Smart Home Control Relationship Removal and Permission Revocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In smart home systems, owners face challenges in securely managing control relationships between devices and user accounts, particularly when they forget to revoke permissions shared with family members, leading to potential security risks.
Innovation Solution
A method and device for managing control relationships, where a server processes removal requests from user accounts, determines account types, and automatically removes full and limited control relationships between owner and share accounts, ensuring secure revocation of permissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the owner manually removes each limited control relationship one-by-one from each share account, then the full control relationship is removed, but the process is time-consuming and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically identifying all share accounts associated with a device before the owner completes the removal process. When the owner initiates removal of their full control relationship, the server proactively retrieves all share accounts and prepares the revocation list in advance, so that when confirmation is given, all permissions are removed simultaneously without manual intervention for each account.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing the owner's single removal request to automatically trigger the identification and revocation of all share account permissions. The server autonomously manages the entire process of finding share accounts, preparing the revocation list, and executing simultaneous removals without requiring the owner to manually visit each share account or configure individual removals.
2Ease of operation
If the owner forgets to revoke share account permissions before removing full control relationship, then the full control relationship is removed, but security risks remain due to retained share permissions
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by providing the owner with a clear preview of all share accounts that will have their permissions removed, along with the specific permissions affected. This feedback loop allows the owner to verify that the intended revocations are correct before final confirmation, ensuring awareness of the security implications while maintaining the simplicity of a single-confirmation removal process.
Solution Approach 2:
The server performs preliminary action by automatically retrieving and listing all share accounts and their associated permissions before the owner finalizes the removal. This advance preparation ensures that no share permissions are overlooked or forgotten, as the complete list is generated and presented to the owner prior to execution, thereby eliminating security risks while keeping the operation simple.
3Reliability
If the system automatically retrieves and removes all share account permissions when full control relationship is removed, then security is enhanced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs self-service by autonomously managing the entire complexity of identifying share accounts, retrieving their permission sets, preparing the revocation list, and executing simultaneous removals. The owner only needs to initiate the process and confirm, while the server handles all the complex operations in the background, thereby enhancing security without exposing the user to system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the removal process into distinct phases: initialization (owner triggers removal), processing (server retrieves share accounts and prepares revocation list), and execution (simultaneous removal upon confirmation). This segmentation allows the complex operations to be isolated and managed systematically on the server side, while the user interface remains simple and intuitive.
Data Source
AI summary
A method may include receiving a removal request from a first user account, the removal request configured to request removal of a control relationship between the first user account and a device. A method may further include determining whether the first user account is an owner account of the device or a share account of the device. A method may further include retrieving a first share account corresponding to the device, the first share account being an account having permission to control the device, wherein the permission to control the device has been shared with the first share account by a user account different from the first share account. A method may further include removing a full control relationship between the owner account and the device. A method may further include removing a limited control relationship between the first share account and the device.