Apple Inc.

Raghunandan K Pai

Siva Ganesh Movva

Karthik Narayanan

Tommy Rochette

Scott Lopatin

Navin Bindiganavile Suparna

Emmanuel Lalande

Yannick L Sierra

Patrice Olivier Gautier

James C Wilson

Eric Daniel Friedman

Robert William Mayor

Kevin M Lynch

James R Wilson

Sriram Hariharan

John Gates

Sudhakar N Mambakkam

Prabhakaran Vaidyanathaswami

Ramarathnam Santhanagopal

Selvarajan Subramaniam

Paul William Chinn

Langford M Wasada

Robert D Watson

Brent Michael Ledvina

Ivan Krstic

Munish K Poonia

Lawrence T Lu

Sam Schaevitz

Swadesh Bhattacharya

Sorin V Dusan

Scott Charles Grinker

Andreas Edgar Schobel

Julien F Freudiger

Paul W Salzman

David John Williams

Frank De Jong

Sarish Jain

Swaminathan Jayaraman

Timothy S Hurley

Kyle C Brogle

Thomas P Mensch

Samuel B Schaevitz

Adam M Driscoll

Albert R Howard

Thomas Chathoth Abraham

Christina Selle

Jonathan R Schoenberg

Rachel F Needle

Tunc Ertan

Michael C Laster

Nicholas D Shourounis

Aashish Patil

Mads N Paulin

Ernst Thomas Erdmann

John Patrick Gates

Embodiments described herein provide a service to enable a user to track a variety of even when those devices are not connected to the internet by either Wi-Fi or cellular. One embodiment provides techniques to enable a pairing registration for a wireless accessory device that enables a server-mediated pairing process to be performed between the wireless accessory device and a companion device.

Secure pairing and pairing lock for accessory devices

Embodiments described herein provide for system and methods to crowdsource the location of wireless devices and accessories that lack a connection to a wide area network. One embodiment provides for a data processing system configured to perform operations comprising loading a user interface on an electronic device, the user interface to enable the determination of a location of a wireless accessory that is associated with the electronic device, generating a set of public keys included within a signal broadcast by the wireless accessory, the signal broadcast during a first period, sending the set of public keys to a server with a request to return data that corresponds with a public key in the set of public keys, decrypting the location data using a private key associated with the public key, and processing the location data to determine a probable location for the wireless accessory.

System and method for locating wireless accessories

A device implementing end-to-end encryption for location sharing may include at least one processor configured to generate a public-private keypair. The at least one processor may be further configured to encrypt, using a first key of the public-private keypair, location data corresponding to a location of the electronic device. The at least one processor may be further configured to transmit, to a server, the encrypted location data for storage. The at least one processor may be further configured to transmit, via a secure communication channel, a second key of the public-private keypair to another electronic device for subsequent retrieval of the encrypted location data by the other electronic device.

End-to-end encryption for location sharing

In some implementations, a first computing device can send notifications at times that the first computing device is not in an expected location. A user of a second computing device can remotely configure an expected location for the first computing device, which may be a particular location for a certain period of time. During that time, the first computing device can monitor its own location and check whether it is within the expected location. If the first computing device unexpectedly leaves or fails to enter the expected location, the first computing device may transmit a notification to the second computing device. Similarly, if the first computing device loses connectivity with other devices, a server device may notify the second computing device that the location of the first computing device cannot be determined.

Generating unexpected location notifications

A device locator mode or find my device (FMD) mode can allow a lost, stolen, or misplaced mobile device to be located. The FMD mode can be enabled or disabled on a mobile device. Sometimes thieves or unauthorized parties attempt to disable the FMD mode. To prevent this, the mobile device can transmit a unique device identifier to a remote server. The remote server can link the device identifier to a cloud-based user account associated with the user of the mobile device. Before an FMD mode is disabled on the mobile device, before the content or settings can be erased, and/or before a mobile device is permitted to be activated/reactivated, a user of the mobile device can be challenged for the credentials of the cloud-based user account. If valid credentials are provided, FMD can be disabled, the content or settings can be reset, and/or the device can be activated/reactivated.

Device locator disable authentication

Embodiments described herein provide for system and methods to enable the secure streaming of real-time location data between electronic devices. One embodiment provides for a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions to perform operations comprising creating record to specify a location streaming relationship between a first device registered with a first user account and a second device registered with a second online account, the record including a secret key. The record is stored to an online datastore and shared between the first user account and the second online account. The location data stream can be encrypted using the secret key stored in the record.

Secure streaming of real-time location data between electronic devices

Some embodiments of the invention provide a program for recovering access to a service associated with an account. The program provides a login credential to log into the account to receive the associated service. Next, the program receives an access continuation parameter (ACP) after logging into the account. The program then accesses the service and receives a rejection of a subsequent access to the service. The program then provides the ACP in lieu of the login credential to continue to receive the service.

Account access recovery system, method and apparatus

Systems, methods, devices and non-transitory, computer-readable storage mediums are disclosed for location-tracking wireless devices. In an embodiment, a method performed by an electronic device comprises: playing, or initiating the playing of, a sound through a loudspeaker of an accessory device via a communication link. The sound is played at a specified frequency that utilizes a frequency response of the loudspeaker (or loudspeaker plus speaker enclosure). The sound is received through two or more microphones of the electronic device and filtered by one or more filters. The one or more filters are configured to pass the sound at or around the specified frequency and to reduce masking of the sound by ambient noise. The filtered sound is associated with direction data generated from sensor data provided by one or more inertial sensors of the electronic device. In another embodiment, the specified frequency is higher than the maximum human hearing range.

Locating wireless devices

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Raghunandan K Pai