System and method for locating wireless accessories

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12075313-B2
Application number	US-202217818859-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2022
Priority date	Sep 28, 2018
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments described herein provide for system and methods to crowdsource the location of wireless devices and accessories that lack a connection to a wide area network. One embodiment provides for a data processing system configured to perform operations comprising loading a user interface on an electronic device, the user interface to enable the determination of a location of a wireless accessory that is associated with the electronic device, generating a set of public keys included within a signal broadcast by the wireless accessory, the signal broadcast during a first period, sending the set of public keys to a server with a request to return data that corresponds with a public key in the set of public keys, decrypting the location data using a private key associated with the public key, and processing the location data to determine a probable location for the wireless accessory.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
deriving, at a wireless accessory, a first public key;
transmitting at least one first beacon signal at a first frequency during a first period, wherein the first beacon signal includes the first public key, wherein the first frequency defines a beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal during the first period;
determining a second frequency for transmission of at least one second beacon signal based on whether a response is received from an electronic device in response to the transmission of the first beacon signal, wherein the second frequency is a different beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal than the first frequency;
deriving a second public key using a current timestamp; and
transmitting the second beacon signal at the second frequency during a second period, wherein the second beacon signal includes the second public key.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising, prior to deriving the second public key using the current timestamp, determining whether the wireless accessory has entered a new key period.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first public key is derived based on a shared secret with the electronic device and a time at the wireless accessory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless accessory is paired with the electronic device and the first and second public keys are derived based on a shared secret established between the wireless accessory and the electronic device during pairing.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising, in the event that a response is received from the electronic device in response to the transmission of the at least one first beacon signal, entering a near owner state, and wherein the second frequency is lower than the first frequency.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in the event that no response is received from the electronic device in response to the transmission of the at least one first beacon signal, the second frequency is the same as the first frequency.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second public key is derived from the first public key, a timestamp, and an anti-tracking secret provided to the electronic device and the wireless accessory.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a third public key is derived for transmission of a third beacon signal after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless accessory is a locator tag.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless accessory transmits the first and second beacon signals using ultra-wide band radio technology.

11. A wireless accessory device comprising:
a memory to store instructions for execution;
one or more processors to execute the instructions stored in memory, wherein the instructions, when executed cause the one or more processors to:
derive, at a wireless accessory, a first public key;
transmitting at least one first beacon signal at a first frequency during a first period, wherein the first beacon signal includes the first public key, wherein the first frequency defines a beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal during the first period;
determine a second frequency for transmission of at least one second beacon signal based on whether a response is received from an electronic device in response to the transmission of the first beacon signal, wherein the second frequency is a different beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal than the first frequency;
derive a second public key using a current timestamp; and
transmit the second beacon signal at the second frequency during a second period, wherein the second beacon signal includes the second public key.

12. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , comprising, prior to deriving the second public key using the current timestamp, determining whether the wireless accessory has entered a new key period.

13. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the first public key is derived based on a shared secret with an electronic device and a time at the wireless accessory.

14. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless accessory is paired with the electronic device and the first and second public keys are derived based on a shared secret established between the wireless accessory and the electronic device during pairing.

15. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , comprising, in the event that a response is received from the electronic device in response to the transmission of the at least one first beacon signal, entering a near owner state, and wherein the second frequency is lower than the first frequency.

16. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein, in the event that no response is received from the electronic device in response to the transmission of the at least one first beacon signal, the second frequency is the same as the first frequency.

17. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the second public key is derived from the first public key, a timestamp, and an anti-tracking secret provided to the electronic device and the wireless accessory.

18. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein a third public key is derived for transmission of a third beacon signal after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

19. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless accessory is a locator tag.

20. The wireless accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless accessory transmits the first and second beacon signals using ultra-wide band radio technology.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless accessory device, cause the wireless accessory device to perform:
deriving, at a wireless accessory, a first public key;
transmitting at least one first beacon signal at a first frequency during a first period, wherein the first beacon signal includes the first public key, wherein the first frequency defines a beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal during the first period;
determining a second frequency for transmission of at least one second beacon signal based on whether a response is received from an electronic device in response to the transmission of the first beacon signal, wherein the second frequency is a different beacon rate for transmission of each beacon signal than the first frequency;
deriving a second public key using a current timestamp; and
transmitting the second beacon signal at the second frequency during a second period, wherein the second beacon signal includes the second public key.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lopatin Scott
• Lalande Emmanuel
• Lu Lawrence T
• Mayor Robert W
• Movva Siva Ganesh
• Pai Raghunandan K
• Poonia Munish K
• Rochette Tommy
• Schaevitz Sam
• Sierra Yannick L
• Suparna Navin Bindiganavile
• Wasada Langford

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L9/3013

  involving the discrete logarithm problem, e.g. ElGamal or Diffie-Hellman systems · CPC title

• H04W12/03

  Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption · CPC title

• G01S1/047

  Displays or indicators (G01S1/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title