Mobile NFC Authentication for Contextual Service Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for user authentication and service delivery in contexts like secure printing and boarding require infrastructure-intensive reader hardware at each service point, increasing costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing mobile devices with near field communication (NFC) capabilities, where the device acts as the active element, reading NFC tags to authenticate users and invoke relevant apps, allowing service delivery through a server-based processing and authentication system, eliminating the need for reader hardware at each service point.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If reader hardware is placed at each service point (printer, boarding gate), then user authentication and service release can be performed locally, but infrastructure cost and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the authentication intelligence from the service point hardware (printer, boarding gate) and relocates it to the user's mobile device. The mobile device now contains the active authentication logic and communicates with a centralized server, eliminating the need for sophisticated reader hardware at each service point while maintaining reliable authentication capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a centralized server as an intermediary between the mobile device and the service points. The server handles authentication processing and service release decisions, allowing the service points to be simple terminals without complex authentication logic, thus reducing infrastructure complexity while maintaining security and reliability.
2Ease of operation
If reader hardware is deployed at every service point, then service delivery can be localized, but infrastructure cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the mobile device universal by equipping it with NFC capabilities that work across multiple service points (printers, boarding gates, etc.). A single mobile device serves as the authentication tool for all services, eliminating the need for service-specific hardware at each location and significantly reducing infrastructure costs while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the mobile device to self-configure and self-authenticate at service points through NFC communication. The device automatically invokes the appropriate application and presents credentials without requiring manual intervention or specialized hardware at the service point, reducing infrastructure needs while maintaining operational ease.
3Quantity of substance
If mobile devices are used as active elements with NFC tags as passive elements, then infrastructure cost is reduced and processing is consolidated at the server, but authentication system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional authentication model by making the user's mobile device the active element with intelligence, rather than the service point hardware. The mobile device actively initiates authentication, presents credentials, and manages the authentication flow, while the service points become passive receivers. This inversion reduces infrastructure cost by eliminating smart readers at service points while consolidating processing at the server.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer automated system and method comprising configuring a single or plurality of mobile devices over a network, validating the configured devices, and communicating contextual information to the configured devices. The devices are authenticated and the authentication is sent to a server over the network, when a contextual service, controlled/offered by the server through a contextual service point in communication with the server, is invoked by the configured mobile device in the vicinity of the contextual service point. The mobile device is then enabled to consume a contextual service, offered by and delivered at the contextual service point, either from within the mobile device or over the network.