Accessory device for wireless short-range communication TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an accessory device connectable to a host device.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
Using stand-alone passive device comprising wireless short-range communication means only allows communication with remote systems or business partners via a wireless short-range communication standard. Stand-alone passive device comprising wireless short-range communication means are in the end-point of the communication chain. Hence, all operations excluding the ones performed within the wireless short-range communication standard is controlled by the wireless short- range communication infrastructure.
Wireless short-range communication means can be integrated into host devices. Integrated wireless short-range communication means does not allow upgrades of the wireless short-range communication means without involving the host device manufacturer. Therefore, this solution is not flexible for the wireless short-range communication means owner. There is a need for an improved solution for wireless short-range communication which solves or at least mitigates at least one of the above mentioned problems.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
One embodiment of the present invention relates to an accessory device
connectable to a host device. The accessory device comprises a connector configured to connect the accessory device to a host device via a physical port of the host device. Further the accessory device comprises a communication means configured to communicate via wireless short-range communication with a remote device. The accessory device being further configured to provide communication between the accessory device and the host device via the connector. An advantage with this solution is that the wireless short-range communication means does not have to be integrated in the host device. Instead the wireless short- range communication means is embedded in an external accessory device. An effect is that it is more flexible to update the wireless short-range communication means which is not integrated in the host device, than to update a wireless short-range communication means, which is integrated in the host device. By having the wireless short-range communication means embedded in the external accessory device there is no need for updating the host device.
According to one aspect of the invention the wireless short-range communication is a wireless short-range communication according to a radio-frequency identification standard. An advantage is that several radio-frequency identification standards are ubiquitous among electronic devices.
According to another aspect of the invention the communication means is further configured to communicate via the connector via communication functionality of the host device. An effect is that communication via infrastructure other than via the wireless short-range communication means is possible by using the accessory device. According to a further aspect of the invention the communication means is further configured to communicate via the connector with the remote device via
communication functionality of the host device. An effect is that is that a closed loop is provided between the accessory device, the remote device, a system of the remote device (first system), optionally a third party system (second system), the host device and back to the accessory device.
According to another aspect of the invention the physical port is an audio port. An advantage of using the audio port is that the audio port exists in many electronic devices. When the audio port is used for communication with the communication means the audio port can still be used for regular activities including having a phone conversation or listening to music.
According to a further aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to be supplied with processing capacity from the host device via the connector.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to improve security functionality by means of processing capacity from the host device via the connector.
According to another aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to be supplied with electrical power from the host device via the connector.
According to a further aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to improve its capacity to perform more logical and computational operations in the accessory device with electrical power from the host device via the connector.
According to another aspect of the invention the communication means is further configured to operate as an active radio-frequency identification tag. It is possible to improve reception capacity and/or transmission capacity from an antenna of the communication means with electrical power from the host device via the connector. An effect of configuring the communication means to operate as an active radio- frequency tag is that the tag has a wider range since an active radio-frequency tag can be configured to periodically transmit its ID signal.
According to a further aspect of the invention the communication means is further configured to operate as a radio-frequency identification reader. An effect of this is that the accessory device can transmit an encoded radio signal to interrogate another radio-frequency identification tag. According to yet a further aspect of the invention the wireless short-range communication according to a radio-frequency identification standard is near field communication. An advantage is that near field communication offers low-speed connection with very simple setup.
According to another aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to provide access functionality to the host device via the communication means. An effect is that access functionality given to the accessory device via wireless short-range communication can be used to give the host device access to settings, remote servers or web pages.
According to a further aspect of the invention the accessory device is further configured to be provided with access functionality from the accessory device via communication functionality of the host device. An effect of this is that access functionality given to the accessory device via settings of the host device, or communication with remote servers or web pages via the host device can be used to give the communication means access via the radio-frequency identification infrastructure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig.1 illustrates a communication system according to prior art.
Fig. 2 shows a view of a system comprising the accessory device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Fig. 3 illustrates a communication system according to an embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 4 illustrates a signalling diagram of an embodiment of the invention where the communication means is a tag. Fig. 5 illustrates a signalling diagram of an embodiment of the invention where the communication means is a reader.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF INVENTION
Fig. 1 illustrates a communication system 1 according to prior art, in which a standalone passive device 10 comprising wireless short-range communication means i.e. a passive short-range communication tag is used. The stand-alone passive device 10 can be a passive tag for identification or for accessibility. The stand-alone passive device 10 communicates with a remote device 40, i.e. a short-range communication reader, via wireless short-range communication. The remote device 40 can be any system which is able to send and/or receive signals via wireless short-range communication. The remote device 40 sends an interrogating signal via wireless short-range communication to the stand-alone passive device 10 which sends a responding signal to the remote device 40. The remote device 40 may communicate with a first system 50 which belongs to the owner of the remote device 40. The first system 50 may further communicate with a second system 60, which belongs to a third party system, for example over internet. One example is that the stand-alone passive device 10 is an access card or tag with wireless short-range communication functionality and that the remote device 40 is a device which is able to authorize the stand-alone passive device 10 to get access. A drawback with this configuration is that the stand-alone passive device 10 only can communicate via wireless short- range communication with the remote device 40. There is no possibility to
communicate from the first system 50 or the second system 60 to the stand-alone passive device 10 via other communication paths.
