The present disclosure relates to facilitating secure communication between a user device and a network device. The present disclosure further relates to facilitating secure communication of data captured by a user device to a client device.
An increasing number of devices are being provided with the means to communicate data. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of user devices such as home appliances, vehicles and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and/or connectivity which enable these devices to connect with each other and/or other computer systems and exchange data.
User devices are increasingly being deployed in scenarios such as healthcare, assisted living facilities and smart home environments. Data collected in these scenarios can include sensitive personal data. Securing user devices and the data obtained by user devices in these scenarios is therefore vital.
Current security solutions use pre-deployed credentials to provide for secure communication between user devices. However, a malicious third party may be able to access the pre-deployed credentials if they steal a user device containing such credentials. The third party may then be able to gain unauthorized access to the user device and other user devices within a given IoT, and to personal data collected by the user device(s).
It is desirable to at least alleviate some of the aforementioned problems.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for facilitating secure communication between a user device and a network device, the method comprising: receiving, at the network device, encrypted data from the user device, wherein the encrypted data is encrypted based on first physiological data captured by a first sensor of the user device, the first physiological data representative of a physiological characteristic of a user of the user device; a second sensor of the network device capturing second physiological data representative of the physiological characteristic of the user; and determining, based on the encrypted data and the second physiological data, a common key for encrypting further data transferred between the user device and the network device.
In some examples, the encrypted data is encrypted using a first key with a value dependent on the first physiological data, and determining the common key comprises: the network device generating a second key with a value dependent on the second physiological data; and the network device using the second key to decrypt the encrypted data, thereby determining that the first key and the second key each correspond to the common key.
In some examples, the first physiological data is captured synchronously with the capturing of the second physiological data.
In some examples, the physiological characteristic is a time-varying physiological characteristic. The first physiological data and the second physiological data may each represent an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the user.
In some examples, the network device comprises a gateway device.
In some examples, the method is performed repeatedly to determine, for each performance of the method, a different respective common key for encrypting data transferred between the user device and the network device during a different respective time period.
In some examples, the method comprises the network device receiving user data from the user device, wherein the user data is encrypted using the common key; and the network device sending further user data derived from the user data to a node of a distributed ledger network (DLN) configured to store a distributed ledger of the DLN, for storage of the further user data in the distributed ledger. In some of these examples, the method comprises: the network device decrypting, using the common key, the user data to generate decrypted user data; and the network device encrypting the decrypted user data using a further key, different from the common key, to generate the further user data. The network device may receive client authorization data from a client device for use in authorizing the client device, validate the client authorization data against a version of the client authorization data stored in the distributed ledger, and send the further key to the client device. In some of these examples, the network device receives user authorization data from the user device for use in authorizing at least one of: the user device or the user; and the network device validates the user authorization data against a version of the user authorization data stored in the distributed ledger before sending the further user data to the node of the DLN. At least a portion of the user authorization data may be indicative of a certificate associated with the user device. The certificate associated with the user device may indicate that at least one of: a configuration of the user device complies with a technical standard or a configuration of the user device complies with a legal requirement. In some of these examples, the network device is associated with a network, and the network device validates the user authorization data against the version of the authorization data stored in the distributed ledger before granting access to the network to the user device.
According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for facilitating secure communication between a user device and a network device, the method comprising: capturing, at a first sensor of a user device, first physiological data representative of a physiological characteristic of a user of the user device; encrypting, at the user device, the first physiological data based on the first physiological data, thereby generating encrypted data; sending the first physiological data from the user device to a network device; and determining, based on the encrypted data and second physiological data captured by a second sensor of the network device, a common key for encrypting further data transferred between the user device and the network device.
In some examples according to the second aspect, the encrypted data is encrypted using a first key with a value dependent on the first physiological data, and determining the common key comprises: the user device receiving an encrypted response from the network device, the encrypted response indicative of decryption of the encrypted data by the network device using a second key with a value dependent on the second physiological data; and the user device decrypting the encrypted response using the first key, thereby determining that the first key and the second key each correspond to the common key.
