Patents by Inventor Michael S. Brown

Michael S. Brown has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8972731
    Abstract: Embodiments of the systems, devices, and methods described herein generally facilitate the secure transmittal of security parameters. In accordance with at least one embodiment, a representation of first data comprising a password is generated at the first computing device as an image or audio signal. The image or audio signal is transmitted from the first computing device to the second computing device. The password is determined from the image or audio signal at the second computing device. A key exchange is performed between the first computing device and the second computing device wherein a key is derived at each of the first and second computing devices. In at least one embodiment, one or more security parameters (e.g. one or more public keys) are exchanged between the first and second computing devices, and techniques for securing the exchange of security parameters or authenticating exchanged security parameters are generally disclosed herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael S. Brown, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8966054
    Abstract: A method, system and mobile communication device for implementing a serverless presence system are provided. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method of sharing presence information between a group of mobile communication devices configured to communicate over a wireless network, the mobile communication devices defining the group members of the group, the method comprising: sending a data packet from a sending group member to at least one of the other group members; determining a presence status in accordance with whether a delivery acknowledgement is received by the sending group member from each of the other group members to which the data packet was sent within a predetermined duration from the sending of the data packet; storing the determined presence status in memory; and sending a presence update comprising the determined presence status of at least some of the group members to all of the group members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Herbert A. Little, Michael S. Brown
  • Publication number: 20150050887
    Abstract: Embodiments of the systems, devices and methods described herein generally facilitate performing Bluetooth pairing between a first device and a second device. In accordance with one example embodiment, a first device generates a barcode that encodes Bluetooth pairing data for transmission to the second device, wherein the pairing data comprises a Bluetooth address associated with the first device, and wherein the pairing data further comprises a personal identification number usable to complete the Bluetooth pairing, the barcode is transmitted to the second device, and Bluetooth pairing is performed with the second device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Publication date: February 19, 2015
    Inventors: Michael S. Brown, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8943323
    Abstract: A method is provided for provisioning a device certificate. A device certificate request is transmitted from a communication device to a server in a communication network using an established communications channel between the communication device and the server. The device certificate request comprises at least a user identifier and a device identifier. The server provides to the communication device a device certificate that includes the user identifier and the device identifier and that is signed by a private key of a certificate authority.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown, Michael Kirkup
  • Patent number: 8898473
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for pre-processing encrypted and/or signed messages at a host system before the message is transmitted to a wireless mobile communication device. The message is received at the host system from a message sender. There is a determination as to whether any of the message receivers has a corresponding wireless mobile communication device. For each message receiver that has a corresponding wireless mobile communication device: the message is processed so as to modify the message with respect to encryption and/or authentication aspect. The processed message is transmitted to a wireless mobile communication device that corresponds to the first message receiver. The system and method may include post-processing messages sent from a wireless mobile communications device to a remote system. Authentication and/or encryption message processing is performed upon the message. The processed message may then be sent through the remote system to one or more receivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: James A. Godfrey, Herbert A. Little, Michael K. Brown, Neil P. Adams, Carl L. Cherry, Timothy R. Tyhurst, Michael S. Brown
  • Patent number: 8879994
    Abstract: Embodiments of the systems, devices and methods described herein generally facilitate performing Bluetooth pairing between a first device and a second device. In accordance with one example embodiment, a first device generates a barcode that encodes Bluetooth pairing data for transmission to the second device, wherein the pairing data comprises a Bluetooth address associated with the first device, and wherein the pairing data further comprises a personal identification number usable to complete the Bluetooth pairing, the barcode is transmitted to the second device, and Bluetooth pairing is performed with the second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael S. Brown, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8874080
    Abstract: A mobile communications device receives and handles an encoded message. State data about the encoded message is generated based upon a first access of the encoded message. The device stores the generated message state data in a cache of the mobile communications device; generates a message indicator based upon the message state data stored in the cache of the mobile device; and processes the encoded message on a background thread running on the mobile device. The process determines that a message state change has occurred since the message was last opened and provides an updated message indicator to a user of the mobile device that reflects the message state change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael S. Brown, Neil P. Adams, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8850188
    Abstract: A system and method for processing certificates located in a certificate search. Certificates located in a certificate search are processed at a data server (e.g. a mobile data server) coupled to a computing device (e.g. a mobile device) to determine status data that can be used to indicate the status of those certificates to a user of the computing device. Selected certificates may be downloaded to the computing device for storage, and the downloaded certificates are tracked by the data server. This facilitates the automatic updating of the status of one or more certificates stored on the computing device by the data server, in which updated status data is pushed from the data server to the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Neil P. Adams, Herbert A. Little, Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown, Michael G. Kirkup
  • Publication number: 20140256350
    Abstract: A method and user device for limiting a time for which location data sharing is enabled for a user device of a data sharing group, the data sharing group comprising at least two user devices inclusive of the user device, each user device of the data sharing group configured to store data shared by user devices of the data sharing group on the respective user device and to maintain a list of the user devices in the data sharing group. The method comprises receiving an instruction through a user interface on the user device indicating that location data sharing is to be enabled for a limited time period after which location sharing is to be disabled, obtaining location data for the user device during the limited time period; and sending the location data to at least one other user device of the sharing group during the limited time period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: BLACKBERRY LIMITED
    Inventors: ANDREW D. BOCKING, THEBAN GANESHALINGAM, HERBERT A. LITTLE, MICHAEL S. BROWN
  • Patent number: 8831569