Fig. 2 shows a view of a system comprising an accessory device 20 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The accessory device 20 connectable to a host device 30, comprises a connector 22 configured to connect the accessory device 20 to a host device 30 via a physical port 31 of the host device 30. According to this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the accessory device 20 further comprises a communication means 21 configured to communicate via wireless short-range communication with a remote device 40 (not shown). The accessory device 20 being further configured to provide communication between the accessory device 20 and the host device 30 via the connector 22.
An advantage is that the wireless short-range communication means does not have to be integrated in the host device. Instead the wireless short-range communication means is embedded in the external accessory device 20. An effect is that a wireless short-range communication means which is not integrated in the host device 30 is more flexible to update than a wireless short-range communication means which is integrated in the host device 30. By having the wireless short-range communication means embedded in the external accessory device 20 there is no need for updating the host device 30. A further advantage is that a closed loop between the remote device 40 (not shown) and the accessory device 20 is provided by means of the host device 30, which will be further described in relation to Fig. 3. According to one exemplary embodiment of the system of the accessory device 20 the physical port 31 is an audio port. The connector 22 is in one example a 3.5 mm connector. This is an advantage since 3.5 mm audio ports are currently ubiquitous in electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers etc. According to yet a further embodiment a second physical port 23 is provided in the accessory device 20. The second physical port 23 may be an audio port. Preferably the second physical port 23 provides connection to an external device via a 3.5 mm audio connector since a 3.5 mm audio port is currently ubiquitous in electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers etc. The second physical port 23 provides possibilities to connect the external device, such as a headset, to the accessory device 20. It should be mentioned that any other device may be connected to the accessory device via the connector 22. The communication between the headset and the host device 30 is provided as if the headset was directly connected to the host device 30. This is possible since the accessory device 20 in this exemplary embodiment is further configured to modulate the communication between the accessory device 20 and the host device 30 so that this communication does not interfere with the communication between the headset and the host device 30. In one example frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) of signals is used to prevent interference. The accessory device 20 is using, in up and down stream, modulated signals, whose frequency carrier is either at the border or out of the audio band. In another example time-division multiplexing (TDM) of signals is used to prevent interference. Communication between the headset and the host device 30 is thereby not disturbed.
The accessory device 20 is further configured so that it is suitable for connecting to a portable host device, such as a mobile phone, via the connector 22. This may imply that the accessory device 20 is small in relation to the host device 30. The accessory device 20 may be flat, small, bendable, impact resistant, water resistant and/or robust. The communication means 21 is in one example a tag arranged to communicate via a radio-frequency identification (RFID) standard. The RFID standard is for example near field communication (NFC). It should be mentioned that the communication means 21 can be configured to use any other wireless short-range communication standard.
According to a further embodiment the accessory device 20 is further configured to be supplied with processing capacity from the host device 30 via the connector 22. An advantage is that the accessory device 20 can be configured to improve security functionality by means of processing capacity from the host device 30 via the connector 22.
According to another embodiment the accessory device 20 is further configured to be supplied with electrical power from the host device 30 via the connector 22. An advantage is that the communication means 21 can be supplied with electrical power from the host device 30. Therefore the communication means 21 can be configured to operate as an active radio-frequency identification tag or to operate as a radio- frequency identification reader. In this exemplary embodiment the accessory device 20 can be configured to perform logical and computational operations in the accessory device 20 with the electrical power from the host device 30 supplied via the connector 22. Further the accessory device 20 can be configured to improve reception capacity and/or transmission capacity from an antenna of the
communication means 21 with the electrical power from the host device 30 supplied via the connector 22. Fig. 3 illustrates a communication system 3 in which the accessory device 20 according to different embodiments of the invention can be used. In this system the accessory device 20 communicates with the remote device 40 via wireless short- range communication. The remote device 40 is for example a short-range
communication reader. The remote device 40 can be any system which is able to send and/or receive signals via wireless short-range communication. The remote device 40 sends an interrogating signal via wireless short-range communication to the accessory device 20 which sends a responding signal to the remote device 40. The remote device 40 may communicate with a first system 50. The first system 50 belongs to the system owner of the remote device 40. The first system 50 may further communicate with a second system 60 for example over internet. The second system 60 belongs to a third party system. Further the host device 30, which is connected to the accessory device 20, is providing communication functionality to the first system 50 or the second system 60. A closed loop between the remote device 40 and the accessory device 20 is provided. This closed loop makes it possible for the accessory device 20 to communicate with the remote device 40, not only via wireless short-range communication, but also via communication
functionality of the host device 30 via the first system 50 and/or the second system 60. Those communication functionalities may be for example (wireless) LAN and/or (wireless) telephone technologies. It should be mentioned that any other
communication functionality may be used.
