The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling access to computing resources. More specifically, the present invention relates to a security system that requires the presence of a personal digital key (PDK) before secure computing resources can be accessed.
The use and proliferation of personal computers and other similar computing systems have become widespread. In many cases, a user may have several computers with which she interacts. For example, the user may have a personal computer at their office, a laptop for personal use and a family computer. Additionally, the user may have a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, or other individualized computing devices. Increasingly, these computers store confidential and sensitive information such as contacts lists, financial information, business information and identification information. Most currently existing systems have only a minimal amount of security protection such as requiring a user to enter a password before their personal computer becomes operational.
These computer systems are often used to access third-party systems. These third-party systems often require a user identification name and a password before the user will be granted access. Each of the individual third-party systems often has different requirements both in terms of user name and in terms of password format. Moreover, as the world becomes increasingly digital, the owners of these third-party systems want to ensure security of their systems and include fraudulent use. Thus, the third parties often require that the users change their passwords after a predetermined period of time or a predetermined number of accesses to the system. Most users have several external systems, and many users have as many as a hundred of third-party systems that are accessed on a regular basis. Therefore, it is often difficult for users to remember the myriad of user name and password combinations that are required to access such third-party systems and.
Additionally, many of the third-party systems are providing highly confidential information that is received by the end stored on the user's individual computer systems. These data files often contain sensitive information such as bank account records, tax returns, credit card information, and investment information. Furthermore, other personal information is also stored on such computer systems. Such personal information can be used for identity theft in the event that information falls into the wrong hands. While there are file encryption systems and mechanisms in the prior art, these systems are often difficult to use because they require that the user specify which files are encrypted, provide a password, and such administrative overhead in securing sensitive information stored on the hard drive of a personal computer makes the use of such systems rare.
Thus there is a need for a system and method that secures computing systems automatically and in a nonintrusive way.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art with a security system and method for controlling access to computing resources. In one embodiment, the security system comprises a personal digital key (PDK), a reader and a computing device. The PDK is a portable, personal transceiver that includes a controller and one or more passwords or codes. The PDK is able to link and communicate with the reader via a wireless radio frequency (RF) signal. The reader is a device that is able to wirelessly communicate with the PDK and also provides a wired output signal line for sending data, applications and other information. The reader is coupled to the computing device. The computing device includes a detection engine, vault storage and a set up module. The detection engine detects events relating to the access any files and third-party systems by the computing device and receives information from the reader as to whether the PDK is present/linked. The detection engine controls whether a user is able to access any of the functionality provided by the computing device based upon whether the PDK is in communication with the reader or not. The PDK and/or the vault storage include encrypted information such as usernames, passwords and other information utilized by the computing device to grant access to components, files and third-party systems. The security system is particularly advantageous because the PDK, reader and computing device automatically cooperate as a security system to either allow or deny access to the functionality provided by the computing device. More specifically, the user need not do anything, while in the background the PDK, the reader and the computing device communicate and exchange information to enable or disable access to information and third-party systems using the computing device. The present invention also includes a number of methods such as a method for initializing the security system, a method for setting up a computing device, and a method for controlling access to computing resources.
The features and advantages described herein are not all-inclusive and many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the figures and description. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and not to limit the scope of the inventive subject matter.
The invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements.
A security system and method for controlling access to computing resources is described. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention. For example, the present invention is described in one embodiment below with reference to a controlling access to a personal computer. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention applies to access to any other device that may include a computer or is computer controlled.
Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. In particular the present invention is described below in the context of two distinct architectures and some of the components are operable in both architectures while others are not.
Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.
Finally, the algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatuses to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the present invention is described without reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.
The PDK 102 is a portable, personal key that wirelessly communicates (e.g., using radio frequency (RF) signals) with the reader 104. The PDK 102 includes an area for storing security information including sign-on records, a set up information, user names, passwords, etc. The PDK 102 is will be described below in more detail with reference to
The reader 104 is a device that is able to wirelessly communicate with the PDK 102 and also provides signals on line 122 for sending data, applications and other information to the computing device 106. One of the major functions of the reader 104 is to detect PDKs 102 within communication range and establish links to them. The reader 104 primarily acts as an intermediary to pass information about the PDK 102 to the computing device 106. The reader 104 automatically signals the computing device 106 when it is linked to the PDK 102 and when the link 120 is severed. The reader 104 also includes an area for storage of applications and set up information that can be provided to the computing device 106 during initialization. The reader 104 will be described in more detail below with reference to
The computing device 106 may be any conventional device such as but not limited to a personal computer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, etc. The computing device 106 also includes a detection engine 760, vault storage 762 and a set up module 764 (see
The PDK 102 and/or the vault storage 762 includes encrypted information such as usernames, passwords, and other information utilized by the computing device 106 to grant access to components, files and third-party systems. The present invention is particularly advantageous because the PDK 102, reader 104 and computing device 106 automatically cooperate as a security system 100 to either allow or deny access to the functionality provided by the computing device 106. More specifically, the user need not do anything but carry the PDK 102 on his or her person, and in the background the PDK 102, reader 104 and computing device 106 communicate and exchange information to enable or disable access to information and third-party systems using the computing device.
