Patent Application
20120208454
The present invention relates to a system and method for implementing a programming interface for near field communications (“NFC”) enable device, for example, a smart phone.
In the current computing environment, NFC is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology. Communication between two NFC devices occurs when they are brought within four to ten centimeters, or 1.5 to four inches, of one another. The loop antennas of the NFC devices, when located within this range of one another, effectively form an air-core transformer facilitating the communications between the devices. The advantages of NFC over other short range communications include convenience, speed of set up, security due to the limited physical range of operation, and low power consumption.
NFC is an open platform technology standardized in ECMA-340 and ISO/IEC 18092, which specify, among other things, the modulation schemes, coding, transfer speeds and initiation schemes underlying NFC. In addition, NFC is compatible with certain existing passive RFID infrastructures and incorporates other standards such as ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa.
Examples of NFC applications include contactless payment systems, electronic ticketing, and reading small amounts of information from NFC tags. In these examples, a simple tap of one NFC-enabled device with another facilitates the reading or writing of data. In the electronic payment example, an NFC application may require the user to confirm payment before the payment is actually processed. Other examples of NFC applications include peer-to-peer communications where two NFC-enabled devices transfer data to each other, such as exchanges of videos, contacts, photos etc.
NFC technology is gaining momentum and as more companies introduce new NFC-enabled devices and NFC adaptors, application programmers will be confronted with an increasing number of different application programming interfaces (“APIs”) and disparate application calling conventions in order to operate the NFC adaptor.
In one aspect, the present invention is a system for operating near field communications adaptors of a computing device. The system comprises at least one memory having at least one region for storing executable program code and at least one processor for executing the program code stored in the memory. When the program code is executed, it performs the following: making a first determination of whether a near field communications adaptor is connected to the computing device; identifies the adaptor, wherein said identification is responsive to a first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; makes a second determination of whether the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said making a second determination is responsive to the first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; and loads at least one device driver for the computing device to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said loading is responsive to a second determination that the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor.
In another aspect, the present invention is a method for operating near field communications adaptors of a computing device. The method comprises the following: making a first determination, by the computing device, of whether a near field communications adaptor is connected to the computing device, wherein the computing device includes at least one memory having at least one region for storing executable program code and at least one processor for executing the program code stored in the memory; identifying the adaptor by the computing device, wherein said identifying is responsive to a first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; making a second determination, by the computing device, of whether the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said making a second determination is responsive to the first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; and loading, by the computing device, at least one device driver for the computing device to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said loading is responsive to a second determination that the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor.
In another aspect, the present invention is a system for operating near field communications adaptors of a computing device. The system comprises: at least one memory having at least one region for storing executable program code; at least one processor for executing the program code stored in the memory; means for making a first determination of whether a near field communications adaptor is connected to the computing device; means for identifying the adaptor, wherein said identifying is responsive to a first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; means for making a second determination of whether the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said making a second determination is responsive to the first determination that a near field communication adaptor is connected to the computing device; and means for loading at least one device driver for the computing device to communicate with the adaptor, wherein said loading is responsive to a second determination that the computing device is adapted to communicate with the adaptor.
The drawings are exemplary, not limiting. Items that are labeled with the same reference number in multiple figures refer to the same item throughout the figures.
Various embodiments of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the drawings.
In a preferred embodiment, Computing Device 101 is a smart phone. Smart phones are a well established class of mobile phones having more capability than a “feature phone” or a “dumb phone,” and which run a complete operating system software providing the user the ability to run advanced software applications. In one aspect, a Computing Device 101 that is a smart phone may include one or more display screens or touchscreen displays, one or more keyboards, one or more CPUs (which may be ARM-based processors or may be integrated in a system-on-a-chip architecture), one or more transitory or non-transitory memory, one or more mobile telecommunications modems, one or more wireless antennas, one or more operating systems, a SIM card, peripheral connectivity, Bluetooth® connectivity, GPS, one or more cameras, video output connectivity, and audio output capabilities. In addition, where Computing Device 101 that is a smart phone has a touchscreen display, a physical keyboard may be replaced or supplemented with a soft keyboard, on-screen keyboard or other touchscreen-based input capabilities.
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By using Programming Interface 320, programmers and application developers need not have specific knowledge of the APIs, function calls, and implementations of each different type or manufacture of NFC adaptors. Rather, programmers and application developers only need to know and program for the APIs, function calls, and implementations of Programming Interface 320 in order to operate and use NFC Adaptor 102. For example, Application 310 may interact or communicate with NFC Adaptor 102 to exchange application protocol data unit (APDU), issue APDU commands to the secure elements in NFC Adaptor 102, enable or disable the contactless interface, read or write MIFARE tags, read from or write to another NFC device or act as a reader. In all these examples and in other such interactions, the interactions between Application 310 and NFC Adaptor 102 may be performed via Programming Interface 320.
