Bump or Close Proximity Triggered Wireless Technology

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016249156-A9
Application number	US-201313742425-A
Country	US
Kind code	A9
Filing date	Jan 16, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques for performing various communications functionality based on detecting a bump condition and/or close proximity between wireless devices. A wireless access point may be configured to automatically initiate an authentication procedure with a User Equipment (UE) device in response to detecting a bump condition and/or detecting a particular proximity between the UE device and the wireless access point. The particular proximity may be detected based on a signal strength of a radio frequency signal. The wireless access point may also be configured to disable a security protocol. A UE device may be configured to participate in an authentication procedure and/or automatically transfer data to the wireless access point in response to detecting a bump condition and/or detecting a particular proximity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wireless access point, comprising:
an antenna for wireless communications; a processing element; and a motion sensor configured to detect a bump condition involving the wireless access point and a User Equipment (UE) device; wherein the processing element is configured to automatically initiate an authentication procedure with the UE device in response to detection of the bump condition.

2 . The wireless access point of claim 1 ,
wherein the processing element is further configured to determine a Mac ID of the UE device; and wherein the Mac ID is used in the authentication procedure with the UE device.

3 . The wireless access point of claim 1 ,
wherein the wireless access point is configured to request information from the UE device about the bump condition; and wherein the wireless access point is configured to automatically initiate the authentication procedure in response to receiving information indicating that the device experienced the bump condition.

4 . The wireless access point of claim 3 , wherein the information includes a timestamp associated with the bump condition and a magnitude of the bump condition.

5 . The wireless access point of claim 1 , further comprising:
a wireless sensor configured to detect a particular proximity between the UE device and the wireless access point; wherein the processing element is configured to automatically initiate the authentication procedure only in response to both the detected bump condition and the detected particular proximity.

6 . A method, comprising:
performing, by a wireless access point:
monitoring for nearby wireless User Equipment (UE) devices;
detecting a bump condition; and
authenticating a UE device associated with the bump condition in response to the detecting.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving information from the UE device in response to the bump condition; comparing the received information with information about the detected bump condition; and determining that the received information corresponds to the detected bump condition.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a communications packet from the UE device; determining a difference between a transmit signal strength and received signal strength of the packet; and determining a proximity of the UE device based on the determining the difference; wherein the authenticating is performed in response to the detecting and the determined proximity.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
sending first information to the UE device based on a first proximity of the UE device to the wireless access point; and sending second information to the UE device based on a second, different proximity of the UE device to the wireless access point.

10 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
waiting for a random time interval to elapse after detecting the bump condition; requesting a timestamp associated with the bump condition after the waiting; receiving a timestamp from the UE device; and determining that the timestamp corresponds to the bump condition.

11 . A wireless access point, comprising:
an antenna for wireless communications; a processing element; and a wireless sensor configured to detect a particular proximity between a UE device and the wireless access point; wherein the processing element is configured to automatically initiate an authentication procedure with the UE device in response to detection of the particular proximity.

12 . The wireless access point of claim 11 , further comprising:
a motion sensor configured to detect a bump condition involving the wireless access point and the UE device; wherein the processing element is configured to automatically initiate the authentication procedure only in response to both the detected bump condition and the detected particular proximity.

13 . The wireless access point of claim 11 ,
wherein, to automatically initiate the authentication procedure, the wireless access point is configured to exchange security keys with the UE device.

14 . The wireless access point of claim 11 , wherein, to detect the particular proximity, the wireless sensor is configured to:
receive a radio frequency (RF) packet from the UE device that indicates a transmit signal strength of the packet; measure a received signal strength of the RF packet; determine a distance between the UE device and the wireless access point based on the received signal strength and the transmit signal strength; and compare the distance with a pre-determined threshold proximity.

15 . The wireless access point of claim 11 , further comprising:
a memory; wherein the wireless access point is configured to store data in the memory, wherein the data is received wirelessly from the UE after completion of the authentication procedure.

16 . The wireless access point of claim 11 , wherein the wireless sensor is configured to detect the particular proximity only when the UE device is placed in a particular orientation relative to the wireless access point.

17 . A method, comprising:
performing, by a wireless access point:
monitoring for nearby wireless User Equipment (UE) devices;
detecting a particular proximity between the wireless access point and a UE device; and
initiating an authentication procedure with the UE device in response to the detecting.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
authenticating, by the wireless access point, a second UE device in response to a proximity between the UE device and the second UE device.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
before initiating the authentication procedure, sending a request packet to the UE device; receiving a response packet from the UE device; and determining a round-trip delay of the request packet and the response packet in order to verify the determined particular proximity.

20 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
sending a low-power request packet to the UE device before initiating the authentication procedure; and receiving a response to the low-power request packet before initiating the authentication procedure.

21 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
detecting a bump condition associated with the UE device; requesting information about the bump condition from the UE device; and verifying that the requested information matches the detected bump condition.

22 . A User Equipment (UE) device, comprising
an antenna for wireless communications; a processing element; and a motion sensor configured to detect a bump condition involving the UE device and a wireless access point; wherein the UE device is configured to automatically participate in an authentication procedure with the wireless access point in response to the detected bump condition.

23 . The UE device of claim 22 , further comprising:
a wireless sensor configured to detect a particular proximity between the UE device and the wireless access point; wherein the UE device is configured to automatically participate in the authentication procedure with the wireless access point only in response to both the detected bump condition and the detected particular proximity.

24 . The UE device of claim 22 , wherein the UE device is configured to send information associated with the bump condition to the wireless access point before participating in t

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Varoglu Devrim
• Cili Gencer
• Parupudi Ravisastry R

Classifications

• H04W4/80

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

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title

• H04W4/023 Primary

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

• H04W4/008 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W12/084

  using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol · CPC title