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing encoded messages within a wireless communications system are disclosed. A server within the wireless communications system performs signature verification of an encoded message and provides, together with the message, an indication to the mobile device that the message has been verified. In addition, the server provides supplemental information, such as, for example, a hash of the certificate or certificate chain used to verify the message, to the device, to enable the device to perform additional checks on the certificate, such as, for example, validity checks, trust checks, strength checks, or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8832445
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for handling electronic messages. An electronic message is examined as to whether the message contains one or more encoding properties. A visual indication is generated for use in a display to a user wherein the visual indication is displayed to the extent to which the encoding property applies to a displayed portion of the message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Michael S. Brown
  • Patent number: 8805426
    Abstract: A communication device is configured to receive messages. The communication device may comprise a display screen upon which messages are displayed. A microprocessor configured to execute at least one message management program on the communication device, filters incoming messages. The message management program comprising a message filter application filters received messages based on a comparison of sender identification data associated with a received message to approved sender identification data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Blackberry Limited
    Inventors: Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown, Michael E. McCallum
  • Publication number: 20140223186
    Abstract: A system and method for verifying a digital signature on a certificate, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, when a digital signature is successfully verified in a signature verification operation, the public key used to verify that digital signature is cached. When a subsequent attempt to verify the digital signature is made, the public key to be used to verify the digital signature is compared to the cached key. If the keys match, the digital signature can be successfully verified without requiring that a signature verification operation in which some data is decoded using the public key be performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: BLACKBERRY LIMITED
    Inventors: Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown
  • Patent number: 8761396
    Abstract: A system and method for securing data for redirecting and transporting over a wireless network are generally described herein. In accordance with some embodiments, when it is determined that an electronic message that is protected with a first encryption algorithm is to be transported over a wireless network to a wireless device, the electronic message is converted to a data structure that is recognizable by the wireless device and the data structure is encrypted with a second encryption algorithm using a random session key. The second encryption algorithm has a stronger security than the first encryption algorithm. The random session key is encrypted with a public key and packets that comprise the encrypted data structure and the encrypted random session key are transmitted to the wireless device over the wireless network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Herbert A. Little, Michael K. Brown, Jonathan F. Hammell, Michael S. Brown, Michael G. Kirkup, Neil P. Adams
  • Publication number: 20140136190
    Abstract: Standard word lists that are often used for such operations as predictive text, spell checking, and word completion are based on general linguistic data that might not accurately reflect actual text usage patterns of particular users. Systems and methods of building and using a custom word list for use in text operations on an electronic device are provided. A collection of text items associated with a user of the electronic device is scanned to identify words in the text items. A weighting is then assigned to each identified word, and the words and corresponding weightings are stored.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Robert J. LOWLES, Jason T. GRIFFIN, Michael S. BROWN
  • Patent number: 8720780
    Abstract: Embodiments of the systems, devices, and methods described herein generally facilitate the display of a barcode at a computing device for capture by another computing device. In accordance with one example embodiment, a barcode is generated at a first computing device, the barcode is displayed on a display screen associated with the first computing device, and one or more display properties of the barcode are dynamically modified while it is displayed at the first computing device until the barcode is successfully captured (e.g. by a camera) at a second computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael S. Brown, Herbert A. Little
  • Patent number: 8725643
    Abstract: A system and method for verifying a digital signature on a certificate, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, when a digital signature is successfully verified in a signature verification operation, the public key used to verify that digital signature is cached. When a subsequent attempt to verify the digital signature is made, the public key to be used to verify the digital signature is compared to the cached key. If the keys match, the digital signature can be successfully verified without requiring that a signature verification operation in which some data is decoded using the public key be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael K. Brown, Michael S. Brown
  • Publication number: 20140120437
    Abstract: A reactor system is integrated internally within an anode-side cavity of a fuel cell. The reactor system is configured to convert higher hydrocarbons to smaller species while mitigating the lower production of solid carbon. The reactor system may incorporate one or more of a pre-reforming section, an anode exhaust gas recirculation device, and a reforming section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2013
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Applicant: ACUMENTRICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Neil Edward Fernandes, Michael S. Brown, Praveen Cheekatamaria, Thomas Deng, James Dimitrakopoulos, Anthony F. Litka
  • Publication number: 20140114858
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to the authentication of contactless payments attempted by a device having embedded contactless payment functionality. In particular, the disclosure is directed to systems and methods that utilize authentication schemes that already exist on a device in which the contactless payment functionality is embedded. One example of such authentication schemes is the use of password protection to lock or unlock the device in which the contactless payment functionality is embedded. Using the password protection functionality may provide varying levels of authentication protection based on the desires of the user. A number of exemplary uses of such a method and apparatus are disclosed herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Neil Patrick ADAMS, Michael Kenneth BROWN, Michael S. BROWN
  • Patent number: 8699886
    Abstract: The present invention utilizes external synchronization to generate a completely standardized or functionally standardized optical transmission unit of level k (OTUk[V]) signal providing less jitter and wander build-up through a network of optical transport network (OTN) elements. This increases noise margins of transported signals and payloads. The present invention provides stratum-level synchronization utilizing a standards-based approach. In one embodiment of the present invention, rate adapters are included to provide m/n scaling of OTUk[V] signals to rates common in SONET and SDH synchronizers to provide line and loop distribution of timing through OTUk[V] signals. The present invention provides a choice of external synchronization sources including building integrated timing source (BITS), line, and loop timing sources. In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides multiple external references and automated timing protection switching for redundancy and reliability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Ciena Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin S. Meagher, James M. Allard, Michael S. Brown