In some examples according to the second aspect, the method comprises: the first sensor of the user device capturing further physiological data representative of the physiological characteristic of the user; the user device encrypting the further physiological data using the common key, thereby generating user data; and the user device sending the user data to the network device. In these examples, the method may comprise, before the user device sends the user data to the network device: the user device receiving network device authorization data from the network device for use in authorizing the network device; and the user device validating the network device authorization data against a version of the network device authorization data stored in a distributed ledger. At least a portion of the network device authorization data may be indicative of a certificate associated with the network device. The certificate associated with the network device may indicate that at least one of: a configuration of the network device complies with a technical standard or a configuration of the network device complies with a legal requirement.
In some examples according to the second aspect, the method comprises the user device sending user characteristic data representative of at least one characteristic of at least one of the user device or the user to a verification system configured to verify the at least one characteristic; and the user device receiving, from the verification system, user authorization data for use in authorizing the at least one of the user device or the user. The verification system may be associated with a regulatory authority. The user device may send the user authorization data to the network device for use in authorizing the at least one of: the user device or the user.
According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a network comprising: a network device; and a user device comprising a first sensor configured to capture first physiological data representative of a physiological characteristic of a user of the user device, wherein the user device is configured to: encrypt data captured by the first sensor, based on the first physiological data, to generate encrypted data; and send the encrypted data to the network device, wherein the network device comprises a second sensor configured to capture second physiological data representative of the physiological characteristic of the user, and the user device and the network device are configured to determine, based on the encrypted data and the second physiological data, a common key for encrypting further data transferred between the user device and the network device.
According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of operating a network comprising a user device and a network device, the method comprising: capturing, using a first sensor of the user device, first physiological data representative of a physiological characteristic of a user of the user device; encrypting data captured by the first sensor, based on the first physiological data, to generate encrypted data; sending the encrypted data to the network device; capturing, using a second sensor of the network device, second physiological data representative of the physiological characteristic of the user; and determining, based on the encrypted data and the second physiological data, a common key for encrypting further data transferred between the user device and the network device.
According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for facilitating secure communication of user data captured by a user device to a client device, the method comprising: the client device sending client characteristic data representative of at least one characteristic of the client device to a verification system configured to verify the at least one characteristic; the client device receiving, from the verification system, client authorization data for use in authorizing the client device; the client device sending the client authorization data to a network device; the client device receiving a key from the network device; the client device receiving, from a node of a distributed ledger network (DLN), user data captured by a user device; and the client device decrypting the user data using the key.
In some examples of the fifth aspect, the client device is a first client device and the method comprises: the first client device executing a smart contract with a second client device associated with a user of the user device, the smart contract representing an agreement for sharing of the user data with the first client device, wherein the smart contract is stored in a distributed ledger of the DLN.
In some examples of the fifth aspect, at least a portion of the client authorization data is indicative of a certificate associated with the client device. The certificate associated with the client device may indicate that at least one of: a configuration of the client device complies with a technical standard or a configuration of the client device complies with a legal requirement. Examples herein relate to methods and/or apparatus substantially as herein described and/or as illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. Further examples herein relate to a computer program and/or a computer program product for carrying out any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein, and a computer-readable medium storing thereon a program for carrying out any of the methods and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein. Features described as being implemented in hardware may alternatively be implemented in software, and vice versa.
Yet further examples relate to a method of transmitting a signal, and a computer product having an operating system that supports a computer program for performing any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein. Any apparatus feature may also be provided as a corresponding operation of a method, and vice versa. As used herein, means plus function features may alternatively be expressed in terms of their corresponding structure, for example as a suitably-programmed processor.
Any feature in one aspect of the disclosure may be applied, in any appropriate combination, to other aspects of the disclosure. Any, some and/or all features in one aspect can be applied to any, some and/or all features in any other aspect, in any appropriate combination. Particular combinations of the various features described and defined in any aspects of the disclosure can be implemented and/or supplied and/or used independently.
As used throughout, the word ‘or’ can be interpreted in the exclusive and/or inclusive sense, unless otherwise specified.
