Granted Patent B2

US 12,581,310 · App. 17/926,502 · Granted Mar 17, 2026

Inventors: Gabriele Gelardi (London, GB); Gery Ducatel (London, GB); Zhan Cui (London, GB)

Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

H04W12/50H04L9/0827H04L9/0866

Abstract

Claims (34)

1 . A method of pairing a user device with a remote system, wherein the user device is connected to a network, the method comprising:

the user device communicating with an intermediary device via a secure communication channel to cause a secret key generated by the remote system to be received by the user device, from the intermediary device, the secret key thereby being assigned to the user device;

the user device establishing communication with the remote system to pair the user device with the remote system using the secret key, such that data sent from the user device to the remote system is encrypted using the secret key and data received by the user device from the remote system is decrypted using the secret key;

configuring the user device, after the user device is paired with the remote system, to prevent pairing of the user device with any user devices connected to a further network different from the network; and

the user device securely providing an intermediary secret key to the intermediary device, the intermediary secret key being configured to encrypt communicated between the user device and the intermediary device.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the secret key is unique to the user device.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising initiating the configuring of the user device in response to the user device being paired with the remote system.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising, after the configuring of the user device, the user device receiving a command from the remote system or the intermediary device to reconfigure the user device to allow pairing of the user device with another user device connected to the further network, wherein the command is encrypted using the secret key.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the secure communication channel is a proximal field communication channel.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user device is a first user device, and the method comprises the first user device sending the secret key to a second user device for the second user device to use in pairing of the second user device with the remote system.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising the user device receiving a policy command from the remote system to configure the user device to comply with a usage policy.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising, after the user device is paired with the remote system, the user device receiving the intermediary secret key from the remote system for use in encrypting data sent from the user device to the intermediary device and decrypting data received by the user device from the intermediary device, wherein the intermediary secret key is encrypted using the secret key.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the intermediary secret key is associated with a first usage policy and the method comprises, in response to a usage policy associated with use of the user device changing from the first usage policy to a further usage policy different from the first usage policy, the user device receiving a further intermediary secret key from the remote system for use in encrypting data sent from the user device to the intermediary device.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , comprising, after the user device has received the further intermediary secret key, the user device receiving encrypted data from the intermediary device, the encrypted data encrypted using the intermediary secret key.

11 . A data processing system comprising a processor to perform the method of claim 1 .

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing thereon a program for carrying out the method of claim 1 .

13 . A method of pairing a user device with a remote system, the method comprising:

the user device communicating with an intermediary device via a secure communication channel to cause a secret key generated by the remote system to be received by the user device, from the intermediary device, the secret key thereby being assigned to the user device; and

the user device establishing communication with the remote system to pair the user device with the remote system using the secret key, such that data sent from the user device to the remote system is encrypted using the secret key and data received by the user device from the remote system is decrypted using the secret key;

wherein the user device is a first user device, the secret key is a first secret key, and the method comprises:

the first user device generating a second secret key;

the first user device securely sending the second secret key to a second user device for the second user device to use in pairing of the second user device with the remote system;

the first user device encrypting the second secret key using the first secret key to generate an encrypted second secret key; and

the first user device sending the encrypted second secret key to the remote system, the encrypted second secret key being configured to pair the second user device with the remote system.

14 . A method of pairing a user device with a remote system, the method comprising:

the remote system receiving, from an intermediary device via a secure communication channel, a request for a secret key configured to pair the user device with the remote system;

in response to receiving the request, the remote system generating the secret key;

the remote system sending the secret key to the intermediary device, via the secure communication channel, for sending to the user device; and

the user device establishing communication with the remote system to pair the user device with the remote system using the secret key, such that data sent from the user device to the remote system is encrypted using the secret key and data received by the user device from the remote system is decrypted using the secret key;

wherein the user device is a first user device, the secret key is a first secret key, and the method comprises:

the first user device generating a second secret key;

the first user device securely sending the second secret key to a second user device for the second user device to use in pairing of the second user device with the remote system;

the first user device encrypting the second secret key using the first secret key to generate an encrypted second secret key; and

the first user device sending the encrypted second secret key to the remote system, the encrypted second secret key being configured to pair the second user device with the remote system.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (29)