Referring now
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Additional details about other embodiments of the PDK 102 are shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/292,330, filed a Nov. 30, 2005 entitled “Personal Digital Key And Receiver/Decoder Circuit System And Method;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/620,581, filed Jan. 5, 2007 entitled “Wireless Network Synchronization Of Cells And Client Devices On A Network;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/744,831, filed May 5, 2007, entitled “Two-Level Authentication For Secure Transactions;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/744,832, filed May 5, 2007, entitled “Personal Digital Key Initialization And Registration For Secure Transactions;” the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Additional details about other embodiments of the reader or RDC 104 are shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/292,330, filed a Nov. 30, 2005 entitled “Personal Digital Key And Receiver/Decoder Circuit System And Method;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/620,581, filed Jan. 5, 2007 entitled “Wireless Network Synchronization Of Cells And Client Devices On A Network;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/744,831, filed May 5, 2007, entitled “Two-Level Authentication For Secure Transactions;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/744,832, filed May 5, 2007, entitled “Personal Digital Key Initialization And Registration For Secure Transactions;” the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Referring now also to
The control unit 750 comprises an arithmetic logic unit, a microprocessor, a general purpose computer or some other information appliance equipped to provide electronic display signals to display device 710. In one embodiment, the control unit 750 comprises a general purpose computer having a graphical user interface, which may be generated by, for example, a program written in Java running on top of an operating system like WINDOWS® or UNIX® based operating systems. In one embodiment, one or more application programs are executed by control unit 750 including, without limitation, drawing applications, word processing applications, electronic mail applications, financial applications and web browser applications.
Still referring to
Processor 702 processes data signals and may comprise various computing architectures including a complex instruction set computer (CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, or an architecture implementing a combination of instruction sets. Although only a single processor is shown in
Memory 704 stores instructions and/or data that may be executed by processor 702. The instructions and/or data may comprise code for performing any and/or all of the techniques described herein. Memory 704 may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, some other memory device known in the art or any combinations of the preceding. In one embodiment, the memory 704 also includes an operating system such as one of a conventional type such as, WINDOWS®, SOLARIS® or LINUX® based operating systems. Although not shown, the memory unit 704 may also include one or more application programs including, without limitation, drawing applications, word processing applications, electronic mail applications, financial applications and web browser applications. Those skilled in the art will recognized that while the present invention will now be described as modules or portions of a memory unit 704 of a computer system 100, the modules or portions thereof may also be stored in other media such as permanent data storage device 706 and may be distributed across a network 104 having a plurality of different computers such as in a client/server environment. The memory 704 is shown as including a detection engine 760, vault storage 762 and a set up module 764. These modules 760, 762, 764 are coupled by bus 708 to the processor 702 for communication and cooperation to system 100.
