Methods and systems for establishing secure communications
A method for providing a bit string on at least two electronic devices is provided. A sensor input is received by sensors in the electronic devices and recorded by the electronic devices. Data points are generated from the sensor input by each of the electronic devices. Each device samples its generated data points at a sampling frequency. A bit string is then generated by each device based on the sampled data points. The bit string of each device substantially matches one another, thereby allowing the electronic devices to share a secret, which may be used to allow secure communications between the at least two electronic devices.
1. A method for providing a bit string on at least two electronic devices,
the method comprising:
recording, by a first electronic device and by a second electronic device, a sensory input received by a first sensor in the first electronic device and a second sensor in the second electronic device;
generating, by the first electronic device, a plurality of first data points from the sensory input recorded by the first electronic device;
sampling, by the first electronic device, the plurality of first data points at a first sampling frequency of the plurality of first data points;
generating, by the first electronic device, a first bit string including the sampled first data points;
generating, by the second electronic device, a sensor profile corresponding to the sensory input recorded by the second electronic device, wherein the sensor profile comprises a plurality of second data points;
sampling, by the second electronic device, the plurality of second data points at a second sampling frequency of the plurality of second data points; and
generating, by the second electronic device, a second bit string including the sampled second data points, wherein the first bit string substantially matches the second bit string.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first sensor in the first electronic device and the second sensor in the second electronic device are of a same sensor type.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensory input comprises at least one of a movement of the first and second electronic devices, an auditory input, and an optical input.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to recording the sensory input, the method comprises detecting, by the first and second sensors, an initiation movement to begin the recording of the sensory input.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein detecting the initiation movement comprises receiving, by an accelerometer in the first and second devices, an acceleration sensor reading exceeding a threshold acceleration value.
6. The method claim 4 wherein the first and second bit strings are generated while the sensory input is recorded and wherein the method further comprises automatically terminating the recording of the sensory input when the first and second bit strings exceed a specified length.
7. The method of claim 4 further comprising detecting, by the first and second sensors, a termination movement to end the recording of the sensory input.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first and second bit strings are generated as the sensory input is recorded and wherein the method further comprises providing a first indication when the first and second bit strings are less than a specified length, and providing a second indication, different from the first indication, when the first and second bit strings are at least the specified length.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensory input is recorded by the first electronic device and the second electronic device simultaneously.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to recording the sensory input, the method comprises detecting, by the first and second sensors, a voice command to begin the recording of the sensory input.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising detecting, by the first and second sensors, a voice command to end the recording of the sensory input.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the recording, by a first electronic device and a second electronic device, is performed inside a vehicle, wherein the first electronic device is an accelerometer sensor and the second electronic device is a microphone sensor.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first bit string comprises:
quantizing the sampled first data points by assigning each sampled data point a value;
converting the value of at least a portion of the sampled first data points into a bit representation; and
concatenating the bit representations to generate the first bit string.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein generating the first bit string further comprises applying a data compression function to the concatenated bit representations to minimize redundancy in the first bit string.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising computing a plurality of hash values for contiguous sections of the first bit string.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to generating the sensor profile, the recording the sensory input further comprises: receiving, by a low pass filter in the second sensor, the sensory input, and wherein the generating the sensor profile further comprises filtering the sensory input, the generated sensor profile corresponding to the filtered sensory input.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first bit string and the second bit string are used as a shared secret to establish secure communications channel between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the first bit string and the second bit string are received by a server entrusted to receive the first and second bit strings, the server establishing a communications channel between the first electronic device and the second electronic device when the server confirms that the first bit string and the second bit string match.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor in the first device comprises a plurality of first sensors, the plurality of first sensors including two sensors of a different type, and the second sensor in the second device comprises a plurality of second sensors, the plurality of second sensors including two sensors of a different type.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for providing a bit string on at least two electronic devices, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
recording, by a first electronic device and by a second electronic device, a sensory input received by a first sensor in the first electronic device and a second sensor in the second electronic device;
generating, by the first electronic device, a plurality of first data points from the sensory input recorded by the first electronic device;
sampling, by the first electronic device, the plurality of first data points at a first sampling frequency of the plurality of first data points;
generating, by the first electronic device, a first bit string including the sampled first data points;
generating, by the second electronic device, a sensor profile corresponding to the sensory input recorded by the second electronic device, wherein the sensor profile comprises a plurality of second data points;
sampling, by the second electronic device, the plurality of second data points at a second sampling frequency of the plurality of second data points; and
generating, by the second electronic device, a second bit string including the sampled second data points, wherein the first bit string substantially matches the second bit string.
21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein prior to recording the sensory input, the method comprises detecting, by the first and second sensors, an initiation movement to begin the recording of the sensory input.