Examples herein relate to methods and systems for facilitating secure communication between a user device and a network device, to methods and systems for facilitating secure communication of user data captured by a user device, to a network, and to a method of operating a network as described herein and/or substantially as illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. Examples are now described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:
The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the system, and is provided in the context of a particular application. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
Methods and systems in accordance with the present disclosure facilitate secure communication between a user device, such as an IoT device, and a network device, such as a router or gateway device. In examples herein, a common key for encrypting data transferred between the user device and the network device is determined based on first physiological data captured by a first sensor of the user device and second physiological data captured by a second sensor of the network device. The first and second physiological data each represent the same physiological characteristic of the user. For example, the first and second physiological data may each represent an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the user. The user device and the network device each independently generate a key based on the first and second physiological data, respectively. However, as the first and second physiological data represent the same physiological characteristic of the user, the keys generated by the user device and the network device are also the same as each other, despite being generated independently. The user device can therefore use the key generated based on the first physiological data to decrypt data encrypted by the network device using the key generated based on the second physiological data, and vice versa. Each of the independently generated keys may be considered to correspond to a common key.
This approach obviates the need for a key exchange mechanism. Instead, the user device can use a first key generated locally based on the first physiological data to encrypt data for transmission to the network device and to decrypt data received from the network device. Similarly, the network device can use a second key generated locally based on the second physiological data to encrypt data for transmission to the user device and to decrypt data received from the user device. This simplifies the mutual authentication of the user device and the network device, and improves security.
In
Encrypting the data captured by the user device 102 (which may be referred to herein as user data) based on the first physiological data is secure, as physiological characteristics tend to be unique to a particular user. In
In the example of
The user device 102 sends the encrypted data 108 to the network device 104. A network device is a device that provides an entry point to a network or that filters and/or routes network traffic, such as a router, gateway device, switch, hub, access point or an edge device (which may be or comprise a router or routing switch). In
The network device 104 of
The network device 104 uses the second sensor 110 to independently sense the same physiological characteristic as that used by the user device 102 in generating the first key. Whereas the user device 102 in this case is a wearable device, the network device 104 in
The second physiological data and the encrypted data are then used to determine a common key for encrypting further data transferred between the user device 102 and the network device 104. The determination of the common key generally involves the user device 102 and the network device 104 reaching an agreement on the value of a key for encrypting and/or decrypting data sent to or from the user device 102 and the network device 104.
For example, at the network device 104, the common key may be considered to be determined when the network device 104 has determined a suitable key for decrypting the encrypted data 108 received from the user device 102. In the example of
In this case, the first and the second key match each other where the first and second physiological data represent the same physiological characteristic captured over the same time period, e.g. where a first ECG captured by the first sensor 106 is the same as a second ECG captured by the second sensor 110. To facilitate the capturing of matching first and second physiological data in cases where the physiological characteristic is time-varying, in
The first and second sensor 106, 110 in
It is to be appreciated that there may be additional communication between the user device 102 and the network device 104 than shown in
The method performed by the system 100 of
Once the common key is established, it can be used to secure communication between the user device 102 and the network device 104. An example of such communication is shown in
In
The node 216 is configured to store a distributed ledger of the DLN, and may be any suitable computing device for storing a distributed ledger. A ledger in examples herein is a digital ledger including a series of blocks, which generally grows over time as additional data is added to the ledger. Each block is linked to a previous block in the series using cryptographic hashing. Typically, each block includes a timestamp, transaction data (e.g. representing a data record), and a hash of the previous block. A hash function for performing cryptographic hashing may be considered to be a one-way function that maps a given input (such as a data record) to an output, typically of a fixed size. Such a function is one-way in that the input cannot be recovered from the output, even if the function itself is known. Chaining successive blocks cryptographically allows changes to an individual block to be readily detected by detecting a difference between the hash of the block and the hash of the block as stored in the subsequent block of the chain. Hence, to successively alter the data of a given block without detection, all subsequent blocks must also be altered, which is generally difficult to achieve undetected. Such a ledger is therefore resistant to tampering.