The detection engine 760 is instructions and/or data that may be executed by processor 702. The instructions and/or data comprise code for performing any and/or all of the techniques described herein. More specifically, the detection engine 760 detects when a protected item is accessed, performs the process steps as specified by a set up record and also controls the processor 702 to perform encryption and decryption as necessary. The operation of the detection engine 760 is described in more detail below with reference to
The vault storage 762 is a portion of memory 704 used to store information utilized by the detection engine 760 to control operation of the security system 100 of the present invention. In one embodiment, the vault storage 762 is encrypted so that its contents cannot be accessed and utilized by other devices or programs or decoded for circumvention. In another embodiment, the vault storage 762 is locked or controlled in a manner such that only the detection engine 760 may access and use the information stored in the vault storage 762. The vault storage 762 stores security set up data for the secure items on the computing device 106. For example, this security set up data includes a plurality of item set up records, where each item set up record corresponds to a protected item 780. It should be understood that the vault storage 762 includes one vault file per computing device 106/PDK 102 pair. The PDK 102 of the computing device 106/PDK 102 pair is preferably a master PDK. In another embodiment, the vault file also includes information about other proxy PDKs related to the master PDK and a backup password. The set up records stored in the vault file corresponding to each of the protected items 780 and specify the process that must be undertaken in order to grant access to the particular protected item 780. In a second embodiment, the vault storage 762 includes a plurality the sub-vaults, optionally implemented utilizing a directory/subdirectory where each “secured type” is maintained in its own file. An extension of this concept includes maintaining complete subdirectories (within the primary Vault directory) for each “secured type” (in place of individual files for each). In a third embodiment, the vault storage 762 is maintained as a group of individual files (within a primary Vault directory), and the processor 702 gathers analytics data such a key use, access privileges, usage stats, etc, for each. In a fourth embodiment, the vault storage 762 is located on the PDK 102 as opposed to the computing device 106. This option enables additional methods for managing secured files as they are moved, copied, and transferred. As with the vault storage 762 located on computing device 106, a “backup” password may also be utilized to unlock access to the vault storage 762 in situations where biometric authentication options are unavailable. In a fifth embodiment, the vault storage 762 is utilize an “assigned ID”, stored in & read from the PDK 102, in addition to, or in place of, a PDK's ID. This option enables another method for allowing multiple PDKs to access secured types as a “group”. Example uses include enabling groups of PDKs/users to access files, storage devices, and even applications.
The set up module 764 is instructions and/or data that may be executed by processor 702 for initializing and setting up the computing device 106. The operation of the set up module 764 is described in more detail below with reference to
Data storage device 706 stores data and instructions for processor 702 and comprises one or more devices including a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAM device, a DVD-RW device, a flash memory device, or some other mass storage device known in the art. In one embodiment, the data storage device 706 also stores protected items 780. For example, the protected items 780 include storage devices such as data storage device 706, directories and files such as for data on the data storage device 706 and sign-on screens such as generated in a web browser. If a storage device is a protected item 780 that means that all data on the storage device is encrypted and access to it is protected. If directories or files are protected items 780, that means that the directory or file is encrypted and access is protected. If a sign-on screen is a protected item 780, any time that sign-on screen is displayed, the detection engine 760 detects its display and retrieves information necessary to complete the sign-on screen from a corresponding item set up record in the vault storage 762 and processes as needed. In other embodiments, protected items 780 includes information used in e-commerce, electronic signatures, digital signatures, licensee key management information for digital rights management.
System bus 708 represents a shared bus for communicating information and data throughout control unit 750. System bus 708 may represent one or more buses including an industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, a universal serial bus (USB), or some other bus known in the art to provide similar functionality. Additional components coupled to control unit 750 through system bus 708 include the display device 710, the input device 712, the USB interface 714, the network controller 716 and the I/O device(s) 718.
The display device 710 represents any device equipped to display electronic images and data as described herein. In one embodiment, the display device 710 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) similar to those on many personal computers to provide status feedback, operation settings and other information to the user. In other embodiments, the display device 710 may be, for example, a cathode ray tube (CRT) or any other similarly equipped display device, screen or monitor. In one embodiment, the display device 710 is equipped with a touch screen and/or includes a digitizer in which a touch-sensitive, transparent panel covers the screen of display device 710.
In one embodiment, the input device 712 is a series of buttons coupled to control unit 750 to communicate information and command selections to processor 702. The buttons are similar to those on any conventional computer. In another embodiment, the input device 712 includes a keyboard. The keyboard can be a QWERTY keyboard, a key pad, or representations of such created on a touch screen. In yet another embodiment, the input device 712 includes cursor control. Cursor control represents a user input device equipped to communicate positional data as well as command selections to processor 702. Cursor control 712 may include a mouse, a trackball, a stylus, a pen, a touch screen, cursor direction keys or other mechanisms to cause movement of a cursor.
The USB interface 714 is of a conventional type and is coupled to bus 708 for communication with the processor 702.
The network controller 716 links control unit 750 to a network 108 via signal line 124. The network may comprise a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data path across which multiple devices may communicate. The control unit 750 also has other conventional connections to other systems such as a network for distribution of files (media objects) using standard network protocols such as TCP/IP, http, https, and SMTP as will be understood to those skilled in the art.
