Access control in bluetooth® low energy devices

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, causes performance of operations comprising:

establishing a Bluetooth connection between a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon and a BLE device;

determining, by the BLE beacon, if the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state, sending a notification from the BLE beacon to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state;

receiving, by the BLE beacon from the BLE device, a request for a change in a configuration of the BLE beacon in response to receipt of the notification;

responsive to receiving the request, changing the configuration based on the request; and

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is not in a configuration-changes-enabled state, refraining from changing the configuration.

2. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: prior to receiving the request:

receiving, by the BLE beacon a particular code from the BLE device while the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-disabled state;

determining that the particular code is valid for setting the configuration-changes-enabled state; responsive to determining that the particular code is valid: modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state.

3. The medium of claim 2 , wherein modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state is further responsive to determining that the particular code is received from the BLE device within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

4. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the BLE beacon is to exchange messages with the BLE device when the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state and when the BLE beacon is not in the configuration-changes-enabled state.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, causes performance of operations comprising:

establishing a Bluetooth connection between a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon and a BLE device;

responsive to determining that a particular access code is received within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection: at least temporarily maintaining the Bluetooth connection;

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, sending a notification from the BLE beacon to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

receiving, by the BLE beacon from the BLE device, a request for a change in a configuration of the BLE beacon;

responsive to receiving the request, changing the configuration of the BLE beacon; and

responsive to determining that the particular access code is not received within the particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection: terminating, by the BLE beacon, the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

6. The medium of claim 5 , wherein the operation further comprise: responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, extending or initiating a timer for the terminating of the Bluetooth connection.

7. The medium of claim 5 , wherein determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time comprises determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of a time that was initiated upon establishing the Bluetooth connection.

8. The medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise, responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, stopping the timer.

9. The medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise, responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, storing information indicating that the Bluetooth connection is authorized.

10. A system comprising:

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon configured to:

establish a Bluetooth connection with a BLE device;

determine if the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state that enables configuration write access by the BLE device;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state, sending a notification to the BLE device that the BLE beacon is in a configuration-changes-enabled state;

responsive to receiving a request from the BLE device, change the configuration based on the request;

responsive to determining that the BLE beacon is not in a configuration-changes-enabled state, refrain from changing the configuration; and

the BLE device, configured to:

establish the Bluetooth connection with the BLE beacon;

receive the notification from the BLE beacon; and

send, in response to receipt of the notification, a first Bluetooth signal comprising the request for the change in the configuration of the BLE beacon.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to: prior to receiving the request:

receive a particular code from the BLE device while in a configuration-changes-disabled state;

determine that the particular code is valid for setting the configuration-changes-enabled state; and

responsive to determining that the particular code is valid: modify the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein modifying the configuration-changes-disabled state to the configuration-changes-enabled state is further responsive to the determining that the particular code is received from the BLE device within a particular period of time from successfully establishing the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the BLE beacon is configured to exchange messages with the BLE device when the BLE beacon is in the configuration-changes-enabled state and when the BLE beacon is not in the configuration-changes-enabled state.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that a particular access code is received within a particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection: at least temporarily maintain the Bluetooth connection;

responsive to determining that the particular access code is not received within the particular period of time from establishing the Bluetooth connection: terminate the Bluetooth connection between the BLE beacon and the BLE device.

15. The system of claim 14 , the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time, extend or initiate a timer for the termination of the Bluetooth connection.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein determining that the particular access code is received within the particular period of time comprises determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of a timer that was initiated upon establishing the Bluetooth connection.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, stop the timer.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the BLE beacon is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the particular access code is received before expiration of the timer, store information indicating that the Bluetooth connection is authorized.