim 3 , further comprising verifying if the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor have identical secret keys.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the NFC link is an inductive link and the range of the secure wireless link exceeds the range of the NFC link.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are proximate when placed within approximately 20 centimeters.

12. The method of claim 3 , further comprising the steps of:
after placing the physiological condition meter in proximity with the physiological condition sensor, energizing an inductive element in the physiological condition meter, and inducing a current in an inductive element in the physiological condition sensor.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising storing energy in the physiological condition sensor from the induced current.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of, when the inductive element in the physiological condition meter induces the current in the inductive element of the physiological condition sensor, sending the received instruction to initialize communication between the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor.

15. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first communication link is selected from at least one of an electrical connection, a wireless connection, an inductive coupling connection, and an optical connection.

16. A wireless physiological condition monitoring system, comprising:
a physiological condition sensor for measuring physiological condition data of a user and transmitting the measured physiological condition data using a secure wireless link based on a secret key upon receiving an instruction to initialize communication between a physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor; and
the physiological condition meter for receiving the measured physiological condition data via the secure wireless link based on the secret key and displaying the measured physiological condition data to the user,
wherein, in response to the instruction provided when the physiological condition sensor and the physiological condition meter are in proximity to each other, the secret key is generated using a random process and transmitted using a second communication link;
wherein the secret key is not generated until after the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are placed proximally to each other, and generating the secret key does not employ user input of an identifier of the physiological condition sensor.

17. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 16 , wherein the physiological condition sensor encrypts the measured physiological condition data using the secret key and the physiological condition meter decrypts the encrypted measured physiological condition data using the secret key.

18. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 17 , wherein the second communication link is a near field communication (NFC) link formed when the physiological condition meter and the physiological condition sensor are proximate to each other.

19. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 18 wherein the secure wireless link is a radio frequency (RF) link.

20. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 18 , wherein the physiological condition meter receives operational information of the physiological condition sensor via the second communication link and determines if the physiological condition meter can transmit the secret key to the physiological condition sensor based on the operational information, the operational information comprising at least one of battery status, expiration data, and spoilage of the physiological condition sensor.

21. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 18 , wherein the physiological condition sensor is actuated based on the instruction.

22. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 21 , wherein the physiological condition meter includes a receptacle for receiving and actuating the physiological condition sensor.

23. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 18 , wherein the physiological condition sensor includes a one time programmable memory for storing the secret key.

24. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 18 , wherein the NFC link is an inductive link and the range of the secure wireless link exceeds the range of the NFC link.

25. The wireless physiological condition monitoring system of claim 24 , where

Assignees

• Becton Dickinson Co

Inventors

• Yarger Michael
• Petisce James
• Diresta Ellen
• Burns Deborah
• Mason David

Classifications

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• A61B5/02438

  with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient · CPC title

• G08C17/02

  using a radio link · CPC title

• G16H50/20

  for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems · CPC title