As denoted by dashed lines, the computing device 106 may optionally include one or more input/output (I/O) devices 718 such as described below. One or more I/O devices 718 are coupled to the bus 708. These I/O devices may be part of computing device 106 in one embodiment and in another embodiment may be part of the other systems (not shown). For example, the I/O device 718 can include an image scanner for capturing an image of a document. The I/O device 718 may also includes a printer for generating documents. The I/O device 718 may also include audio input/output device equipped to receive audio input via a microphone and transmit audio output via speakers. In one embodiment, audio device is a general purpose; audio add-in/expansion card designed for use within a general purpose computer system. Optionally, I/O audio device may include one or more analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog converters, and/or one or more digital signal processors to facilitate audio processing.
It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that system 100 may include more or less components than those shown in
Referring now to
As also shown in
Referring now
Referring now to
Referring now also to
In step 1108, the method determines whether the event was the presentation of a sign-on screen. If not the method continues to step 1110. However, if the method determined that the event was the presentation of a sign-on screen, the method continues to step 1124 of the
In step 1110, the method determines whether the event was the detection of a PDK 102 entering or exiting the range of the reader 104. If not, the method proceeds to step 1122 tests for other types of events. However if the method determined that the event was the detection of a PDK 102 entering or exiting the range of the reader 104, the method proceeds to step 1146 of
In step 1112, the method determines whether the event was the detection of expiration of the duration timer. If not, the method proceeds to step 1114 to allow access as normal. However, if the event was the detection of expiration of the duration timer, the method continues in step 1160 of
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the present invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims of this application. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, the particular naming and division of the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the present invention or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats. Furthermore, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects of the present invention can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Also, wherever a component, an example of which is a module, of the present invention is implemented as software, the component can be implemented as a standalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other way known now or in the future to those of ordinary skill in the art of computer programming. Additionally, the present invention is in no way limited to implementation in any specific programming language, or for any specific operating system or environment. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/340,501 entitled “Security System and Method for Controlling Access to Computing Resources,” filed Dec. 19, 2008, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/015,110 entitled “ProxAccess,” filed on Dec. 19, 2007 by John J. Giobbi, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3761883 | Alvarez et al. | Sep 1973 | A |
4430705 | Cannavino et al. | Feb 1984 | A |
5224164 | Elsner | Jun 1993 | A |
5428684 | Aklyama et al. | Jun 1995 | A |
5473690 | Grimonprez et al. | Dec 1995 | A |
5481265 | Russell | Jan 1996 | A |
5541583 | Mandelbaum | Jul 1996 | A |
5563947 | Kikinis | Oct 1996 | A |
5589838 | McEwan | Dec 1996 | A |
5594227 | Deo | Jan 1997 | A |
5611050 | Theimer et al. | Mar 1997 | A |
5623552 | Lane | Apr 1997 | A |
5719387 | Fujioka | Feb 1998 | A |
5729237 | Webb | Mar 1998 | A |
5760744 | Sauer | Jun 1998 | A |
5799085 | Shona | Aug 1998 | A |
5854891 | Postlewaite | Dec 1998 | A |
6040786 | Fujioka | Mar 2000 | A |
6219553 | Panasik | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6249869 | Drupsteen et al. | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6279111 | Jensenworth et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6325285 | Baratelli | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6345347 | Biran | Feb 2002 | B1 |
6480101 | Kelly et al. | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6563465 | Frecska | May 2003 | B2 |
6593887 | Luk et al. | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6633981 | Davis | Oct 2003 | B1 |
6658566 | Hazard | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6714168 | Berenbaum | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6715246 | Frecska et al. | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6728397 | McNeal | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6861980 | Rowitch et al. | Mar 2005 | B1 |
6879966 | Lapsley et al. | Apr 2005 | B1 |
6886741 | Salveson | May 2005 | B1 |
6892307 | Wood et al. | May 2005 | B1 |
6947003 | Huor | Sep 2005 | B2 |
6980087 | Zukowski | Dec 2005 | B2 |
6999032 | Pakray et al. | Feb 2006 | B2 |
7058806 | Smeets et al. | Jun 2006 | B2 |
7176797 | Zai et al. | Feb 2007 | B2 |
7231068 | Tibor | Jun 2007 | B2 |
7314164 | Bonalle et al. | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7330108 | Thomas | Feb 2008 | B2 |
7349557 | Tibor | Mar 2008 | B2 |
7387235 | Gilbert et al. | Jun 2008 | B2 |
7458510 | Zhou | Dec 2008 | B1 |
7461444 | Deaett et al. | Dec 2008 | B2 |
7525413 | Jung et al. | Apr 2009 | B2 |
7545312 | Kiang et al. | Jun 2009 | B2 |
7565329 | Lapsley et al. | Jul 2009 | B2 |
7583238 | Cassen et al. | Sep 2009 | B2 |
7595765 | Hirsch et al. | Sep 2009 | B1 |
7676380 | Graves et al. | Mar 2010 | B2 |
7780082 | Handa et al. | Aug 2010 | B2 |