To further increase the resistance to tampering, the ledger is stored in a decentralized manner, i.e. it is a distributed ledger. The ledger is synchronized across a plurality of nodes of the DLN, including the node 216 of
The network device 204 sends further user data 218 derived from the user data to the node 216, for storage of the further user data in the distributed ledger. The further user data may be the same as the user data, which is encrypted using the common key. However, in this case, for such data to be decrypted by a further device, such as a client device, the common key would have to be shared with the further device. This may reduce the security of the system, as the client device would then also be able to decrypt other data sent between the user device 202 and the network device 204 that is encrypted using that particular common key. Hence, in other cases, the further user data may be derived from the user data, but encrypted using a further key, different from the common key. This is the case in
In
In this example, the user data 324 obtained by the client device 320 from the node 316 is encrypted. To decrypt the user data, the client device 320 sends a request 326 to the network device 304 for a suitable key. Communication between the client device 320 and the network device 304 (including the request 326) may be secured using a suitable cryptographic protocol, e.g. an existing protocol based on asymmetric encryption, and may be performed via a network such as the Internet. The network device 304 sends the key 328 to the client device 320. In this way, the network device 304 can control which client devices are provided with the key 328 and are able to decrypt the user data. In this way, access to the user data can be restricted to particular client devices that satisfy certain requirements, as explained further with reference to
Using the approach of
In this example, a user of a second client device 420b also wishes to obtain the user data. In this case, the second client device 420b obtains a second copy of the user data 424b from the node 416. As for the first copy of the user data 424a, the second copy of the user data 424b may also be encrypted, and may be decrypted using a suitable key obtained by the second client device 420b as described with reference to
To further enhance security, in this example, the first client device 420a executes a smart contract 430 with the second client device 420b. The smart contract 430 represents an agreement for sharing of the user data with the first client device 420a. This provides the user with control over how the first client device 420a (and in this case, the healthcare provider associated with the first client device 420a) is permitted to use the user data. For example, the smart contract 430 may be used to enforce certain restrictions on the use of the user data, e.g. to prevent the healthcare provider from using the user data for marketing purposes. A smart contract is for example a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement for the sharing of the user data being encoded in program code of the smart contract. Such a smart contract can therefore be used to enforce the agreement, e.g. to prevent use of the user data that the user does not consent to.
The smart contract 430 is for example executed before the user data is provided to the first client device 420a, or before the first client device 420a is provided with a suitable key to decrypt the user data.
To further enhance security, authorization of a user device, a client device and/or a network device may be verified before the methods herein (or parts thereof) are performed. This will now be explained with reference to
In the example of
A certificate associated with the user device 502 is for example previously issued by a verification system configured to verify compliance with at least one requirement (such as a technical standard or a legal requirement). This is explained further with reference to
The network device 504 sends a user authorization data request 534 to a node 516 of a DLN. The user authorization data request 534 may be in any suitable form. In some cases, the user authorization data request 534 includes a request, based on an identifier indicative of a block of the distributed ledger in which a version of the user authorization data is stored, for block data representative of at least part of the block. This facilitates retrieval of the version of the user authorization data from the distributed ledger. In such cases, the identifier may be received at the network device 504 from the user device 502, either as part of the user authorization data 532 or as a separate message or other communication. The identifier may be a block identifier (sometimes referred to as a block ID) representing the identity of the block of the distributed ledger in which the version of the user authorization data is stored. In other cases, though, the identifier may indirectly indicate the block of the distributed ledger in which the version of the user authorization data is stored. For example, the identifier may represent a transaction identifier (sometimes referred to as a transaction ID), allowing a block including a transaction including the version of the user authorization data to be identified.
The distributed ledger may be a public distributed ledger, e.g. stored in a public DLN. This facilitates the use of existing public distributed ledgers, which simplifies the use of the methods herein. Methods herein can be implemented securely despite the use of a public DLN. For example, the version of the user authorization data may be encrypted or otherwise cryptographically secured prior to storage in the distributed ledger. As an example, a cryptographic hash of a certificate associated with the user device 502 may be stored in the distributed ledger rather than the certificate itself.
After receiving the user authorization data request 532, the node 516 of the DLN sends a response 536 to the network device 504. authorization of the user device 502 is then determined based at least in part on the response 536 from the node 516. The authorization of the user device 502 is performed by the network device 504 in the example of
In some cases, the response 536 indicates that the distributed ledger lacks the version of the user authorization data. This may be the case where the user device 502 is unauthorized and e.g. does not satisfy certain requirements to be granted authorization. The response 536 may be a negative or null response, indicating that the version of the user authorization data has not been located. Alternatively, the response 536 may be a lack of communication from the node 516 for a given period of time (which may be considered to correspond to a timeout). In these cases, it is determined that the user device 502 is unauthorized, as there has been a failure to provide sufficient evidence within the given period of time that the user device 502 is authorized. The network device 504 in these cases therefore prevents the user device 502 from connecting to the network device 504 and does not send user data received from the user device 502 to the node 516 of the DLN. In
The network device 504 validates the user authorization data 532 received from the user device 502 against the version of the user authorization data received from the node 516 of the DLN. The network device 504 then sends user data received from the user device 502 to the node 516 of the DLN, e.g. in the form of further user data generated by decrypting the user data using the common key and encrypting the decrypted user data using a further key. In this case, the network device 504 also grants the user device 502 access to the network associated with the network device 504.
