Surrogate Credentials for Mobile Emergency Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
In emergency situations, users are unable to access their mobile devices due to damage, loss, or unavailability, hindering the retrieval of digital identities and emergency services, which can put lives at risk and waste resources.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that provides surrogate credentials and a secure guest mode on mobile devices, allowing users to access identity and emergency services through another device via multi-access edge computing, ensuring secure authentication and temporary credential sharing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital identities are stored on user devices, then identity access is convenient and fast, but the system becomes vulnerable to unavailability when devices are damaged or lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network device as an intermediary between the user device and the identity service. This mediator stores credentials and enables authentication even when the original user device is unavailable, resolving the contradiction by decoupling identity access from device availability while maintaining security through controlled credential sharing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring surrogate credentials and guest mode capabilities on the network device before emergencies occur. This allows immediate authentication and service access when devices become unavailable, improving reliability without requiring complex real-time decision-making during crises.
2Reliability
If surrogate credentials are provided on other devices, then access to emergency services is enabled during device unavailability, but security risks increase due to credential sharing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating distinct authentication modes with different security characteristics. The guest mode provides controlled access with limited privileges, while the owner mode maintains full security controls. This resolves the security contradiction by ensuring that credential sharing occurs only under specific, controlled conditions rather than universally.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes security parameters dynamically based on the authentication mode. In guest mode, credentials are shared with restricted access rights; in owner mode, full security controls are enforced. This parameter adjustment allows the system to provide emergency access when needed while maintaining security during normal operation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If secure authentication protocols are implemented, then security is maintained, but access time increases during emergency situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic authentication where the system adapts the authentication process based on the situation. The network device can quickly verify pre-configured surrogate credentials in emergency scenarios without requiring full multi-factor authentication, thus reducing authentication time while maintaining adequate security through the controlled guest mode framework.
Data Source
AI summary
A user device may invoke, for a user associated with an unavailable user device, a guest mode, and may connect the user device with a network device based on invoking the guest mode. The user device may provide credentials of the user and a secure input of the user to the network device based on invoking the guest mode, and may receive an identity service and an emergency service for the user when the secure input is authenticated by the network device. The user device may associate, via the identity service, the user with the user device to enable the user to utilize the emergency service, and may provide, via the emergency service, one or more emergency notifications. The user device may receive an indication of the user exiting the guest mode, and may remove the credentials of the user from a memory based on the indication.