Apple wants to make it easier to share an electronic key as evidenced by a newly granted patent for “User Interfaces for Sharing an Electronic Key.”
An electronic key (or eKey) is a digital or electronic version of a key that allows for secure, app-based access to various systems, including smart locks, real estate lockboxes, and online government services.
About the patent
Electronic keys optionally provide access to physical locations, for example, by a wireless communication between the device storing the electronic key (for example, an iPhone) and an external device (say, an Apple Card) or app (Apple’s Wallet) that grants physical access to the physical location.
However, Apple says that some techniques for sharing an electronic key using electronic devices, “are generally cumbersome and inefficient.”For example, some existing techniques use a complex and time-consuming user interface, which may include multiple key presses or keystrokes.
Apple says that existing techniques require more time than necessary, wasting user time and device energy. This latter consideration is particularly important in battery-operated devices.
Apple’s patent provides electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for sharing an electronic key. Additionally, such methods and interfaces provide improved security for an electronic key sharing process and how electronic devices share physical access rights when electronic keys are shared.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “The present disclosure generally relates to user interfaces for sharing and/or re-sharing an electronic key that is provisioned onto an electronic wallet of a computer system.”
I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. All our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