8387124 | Smetters | Feb 2013 | B2 |
8395484 | Fullerton | Mar 2013 | B2 |
8678273 | McNeal | Mar 2014 | B2 |
8799574 | Corda | Aug 2014 | B2 |
8856539 | Weiss | Oct 2014 | B2 |
20020010679 | Felsher | Jan 2002 | A1 |
20020089890 | Fibranz et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20030063619 | Montano et al. | Apr 2003 | A1 |
20030088441 | McNerney | May 2003 | A1 |
20030137404 | Bonneau et al. | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20030146835 | Carter | Aug 2003 | A1 |
20040002347 | Hoctor et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040030764 | Birk et al. | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20040059682 | Hasumi et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040059912 | Zizzi | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040073792 | Noble | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20040128389 | Kopchik | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040128500 | Cihula et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040128508 | Wheeler et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040158746 | Hu | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040166875 | Jenkins et al. | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040167465 | Mihai et al. | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040203923 | Mullen | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040218581 | Cattaneo | Nov 2004 | A1 |
20040222877 | Teramura et al. | Nov 2004 | A1 |
20040246103 | Zukowski | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040255139 | Giobbi | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040255145 | Chow | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20050005136 | Chen et al. | Jan 2005 | A1 |
20050035897 | Perl et al. | Feb 2005 | A1 |
20050055242 | Bello et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050055244 | Mullan et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050058292 | Diorio et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050091338 | de la Huerga | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050113070 | Okabe | May 2005 | A1 |
20050114150 | Franklin | May 2005 | A1 |
20050116020 | Smolucha et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050119979 | Murashita et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050138390 | Adams | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050139656 | Amouse | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050169292 | Young | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050180385 | Jeong et al. | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050182661 | Allard et al. | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050187792 | Harper | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050200453 | Turner et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050216313 | Claud et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050220046 | Falck et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050242921 | Zimmerman et al. | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050281320 | Neugebauer | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20050282558 | Choi et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060022042 | Smets et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060072586 | Callaway, Jr. et al. | Apr 2006 | A1 |
20060074713 | Conry et al. | Apr 2006 | A1 |
20060087407 | Stewart et al. | Apr 2006 | A1 |
20060097949 | Luebke et al. | May 2006 | A1 |
20060136742 | Giobbi | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060144943 | Kim | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060165060 | Dua | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060173991 | Piikivi | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060187029 | Thomas | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060208853 | Kung et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060229909 | Kaila et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060273176 | Audebert et al. | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20060279412 | Holland et al. | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20070005403 | Kennedy et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070008070 | Friedrich | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070016800 | Spottswood | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070019845 | Kato | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070029381 | Braiman | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20070033072 | Bildirici | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20070064742 | Shvodian | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070069852 | Mo et al. | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070100939 | Bagley et al. | May 2007 | A1 |
20070118891 | Buer | May 2007 | A1 |
20070136407 | Rudelic | Jun 2007 | A1 |
20070158411 | Krieg | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070159301 | Hirt et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070159994 | Brown et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070176756 | Friedrich | Aug 2007 | A1 |
20070194882 | Yokota et al. | Aug 2007 | A1 |
20070204078 | Boccon-Gibod et al. | Aug 2007 | A1 |
20070205860 | Jones et al. | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20070205861 | Nair et al. | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20070214492 | Gopi | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20070218921 | Lee et al. | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20070245157 | Giobbi et al. | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20070245158 | Giobbi et al. | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20070260888 | Giobbi et al. | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20070266257 | Camaisa et al. | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20070268862 | Singh et al. | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20070271433 | Takemura | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20070277044 | Graf et al. | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20070288752 | Chan | Dec 2007 | A1 |
