Afero, Inc.

Scott Zimmerman

Joe Britt

Shannon Holland

Houman Forood

Shin Matsumura

Stephen Sewerynek

Sean Zawicki

Daisuke Kutami

Phillip Myles

Chris Aiuto

Clif Liu

Lucas Finkelstein

Omar Fawazhashim Zakaria

Nickolas Heckman

Robey Pointer

Evan Jeng

Daniel Altin

Chris Auito

Scott Bartlett

Justin Lee

Philip Myles

Joel Black

Siddhartha Ray

A system, apparatus, and method for sharing network credentials. One embodiment of a method comprises: establishing a Bluetooth connection between a first Internet of Things (IoT) device and a mobile device of a first user having an IoT app installed, the mobile device to couple the first IoT device to an IoT service; receiving a request from a user from the mobile device to configure the first IoT device using network credentials from a second IoT device, the second IoT device registered with an account of the user on the IoT service and configured to connect to a secure network of the user with the network credentials; establishing a communication channel between the first IoT device and the second IoT device through the IoT service and the mobile device to obtain the network credentials; and using the network credentials at the first IoT device to securely connect to the secure network.

System and method for securely configuring a new device with network credentials

A system and method are described for performing flow control in an IoT system. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: a plurality of IoT devices; an IoT hub to establish local wireless connections with the plurality of IoT devices to communicatively couple the plurality of IoT devices to an IoT service; the IoT hub to store flow control parameters for each of the plurality of IoT devices, the flow control parameters determined based on data communication requirements of each of the IoT devices and indicating one or more data communication thresholds for each of the IoT devices; the IoT hub to monitor data communication with each of the IoT devices to determine whether one of the IoT devices has reached a data communication threshold specified by the flow control parameters, wherein in response to a first IoT device reaching its data communication threshold, the IoT hub temporarily preventing communication between the first IoT device and the IoT service.

System and method for flow control in an internet of things (IoT) system

An apparatus and method are described for sharing WiFi credentials. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: generating a first secret on a first IoT device, the first IoT device having WiFi credentials stored thereon; sharing the first secret with a second IoT device; encrypting the WiFi credentials on the first IoT device using the first secret to generate encrypted WiFi credentials; receiving the encrypted WiFi credentials from the first IoT device at an IoT service; encrypting the encrypted WiFi credentials at the IoT service using a second secret to generate twice-encrypted WiFi credentials, the second secret known by the second IoT device; transmitting the twice-encrypted WiFi credentials from the IoT service to the second IoT device; decrypting, at the second IoT device, the twice-encrypted WiFi credentials using the second secret to generate the encrypted WiFi credentials and decrypting the encrypted WiFi credentials using the first secret to generate the WiFi credentials; and establishing a secure WiFi connection on the second IoT device using the WiFi credentials.

Apparatus and method for sharing credentials in an internet of things (IoT) system

A system and method are described for preventing security breaches in an IoT system. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: an Internet of Things (IoT) device comprising a wireless communication module to establish communication with a plurality of IoT hubs over local wireless communication channels; advertising control logic to transmit first advertising beacons to the plurality of IoT hubs of a user indicating that the IoT device is connectable; the advertising control logic to begin transmitting a second advertising beacon to IoT hubs indicating that the IoT device is not connectable if the IoT device establishes a connection with a first IoT hub, the IoT hubs other than the first IoT hub to report the not connectable status of the IoT device to an IoT service; and a connection security module of the IoT service to determine whether the IoT device is connected to any known IoT hub upon receiving the not connectable status from one or more of the IoT hubs; wherein if the connection security module cannot identify a known IoT hub to which the IoT device is connected, then an alert condition is generated.

System and method for preventing security breaches in an internet of things (IoT) system

An apparatus and method are described for securely providing a User ID and/or password to an IoT device. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: receiving at an Internet of Things (IoT) service a request from a mobile device over a first communication channel to transmit credentials for a particular online service to an IoT device, responsively encrypting the credentials to generate encrypted credentials and transmitting the encrypted credentials to the IoT device over a second communication channel, decrypting the encrypted credentials at the IoT device, and providing the credentials by the IoT device to a computer over a third communication channel, the computer causing the credentials to be provided to the online service to authenticate the user.