In one example the communication means 21 as described in relation to Fig. 2 is a tag. Fig. 4 illustrates a signalling diagram when the accessory device 20 comprises a tag. In this example the tag is used for ticketing. The tag can communicate via a radio-frequency identification (RFID) standard. It should be mentioned that any other wireless short-range communication standard may be used. In this signalling diagram the embodiment of the accessory device 20, provides the closed loop according to Fig. 3. In this signalling diagram the host device 30 has internet accessibility. The remote device 40 comprises a reader that communicates via a radio-frequency identification (RFID) standard in an access system. The access system is in this case used for giving access to a traveller using a transportation system. The traveller uses the host device 30 to reserve a ticket by sending 401 a request to the first system 50. The first system 50 responds by sending 402 credentials to the host device 30. The credentials are in this example a ticket. These credentials are sent 403 to the accessory device 20 when the accessory device 20 is connected to the host device 30 via the connector 22 as described in relation to Fig. 2. When the accessory device 20 is within reach of the remote device 40, the communication means 21 (not shown) in the accessory device 20 receives 404 an interrogating signal from the remote device 40. The communication means 21 (not shown) responds 405 to the interrogating signal with the credentials. Next, the remote device 40 gives the accessory device 20 access to the transportation system. Thereafter, the remote device 40 sends 406 a confirmation to the first system 50 that the accessory device 20 has been given access to the transportation system. The first system 50 then sends 407 a charge request to the second system 60, for example a banking system, according to a predetermined payment. Finally, the host device 30 receives 408 a confirmation regarding the predetermined payment. As described above the accessory device may be configured to localize the accessory device to a certain location and/or give access to a certain location.
According to another example the accessory device is used to verify a position of the accessory device. Since the range of wireless short-range communication is limited it is possible to use the position of the remote device to verify the position of the accessory device and therefore also the position of the host device. The accessory device can receive an access key to a certain website or server from the remote device when the accessory device is within reach. After that the accessory device sends the access key to the host device via the connector. The host device can then for example download a web page.
According to a further embodiment of the accessory device 20, the communication means 21 as described in relation to Fig. 2 is a reader which can communicate via a radio-frequency identification (RFID) standard. It should be mentioned that any other wireless short-range communication standard may be used. Fig. 5 illustrates a signalling diagram when the reader is used for authentication. A hard certificate, comprising authorization information, is used to authenticate the host device 30 to the first system 50. The first system 50 is in this example an online banking system. The remote device 40 which communicates via a radio-frequency identification (RFID) standard comprises the hard certificate. The remote device 40 is provided by an owner of the first system 50. The owner of the first system 50 is according to this example a bank. The host device 30 sends 501 a request for access to the first system 50. The first system 50 responds 502 that a hard certificate is needed. The host device 30 sends 503 a request for the hard certificate to the communication means 21 (not shown) in the accessory device 20 via the physical connector 22 as described in relation to Fig. 2. The communication means 21 (not shown) in the accessory device 20 sends 504 a request for the hard certificate to the remote device 40. The remote device 40 responds with the hard certificate to the
communication means 21 (not shown) in the accessory device 20. The
communication means 21 (not shown) in the accessory device 20 forwards 506 the response to the host device 30 via the physical connector 22 (not shown). The host device 30 then sends 507 an authentication to the first system 50. The first system 50 responds 508 that the access to the first system 50 is granted. In another example the remote device comprises an encrypted key. When the reader in the accessory device interrogates the remote device, the remote device sends the encrypted key to the accessory device. Optionally, the accessory device decrypts the encrypted key which is now a decrypted key. Then, the accessory device sends the decrypted key to the host device.
As will be realised, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the drawings and the description thereto are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not restrictive.