20070293155 | Liao et al. | Dec 2007 | A1 |
20080001783 | Cargonja et al. | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080005432 | Kagawa | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080012685 | Friedrich et al. | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080016004 | Kurasaki et al. | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080028453 | Nguyen | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080046715 | Balazs et al. | Feb 2008 | A1 |
20080061941 | Fischer et al. | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20080071577 | Highley | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20080088475 | Martin | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080090548 | Ramalingam | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080095359 | Schreyer et al. | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080129450 | Riegebauer | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080148351 | Bhatia | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080149705 | Giobbi et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080150678 | Giobbi et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080164997 | Aritsuka et al. | Jul 2008 | A1 |
20080169909 | Park et al. | Jul 2008 | A1 |
20080218416 | Handy et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080222701 | Saaranen et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080228524 | Brown | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080235144 | Phillips | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080251579 | Larsen | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20080278325 | Zimman et al. | Nov 2008 | A1 |
20080289032 | Aoki | Nov 2008 | A1 |
20080316045 | Sriharto et al. | Dec 2008 | A1 |
20090002134 | McAllister | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20090033464 | Friedrich | Feb 2009 | A1 |
20090033485 | Naeve et al. | Feb 2009 | A1 |
20090036164 | Rowley | Feb 2009 | A1 |
20090052389 | Qin et al. | Feb 2009 | A1 |
20090076849 | Diller | Mar 2009 | A1 |
20090096580 | Paananen | Apr 2009 | A1 |
20090140045 | Evans | Jun 2009 | A1 |
20090176566 | Kelly | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090199206 | Finkenzeller et al. | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20090239667 | Rowe et al. | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20090310514 | Jeon et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20090313689 | Nystrom et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20090319788 | Zick et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20090320118 | Muller | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20100291896 | Corda | Nov 2010 | A1 |
20120182123 | Butler et al. | Jul 2012 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
10-49604 | Feb 1998 | JP |
Entry |
---|
Automate proximity and location-based computer actions, (Jun. 5, 2007) by Adam Pash; 3 pages; converted to PDF originally from http://lifehacker.com/265822/automate-proximity-and-location+based-computer-actions. |
Automatically unlock PC when entering proxmity, (Dec. 7, 2005) by bohrsatom et al.; converted to PDF originally from http://www.salling.com/forums/viewtopic.phpt=3190. |
Balanis, Constantine, A., Antenna Theory: A Review, Jan. 1992, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 80, No. 1, p. 13. |
Blue Proximity—Leave it—its locked, come back—its back to, (Aug. 26, 2007) by BlueProximity; 1 page; converted to PDF originally from http://blueproximity.sourceforge.net/ via http://www.archive.org/. |
Cisco Systems, Inc., Antenna Patterns and Their Meaning, Copyright 1992-2007, p. 10. |
File Security, keychains, Encryption, and More with Mac OS X (10.3+), (Apr. 4, 2005) by John Hendron; 30 pages; originally downloaded from http://www.johnhendron.net/documents/OSX_Security.pdf. |
Imation USB 2.0 Micro Hard Drive, (Nov. 22, 2005) by Dan Costa; 2 pages; converted to PDF originally from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1892209,00.asp. |
Lee, et al. Effects of dielectric superstrates on a two-layer electromagnetically coupled patch antenna, Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 1989. AP-S. Digest, vol., No., pp. 620-623 vol. 2, Jun. 26-30, 1989, found at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp tp= arnu mber= 134 7. |
MagicJack: Could It Be the Asterisk Killer (Aug. 1, 2007) by Nerd Vittles; 2 pages; converted to PDF originally from http://nerdivttles.com/index.phpp=187. |
National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Antenna Types, Dec. 11, 2006, found at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1 /hij/185030b.pdf, p. 17-18. |
PCT International Preliminary Report and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, dated Jul. 1, 2010, 8 pages. |
PCT International Search Report and Written Opinion, PCT Application No. PCT/US08/83060, dated Dec. 29, 2008, 9 pages. |
PCT International Search Report and Written Opinion, PCT Application No. PCT/US08/87835, dated Feb. 11, 2009, 8 pages. |
PCT International Search Report and Written Opinion, PCT Application No. PCT/US2009/034095, dated Mar. 25, 2009, 11 pages. |
Smart Card Setup Guide, (2006) by Apple et al.; 16 pages; originally downloaded from http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Smart_Card_Setup_Guide.pdf. |
SpashID—Secure Password Manager for PDAs and Smartphones, (Mar. 8, 2007) by SplashID; 2 pages; converted to PDF origbinally from http://www.splashdata.com/splashid/ via http://www.archive.org/. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61015110 | Dec 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 12340501 | Dec 2008 | US |
Child | 14973565 | US |