Validating the user authorization data may include verifying a digital signature of the version of the user authorization data. For example, the version of the user authorization data may be digitally signed by a verification system configured to verify at least one characteristic of the user device 502 and/or the user. The verification system is for example associated with a regulatory authority, which is trusted to issue user authorization data (e.g. representative of a certificate) indicating that a given user device and/or user complies with a particular requirement. This allows the issuing of the user authorization data by the verification system to be verified by third parties, such as the network device 504. For example, authorizing the user device 502 may be based at least in part on verifying that the digital signature of the user authorization data is associated with the verification system. In one such example, the verification system has issued a certificate associated with the user device 502. The certificate is digitally signed by the verification system to generate a digital signature representing an encrypted version of the certificate, encrypted using a private key associated with the verification system. In these cases, the network device 504 can obtain a copy of a public key associated with the verification system (which forms an asymmetric key pair with the private key). The user authorization data represents both the certificate and the encrypted version of the certificate. The network device 504 can then decrypt the encrypted version of the certificate with the public key associated with the verification system. If the decrypted version of the certificate matches the original certificate, the digital signature of the user authorization data is verified as being associated with the verification system. In this way, the authenticity of the user authorization data can be verified. It is to be appreciated that a similar approach may be used to verify the digital signature of the user authorization data in other examples in which the user authorization data represents a different feature of the user device 502 and/or user than a certificate associated with the user device 502, e.g. a hash of a certificate (discussed further below) or a flag or code. The network device 502 may also verify a digital signature of the user authorization data in a similar way to verification of the digital signature of the version of the user authorization data obtained from the node 516, but using a public key associated with the user device 504 rather than the verification system.
In
In examples such as that example of
In a further example, the user device 502 may be considered to comply with the network access requirement if the user device 502 is an authenticated participant of the DLN.
If the comparison between the user authorization data and the version of the user authorization data indicates that they differ, though, it is determined that the user device 502 is to be denied access to the network, and user data received by the network device 504 from the user device 502 is not to be stored in the DLN. This is because such a difference may indicate that the user authorization data 532 has been tampered with, and that a security of the user device 502 has hence been compromised.
In examples, the user authorization data 532 and the version of the user authorization data have each been secured cryptographically, e.g. via cryptographic hashing. This further enhances security, as the user authorization data 532 and the version of the user authorization data can be transferred between the various components of the example system 500 without risking exposure of the user authorization data 532 and the version of the user authorization data themselves, which may be considered sensitive information.
In
Authorization of the user device 502 as described with reference to
A similar authorization procedure as that described with reference to
The user device 602 sends characteristic data 640 representative of at least one characteristic of at least one of the user device 602 or the user to a verification system 642 configured to verify the at least one characteristic. For example, the verification system 642 may be configured to verify that the at least one characteristic satisfies a particular requirement, e.g. for the user device 602 to comply with a technical standard or a legal requirement. The at least one characteristic of the user device 602 for example includes at least one feature of a configuration of the user device 602, such as a software and/or hardware configuration of the user device 602. The at least one characteristic may indicate functionality of the user device 602, e.g. from which it can be determined whether the user device 602 has appropriate functionality to process and/or store data securely, such as in a manner compliant with a particular requirement. In general, the at least one characteristic of the user device 602 and/or user may be or include any suitable characteristic for use in assessing whether the user device 602 and/or user comply with a particular requirement that the verification system 642 is configured to verify. The characteristic data 640 sent to the verification system 642 may hence depend on which requirement the user device 602 is to be assessed for compliance with.
