Hearing Aid Programming Security via Intermediary Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity and connectivity of hearing assistive devices pose a challenge in preventing unauthorized programming, which can harm users' residual hearing and compromise manufacturers' profits by allowing unapproved adjustments and feature activations.
Innovation Solution
A method that utilizes a programming-rights-management server to establish secure sessions with hearing assistive devices, ensuring that only authorized programming devices can access and modify settings through a whitelist of access rights, using private keys and cryptographic protocols to encrypt communications and control access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hearing assistive devices add more services and features with improved connectivity, then the functionality and user experience are enhanced, but the risk of unauthorized programming increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between the programming device and the hearing assistive device. The server authenticates programming devices, manages access rights, and controls which devices can program which hearing aids. This intermediary layer prevents unauthorized programming while allowing legitimate devices to access and modify device parameters, thus resolving the contradiction between enhanced functionality and improved security.
2Reliability
If access control mechanisms are implemented to prevent unauthorized programming, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex authentication and access control logic from the hearing assistive device itself and places it on an external server. The hearing aid only needs to communicate with the server for authentication, while the server handles the complex tasks of managing programming device credentials, generating access rights, and enforcing security policies. This extraction reduces the complexity burden on the hearing aid device while maintaining strong security controls.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for programming a hearing assistive device (1) includes requesting write access from a programming device (2) to the hearing assistive device (1), sending, in response to the request, a first message from the hearing assistive device (1) to a programming-rights-management server (3), generating, in the programming-rights- management server (3), a programming rights permission list, sending a second message containing the programming rights permission list from the programming- rights-management server (3) to the hearing assistive device (1), transferring programming data in a programming session from the programming device (2) to the hearing assistive device (1), writing the received programming data as control data sets permitted according the programming rights permission list received from the programming-rights-management server (3), and terminating the programming session once data writing has been completed.