Access Token Synchronization Across Trusted Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing approaches to access protected resources using access tokens are not portable across devices, requiring users to re-authenticate and obtain new authorization grants even when valid access tokens are available on other devices.
Innovation Solution
A trusted device list is generated to synchronize access tokens across multiple devices, allowing secure transmission and use of access tokens on other trusted devices without re-authentication, using encryption and a remote server for notification and retrieval of encrypted access tokens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If access tokens are synchronized across multiple devices using encryption and secure transmission, then user convenience and access portability are improved, but system complexity and security management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an authorization server as an intermediary that manages access token synchronization between devices. The server receives authorization grants, issues access tokens, and distributes them to multiple trusted devices. This intermediary approach allows complex security operations to be centralized, reducing the burden on individual devices while enabling cross-device access portability through the server-mediated token distribution mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements token synchronization by creating and distributing copies of access tokens to multiple trusted devices. The authorization server generates an access token and securely transmits copies to each device in the trusted device list. This copying mechanism enables any trusted device to present the same valid access token without requiring re-authentication, thereby improving access portability while the server manages the complexity of token lifecycle management
2Reliability
If access tokens are securely transmitted using encryption with random data encryption keys and public key encryption, then security is improved, but computational overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the encryption process into two distinct stages: first, a random data encryption key is generated and used to encrypt the access token; second, the random encryption key itself is encrypted using the recipient device's public key. This segmentation allows the system to leverage symmetric encryption (faster) for the bulk data and asymmetric encryption (more secure) only for the key exchange, thereby maintaining high security while reducing overall computational overhead compared to using only public key encryption
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary encryption of the access token using a random data encryption key before transmission. The access token is encrypted in advance with this random key, and then the key itself is securely transmitted to the recipient device using public key encryption. This preliminary action allows the bulk of the data to be encrypted efficiently beforehand, reducing the computational burden on the receiving device which only needs to decrypt the key and then the token, rather than performing complex encryption on large data sets
Data Source
AI summary
An access token is synchronized across multiple trusted devices when one of the trusted devices obtains an authorization grant from a resource owner, and uses the authorization grant to obtain the access token. The access token is synchronized with other trusted devices indicated in a trusted device list, by securely transmitting the access token to each of the trusted devices indicated in the trusted device list other than the first device. A second trusted device may then access the protected resource, using the access token originally obtained by the first device, without having to request the authorization grant from the resource owner to obtain a new access token.