Certificate-Validated Token Delegation for Rental Accessory Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Owners of rental properties face challenges in providing guests with access to experience-enhancing accessories while minimizing their own involvement, as existing systems require direct interaction and are often unavailable when guests need to adjust settings.
Innovation Solution
Delegating token generation responsibility to a sharing platform, such as Airbnb or Vrbo, allowing the platform to manage and generate tokens for guest access to accessories, using a certificate-based validation system to ensure security and persistence of access rights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the owner directly manages token generation for guest access, then security control is maintained, but owner involvement and operational burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a sharing platform as an intermediary between the owner and the guest's accessory devices. The platform receives delegation requests from owners, validates them through certificate verification, and generates access tokens on behalf of the owner. This intermediary approach reduces the owner's direct operational burden while maintaining security through automated certificate-based validation mechanisms.
2Productivity
If the owner manually provides access tokens for each guest, then security is maintained, but time and operational effort are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the owner delegate token generation authority to the sharing platform in advance. The platform then automatically generates tokens for each guest based on their reservations, eliminating the need for the owner to manually create tokens for every guest. This preliminary delegation setup enables automated, efficient token provision throughout the guest's stay.
Solution Approach 2:
The sharing platform provides self-service functionality by automatically generating and managing access tokens for guests based on their reservation status. The system autonomously handles token creation, distribution, and revocation without requiring owner intervention, thereby significantly reducing the time and effort the owner would otherwise spend on this repetitive task.
3Ease of operation
If delegation authority is transferred to the sharing platform, then operational burden on owner is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sharing platform acts as an intermediary that absorbs the system complexity of certificate validation and token management. The platform implements the complex validation logic, certificate verification, and token generation mechanisms, while presenting a simplified interface to the owner. This concentrates the complexity in a centralized platform rather than distributing it across multiple owner devices and processes.
4Reliability
If certificate validation is implemented to verify sharing platform authenticity, then security is enhanced, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The certificate validation process is performed as a preliminary action during the initial delegation setup phase, rather than during each token generation request. The owner's device validates the sharing platform's certificate once when establishing the delegation relationship, and this validated status is cached and reused for subsequent operations. This preliminary verification approach ensures security while minimizing time loss during actual guest access operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the disclosure include a method for delegating the authority to create a token from an owner of a property to a sharing platform managing the reservation of the property. A method can include receiving a request to delegate authority for generating a token for a one or more accessory devices, the delegation to be to a sharing platform. Based on the request, a request for a determination of eligibility of the device for delegation of the authority. A determination of eligibility of the device for delegation of the authority can be received. An intermediate certificate from the sharing platform can be requests based on the determination of eligibility of the device. A delegation file that identifies an approved delegation of authority can be created based on using the intermediate certificate to validate the sharing platform.