PROXIMITY AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM

• Main Authors: Buer, Mark, Seshadri, Nambirajan, Frank, Edward
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 16.09.2020
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDEDFOR ELSEWHERE; CALCULATING; CHECKING-DEVICES; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRICITY; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; JAMMING OF COMMUNICATION; PHYSICS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; SECRET COMMUNICATION; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Access to secured services may be controlled based on the proximity of a wireless token to a computing device through which access to the secured services is obtained. An authorized user may be provided access to a service only when a wireless token assigned to the user is in the proximity of the computing device. A user's credential may be stored on an RFID token and an RFID reader may be implemented within a security boundary on the computing device. Thus, the credential may be passed to the security boundary without passing through the computing device via software messages or applications. The security boundary may be provided, in part, by incorporating the RFID reader onto the same chip as a cryptographic processing component. Once the information is received by the RFID reader it may be encrypted within the chip. As a result, the information may never be presented in the clear outside of the chip. The cryptographic processing component may cryptographically encrypt/sign the credential received from the token so that assurance may be provided to a service provider that the credentials came from a token that was proximate to the computing device. An RFID reader, cryptographic processing components and a wireless network controller may be implemented on a single chip in a mobile device.