NFC Document Transfer Through an Anonymous Host Server
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The NFC protocol does not support secure retrieval and transmission of data from a first device to a third-party device while maintaining the anonymity of both devices.
Innovation Solution
A host server is used to facilitate secure document transfer by encrypting data with a public key, ensuring that only the intended recipient can decrypt it, thereby maintaining anonymity and security during transactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If NFC protocol is used for direct data transmission between devices, then contactless data transfer is achieved, but secure retrieval and transmission of data to third-party devices while maintaining anonymity is not supported
Solution Approach 1:
A host server is introduced as an intermediary between the user device and third-party devices. The host server receives encrypted data requests from third-party devices, retrieves the corresponding encrypted data from storage, and transmits it to the requesting device. This intermediary architecture enables third-party data access while maintaining the anonymity of both the user device and third-party devices, as no direct communication channel between them is established.
2Ease of operation
If direct communication between user device and third-party device is established, then data transmission is achieved, but anonymity of both parties is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The host server acts as a mediator that handles all communication between user devices and third-party devices. Third-party devices send requests to the host server, which then retrieves encrypted data and forwards it to the appropriate device. This ensures that neither party learns the identity or direct contact information of the other, preserving anonymity while enabling seamless data transmission.
3Reliability
If encrypted data is stored and transmitted through a host server, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The encryption and decryption functionality is extracted from the host server and implemented locally on user devices and third-party devices. The host server only performs simple operations: storing encrypted data, receiving requests, and transmitting encrypted data between parties. This extraction of complex cryptographic operations to the edge devices reduces the computational burden and complexity of the central server while maintaining strong security through client-side encryption.
Data Source
AI summary
After NFC transaction information is sent from the first device to the second device via the NFC protocol, the second device sends the NFC transaction information to the third-party. Both the first device and the third-party compute the same transaction identifier utilizing the NFC transaction information, and both the first device and the third-party register with a host server utilizing this transaction identifier. The first device may then send a public key to the host server with the transaction identifier, and the host server may send the public key to the third-party. The third-party may encrypt a document using the public key and may send the encrypted document to the host server with the transaction identifier. The host server may then send the encrypted document to the first device, where the first device may decrypt and present/store the decrypted document.