Apple has been granted a patent for “Secure Document Transfer” for moving documents using the near field communication (NFC) protocol.
The protocol is commonly used to transmit data in a contactless manner from a first device (such as a mobile device) to a second device (such as an NFC terminal). However, Apple says if the first device requests data that is only available from a third-party other than the second device, the NFC protocol has its drawbacks.
The company’s patent involves system of one or more computers can be configured to perform particular operations or actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, or a combination of them installed on the system. In operation they cause the system to perform specifi actions. One general aspect includes a computer-implemented method including receiving, at a host server from a user device, a public key, a user identifier, and a first request identifier/
Here’s part of Apple’s (highly technical) abstract of the patent: The first request identifier is generated by the user device utilizing details of an interaction between a NFC terminal and the user device; receiving, at the host server from a third-party server, a public key request that includes a second request identifier, the second request identifier generated by the third-party server utilizing the details of the interaction; comparing, by the host server, the first request identifier to the second request identifier; transmitting, by the host server, the public key to the third-party server in response to determining a match between the first request identifier and the second request identifier; receiving, at the host server from the third-party server, an encrypted document and the second request identifier, the encrypted document being encrypted utilizing the public key; and transmitting, by the host server, the encrypted document to the user device based at least in part on the user identifier. Other examples of this aspect include corresponding computer systems, apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one or more computer storage devices, each configured to perform the actions of the methods.
