Fingerprinting a mobile device through near field communication

Abstract

Some embodiments include a method of operating an identity receiver of a security system to process an authentication request. The method can include detecting an energy signal from a mobile device at the identity receiver using a first communication protocol; generating a handover message at the identity receiver to request a unique characteristic of the mobile device using the first communication protocol, the unique characteristic associated with a second communication protocol; receiving the unique characteristic from the mobile device at the identity receiver; and authorizing access through the security system by matching the unique characteristic to an authorized identity stored in the identity receiver.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An identity receiver of a security system, comprising:
 a near field communication (NFC) receiver configured to receive an NFC signal from a mobile device; 
 a memory configured to store an authorized identity; and 
 an authorization engine, coupled to the memory and the NFC receiver, configured to:
 generate an NFC data exchange format (NDEF) record to request a wireless connection with the mobile device, wherein the wireless connection utilizes a protocol other than NFC; 
 receive a network interface identifier of the mobile device corresponding to the requesting of the wireless connection, in response to the NDEF record; and 
 authorize access through the security system when the network interface identifier matches the authorize identity. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The identity receiver of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a locking mechanism; and 
 an actuator configured to disengage the locking mechanism when access through the security system is authorized. 
 
     
     
       3. The identity receiver of  claim 1 , wherein the authorization engine is configured to abort connecting via the wireless connection once the network interface identifier is received. 
     
     
       4. A method of operating a security system to process an authentication request comprising:
 detecting an energy signal using a first communication protocol from a mobile device at an identity receiver; 
 generating a handover message at the identity receiver to request a unique characteristic of the mobile device, the unique characteristic associated with a second communication protocol; 
 receiving the unique characteristic from the mobile device at the identity receiver; and 
 authorizing access through the security system by matching the unique characteristic to an authorized identity stored in the identity receiver. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising, abandoning a handover process initiated by the handover message in response to receiving the unique characteristic. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising, in response to authorizing access, sending a command to disengage a locking mechanism that prevents movement of a barrier fixation device, which prevents access through a barrier of the security system, or to disengage the barrier fixation device directly. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the first communication protocol is a NFC-based communication protocol. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising, in response to detecting the energy signal, initiating a NFC peer to peer mode at the identity receiver. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , wherein generating the handover message includes generating a first NDEF record to request a unique address associated with a component of the mobile device used to communicate using the second communication protocol. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein generating the first NDEF record includes formatting the first NDEF record to cause a NFC handover process, wherein the first NDEF record indicates an intent to switch to a second channel to communicate via the second communication protocol. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the unique characteristic is a media control access (MAC) address of a radio. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the unique characteristic is the MAC address of a Bluetooth network interface. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the unique characteristic is the MAC address of a WiFi network interface. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the mobile device is a general-purpose mobile device with an operating system, wherein the operating system restricts access to the unique characteristic via a third party application running on the operating system. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the identity receiver is or is part of a NFC-enabled lock cylinder. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating a link message using the first communication protocol at the identity receiver for the mobile device, the link message containing a URL to indicate a status of the authentication request. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating a link message using the first communication protocol at the identity receiver for the mobile device, the link message configured to prompt the mobile device to install an application associated with the identity receiver.