Securely providing a password using an internet of things (IoT) system

A platform, apparatus and method for disabling IoT-enabled home devices. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: an Internet of Things (IoT) hub comprising a network interface to couple the IoT hub to an IoT service over a wide area network (WAN), and an IoT device communicatively coupled to the IoT hub over a wireless communication channel; the IoT device comprising a sensor to measure a local condition affected by a local device in a user's home, the local device being potentially hazardous if accidentally left on, the IoT device communicating one or more measurements of the local condition to the IoT hub over the wireless communication channel; control logic on the IoT hub to receive the one or more measurements of the local condition from the sensor and to evaluate the one or more measurements to determine whether the local device has been accidentally left on, the control logic to general a signal to turn off the local device in response to a determination that the local device has been accidentally left on.

System and method for using data collected from internet-of-things (IoT) sensors to disable IoT-enabled home devices

An apparatus and method are described for obscuring wireless communication patterns. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: an Internet of Things (IoT) device comprising a wireless communication interface to establish communication with an IoT service; the IoT device including an application to execute commands received from the IoT service and to responsively generate a response; and messaging obfuscation logic to modify timing for transmitting the response to the IoT service.

Apparatus and method for obscuring wireless communication patterns

A method and system for connecting an Internet of Things (IoT) hub to a wireless network. One embodiment of the method includes establishing a secure communication channel between an IoT hub and an IoT service through a client device using a first secret; generating a second secret on the client device and transmitting it to the IoT hub; encrypting a wireless key using the second secret to generate a first-encrypted key and transmitting it to the IoT service; encrypting the first-encrypted key using the first secret to generate a twice-encrypted key and transmitting it to the IoT hub over the secure communication channel; decrypting the twice-encrypted key at the IoT hub using the first secret to generate the first-encrypted key and decrypting it using the second secret to generate the wireless key usable to establish a secure wireless connection between the IoT hub and the local wireless network.

Apparatus and method for sharing WiFi security data in an internet of things (IoT) system

A system and method are described for virtualizing Internet of Things (IoT) devices and hubs. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: a primary Internet of Things (IoT) cloud service to register IoT devices owned by users who have subscribed with the primary IoT cloud service; IoT device management logic on the primary IoT cloud service to provide access to data generated by the primary IoT devices and to control the IoT devices responsive to user input; the IoT device management logic to establish a communication channel with an external IoT cloud service responsive to a user registering one or more external IoT devices controlled by the external IoT cloud service; and wherein upon the external IoT cloud service providing the IoT device management logic with access to the one or more external IoT devices, the IoT device management logic to generate virtual representations of the one or more external IoT devices to allow user access to information generated by the external IoT devices and to allow the user to control the external IoT devices through the virtual representations.

System and method for virtual internet of things (IoT) devices and hubs

System and method for preventing security breaches in an internet of things (IOT) system

An apparatus and method are described for securely providing a User ID and/or password to an IoT device. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: establishing a first communication channel between a user's mobile device and an Internet of Things (IoT) service; establishing a second communication channel between the IoT service and an IoT device, the IoT device having been previously registered with the IoT service; establishing a third communication channel between the IoT device and a computer on which the user is connecting to the online service; receiving at the IoT service a request from the mobile device to transmit a User ID and/or password for a particular online service to the IoT device; responsively encrypting the User ID and/or password to generate an encrypted User ID and/or password and transmitting the encrypted User ID and/or password to the IoT device; decrypting the encrypted User ID and/or password at the IoT device; and providing the User ID and/or password by the IoT device to the computer over the third communication channel, the computer causing the User ID and/or password to be provided to the online service to authenticate the user.

Securely providing a password using an internet of things (IOT) system

An apparatus and method are described for modifying packet interval timing to identify a data transfer condition. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: an Internet of Things (IoT) device comprising a first wireless networking interface to establish communication with an IoT hub over a local wireless network channel, the first wireless networking interface implementing a first advertising interval between advertising packets; advertising interval selection logic to cause the first wireless networking interface to use a second advertising interval for advertising packets upon detecting that the IoT device has data to be transmitted to the IoT hub, the IoT hub to detect that the IoT device has data to be transmitted based on the change to the second advertising interval.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Scott Zimmerman