In one aspect of the present invention, when Application 310 invokes a function call through Programming Interface 320, Programming Interface 320 will map the function call to a corresponding function call associated with Adaptation Layer 330 and invoke that corresponding function call. Thus, for example, when Application 310 invokes a function call to exchange APDU information (or, ‘exchange_APDU’ call) through the Programming Interface 320, ‘exchange_APDU’ is mapped to a corresponding functional call associated with the Adaptation Layer 330 (or ‘internal_exchange_APDU’ call). Then, internal_exchange APDU is invoked to execute the commands associated with the function call to operate NFC Adaptor 102 to exchange the ADPU information.
Mapping of functional calls may be performed for all NFC function calls made by Application 310 through Programming Interface 320. In one aspect of the present invention, Programming Interface 320 provides a public and consistent programming interface for Application 310. In this manner, Adaptation Layer 330 may be modified independently without affecting Application 310.
Next, at step 405, Adaptation Layer 330 determines whether the NFC adaptor is supported by Computing Device 101. If the NFC adaptor is not supported, process 400 proceeds from step 405 to step 403 where process 400 ends. Alternatively, if the NFC adaptor is supported, process 400 proceeds from step 405 to step 406 where Adaptation Layer 330 determines whether any device drivers corresponding to the NFC adaptor are currently loaded. If no such device drivers are loaded, process 400 proceeds to step 407 where Adaptation Layer 330 loads the necessary device drivers for Application 310 and Programming Interface 320 to operate the NFC adaptor. Adaptation Layer 330 contains device drivers for all supported NFC adaptors, as shown at
In one aspect, the ‘End’ state denotes that no further action is taken by Adaptation Layer 330. In another aspect, when Adaptation Layer 330 enters the ‘End’ state, it returns an indication to Programming Interface 320 that there is no known NFC adaptor. In one aspect, when Adaptation Layer 330 enters the ‘Ready’ state, Programming Interface 320 may proceed with further actions, which may be determined by Application 310. In another aspect, when Adaptation Layer 330 enters the ‘Ready’ state, it returns an indication to Programming Interface 320 that an NFC adaptor is found and the necessary device drivers are loaded. Once Adaptation Layer 330 is in the ‘Ready’ state, Application 310 may be able to carry out any interaction or communication with the NFC adaptor, for example, via Programming Interface 320.
By way of example, the following will describe Application 310, Programming Interface 320, Adaptation Layer 330 and process 400 where Application 310 attempts to use a first NFC adaptor, NFC Adaptor 102, installed on or connected to Computing Device 101, but where no device drivers are loaded. In this example, Application 310 is a software application for reading NFC tags and using the information obtained to perform further actions—for instance, reading an NFC tag (for example, NFC Device 112) for product information and using that product information to search the Internet (e.g. Network 120 via Router 111 or Mobile Antenna 110) for pricing and purchase information. Here, Application 310 invokes Programming Interface 320, which in turn invokes Adaptation Layer 330, which in turn runs process 400. The process starts at step 401, and at step 402, NFC Adaptor 102 is found. Next, at step 403, Adaptation Layer 330 identifies NFC Adaptor 102 and at step 405 determines that NFC Adaptor 102 is supported by Computing Device 101. The process then proceeds to step 406 where Adaptation Layer 330 determines that device drivers are not loaded. As a result, Adaptation Layer 330 loads the necessary device drivers at step 407 and Adaptation Layer 330 then goes into the ‘Ready’ state at step 408. Once in the ‘Ready’ state, Application 310 will be able to read the NFC tag via NFC Adaptor 102 and Programming Interface 320. Application 310 may then carry out any other interactions or communications with NFC Adaptor 102 and process the information obtained from the NFC tag according to the instructions of Application 310.
By way of further example, NFC Adaptor 102 is replaced with a second NFC adaptor (not shown) that is not supported by Computing Device 101, and Application 310 attempts to use the second NFC adaptor (again to read an NFC tag). In this example, Application 310 invokes Programming Interface 320, which in turn invokes Adaptation Layer 330, which in turn runs process 400. The process starts at step 401, and at step 402, the second NFC adaptor is found. Next, at step 403, Adaptation Layer 330 identifies the second NFC adaptor and at step 405 determines that the second NFC adaptor is not supported. As a result, Adaptation Layer 330 enters the ‘End’ state.
In this manner, when a second NFC adaptor replaces a first NFC adaptor of Computing Device 101 and Application 310 attempts to operate the second NFC Adaptor, Programming Interface 320, Adaptation Layer 330, and process 400 will operate according to aspects of the present invention described above to load device drivers associated with the second NFC adaptor (if supported). This enables Application 310 to operate many different NFC adaptors via Programming Interface 320 without the need to modify Application 310.
Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described herein in detail, it should be noted and will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that there may be numerous variations and other embodiments that may be equivalent to those explicitly shown and described. For example, the scope of the present invention is not necessarily limited in all cases to execution of the aforementioned steps in the order discussed. Unless otherwise specifically stated, terms and expressions have been used herein as terms of description, not of limitation. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited by the specific illustrated and described embodiments (or the terms or expressions used to describe them).
