Unlocking a device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12373537-B2
Application number	US-202217824706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2022
Priority date	Jun 12, 2016
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Techniques and systems for unlocking a first device based on signals transmitted between the first device and a second device are disclosed. A disclosed technique includes receiving, by a first device, at least one wireless signal from a second device; transmitting, by the first device, at least one wireless signal to the second device; determining, by the first device, transit times of the at least one received wireless signal and the at least one transmitted wireless signal; determining, by the first device, one or more range measurements between the first device and the second device based at least in part on the transit times; determining, by the first device, an unlock decision based at least in part on the one or more range measurements; and causing, by at least the first device, the first device to unlock if the unlock decision is positive.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a first device, cause a hardware processor of the first device to carry out operations comprising:
transmitting, by the first device, at least one wireless signal to a wearable device; determining, by the first device, transit times of at least one received wireless signal and the at least one transmitted wireless signal;
determining, by the first device, one or more range measurements between the first device and the wearable device based at least in part on the transit times;
determining, by the first device, an unlock decision based on a comparison between the one or more range measurements and a dynamic range threshold, wherein a value of the dynamic threshold is based on one or more characteristics of an environment that the first device is located that effects wireless signal transmission, and wherein the dynamic range threshold represents a distance; and
causing, by at least the first device, the first device to unlock if the unlock decision is positive.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more range measurements comprises multiple received range measurements, and wherein the unlock decision is based at least in part on clustering of the multiple received range measurements.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the unlock decision is based at least in part on the dynamic range threshold determined by a type of device for the first device.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , storing additional instructions that, when executed by the first device, cause the hardware processor of the first device carry out further operations comprising:
receiving, by the first device, at least one credential from the wearable device; and
authenticating, by the first device, the at least one credential from the wearable device by at least verifying that the wearable device is unlocked.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more range measurements are determined by a wireless controller of the first device.

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , storing additional instructions that, when executed by the first device, cause the hardware processor of the first device carry out further operations comprising:
receiving, by the first device, at least one credential from the wearable device; and
authenticating, by the first device, the at least one credential from the wearable device by at least verifying the at least one credential corresponds to a user account of the first device.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the unlock decision is based at least in part on one or more of a type of the first device, a type of the wearable device, a count of wireless signals received by the first device, a degree of conformity of the one or more range measurements to a model of range data, and one or more characteristics of an environment in which the first device and the wearable device are located.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising filtering the at least one wireless signal received by the first device by sequential filters, wherein the at least one wireless signal received by the first device is pre-filtered before being filtered and the pre-filtering removes outlier wireless signals of the at least one wireless signal.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more range measurements are filtered by a batch filter and one or more characteristics of the batch filter are based on experimental data obtained from one or both of the first device and the wearable device and the experimental data comprises a distribution of distance measurements between the first device and the wearable device.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein one or more characteristics of the batch filter are modeled to minimize one or both of false positive unlock decisions and false negative unlock decisions and are modeled based on an assumption that the one or more range measurements comprise at least a predetermined number of range measurements.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the batch filter are modeled according to a maximum likelihood estimation methodology.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the batch filter are modeled according to a generalized extreme value methodology.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein a first data packet is received via the at least one wireless signal.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first data packet is encrypted according to a first encryption sequence in a plurality of encryption sequences.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein a second data packet is received is encrypted according to a second encryption sequence.

16. A computer system comprising:
a computer readable storage device storing computer executable instructions; and
a hardware processor configured to, in response to executing the computer executable instructions, carry out operations comprising:
transmitting, by a first device, at least one wireless signal to a wearable device;
determining, by the first device, transit times of at least one received wireless signal and the at least one transmitted wireless signal;
determining, by the first device, one or more range measurements between the first device and the wearable device based at least in part on the transit times;
determining, by the first device, an unlock decision based on a comparison between the one or more range measurements and a dynamic range threshold, wherein a value of the dynamic threshold is based on one or more characteristics of an environment that the first device is located that effects wireless signal transmission, and wherein the dynamic range threshold represents a distance; and
causing, by at least the first device, the first device to unlock if the unlock decision is positive.

17. The computer system as in claim 16 , wherein the dynamic range threshold is based at least in part on a type of the computer system.

18. The computer system as in claim 16 , wherein the dynamic range threshold is based at least in part on a count of wireless signals received by the computer system.

19. The computer system as in claim 16 , wherein the dynamic range threshold is based at least in part on one or more characteristics of wireless communication employed between the computer system and the first device.

20. The computer system as in claim 16 , wherein the computer-readable storage device stores additional computer executable instructions that, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to carry out further operations comprising:
receiving, by the first device, at least one credential from the wearable device; and
authenticating, by the first device, the at least one credential from the wearable device by at least verifying that the wearable device is unlocked.

21. The computer system as in claim 16 , wherein the computer-readable storage device stores additional computer ex

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ledvina Brent M
• Millman David Benjamin
• Bergerengen Johan Olav
• Mayor Robert

Classifications

• G06F21/88

  Detecting or preventing theft or loss · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title