The verification system 642 in
In
In
A version of the user authorization data 644 is then sent from the verification system 642 to a node 616 of a DLN, for storing in a distributed ledger of the DLN. In
Storage of the user authorization data in the distributed ledger by the verification system 642 may be considered to correspond to registering of the user authorization data in the distributed ledger. The distributed ledger stores the user authorization data immutably, meaning that subsequent changes in the user authorization data stored in the storage of the user device 602 can be detected. In this way, a malicious third party cannot merely alter the user authorization data of the user device 602 to gain access to the network. With this approach, the trust of the verification system 642 is leveraged to generate (and store in the distributed ledger) user authorization data which is itself trustworthy. A network device can rely on the integrity of the version of user authorization data obtained from the distributed ledger because it was initially generated by a trustworthy entity (the verification system 642) and because it is resistant to modification, by virtue of its storage in the distributed ledger. This obviates the need for the user device to send the user authorization data to a network device each time the user device is to be connected to a new network. Instead, the network device can retrieve the user authorization data from the distributed ledger. The user authorization data can indicate compliance of the user device with particular requirements without including specific information about the user device. Hence, using the user authorization data to determine whether the user device is to be granted access to a network may reduce the risk of sensitive information about the user device (e.g. as represented by the characteristic data) from being obtained by a malicious party. Moreover, it can be more efficient to obtain the user authorization data from the distributed ledger rather than from the verification system 642 itself (which may not have the capacity to deal with a high volume of requests). This is especially so, as the distributed ledger may be stored at a node that is physically closer to the network device, e.g. which a node which also forms part of the network for which a network access determination for the user device is to be made.
In
Client authorization data for use in authorizing a client device and/or network device for use in authorizing a network device may be generated and stored in a similar manner to the generation and storage of the user authorization data described with reference to
An example system 700 for authorizing a network device 704 is shown schematically in
If the user device 702 determines that the network device 704 is authorized, e.g. if the network device authorization data matches the version of the network device authorization data, and the version of the network device authorization data indicates that a configuration of the network device 704 satisfies a particular requirement, e.g. compliance with a technical standard and/or legal requirement, the user device 702 sends further user data (encrypted using the common key) to the network device 704. Otherwise, the user device 702 ceases sending user data to the network device 704, as this indicates that the network device 704 may have been compromised or that the network device 704 is not sufficiently secure to handle the storage of user data captured by the user device 702.
The data processing system 800 includes storage 802 which may be or include volatile or non-volatile memory, read-only memory (ROM), or random access memory (RAM). The storage 802 may additionally or alternatively include a storage device, which may be removable from or integrated within the data processing system 800. For example, the storage 802 may include a hard disk drive (which may be an external hard disk drive such as a solid state disk) or a flash drive. The storage 802 is arranged to store data, temporarily or indefinitely. The storage 802 may be referred to as memory, which is to be understood to refer to a single memory or multiple memories operably connected to one another.
The storage 802 may be or include a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), or other media that are capable of storing code and/or data.
The data processing system 800 also includes at least one processor 804 which is configured to implement at least part of any of the methods described herein. The at least one processor 804 may be or comprise processor circuitry. The at least one processor 804 is arranged to execute program instructions and process data. The at least one processor 804 may include a plurality of processing units operably connected to one another, including but not limited to a central processing unit (CPU) and/or a graphics processing unit (GPU).
The data processing system 800 further includes a network interface 806 for connecting to at least one network. A data processing system otherwise similar to the data processing system 800 of
Alternatives and Modifications A user device which may be used as any of the user devices in the examples above may be any device that comprises a suitable sensor for capturing the first physiological data. Such a user device may be wearable, but need not be. In some cases, a user device for use in the examples herein may include additional functionality than measurement of physiological properties of the user. For example, a user device may include at least one further sensor than a first sensor configured to obtain the first physiological data, e.g. to detect at least one further property of the user and/or an ambient environment.
In
However, this is not intended to be limiting, and in other cases the first and second sensors may each detect a different physiological characteristic of the user instead of or in addition to an ECG, which may be time-varying. An example of obtaining a first key with a value dependent on the first physiological data. It is to be appreciated that this is merely an example, and other approaches may be used in other cases.
A system similar to the system 200 of
In the example of
Each feature disclosed herein, and (where appropriate) as part of the claims and drawings may be provided independently or in any appropriate combination.
Any reference numerals appearing in the claims are for illustration only and shall not limit the scope of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009728.3 | Jun 2020 | GB | national |
The present application is a National Phase entry of PCT Application No. PCT/EP2021/066113, filed Jun. 15, 2021, which claims priority from GB Patent Application No. 2009728.3, filed Jun. 25, 2020, each of which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2021/066113 | 6/15/2021 | WO |