Windows 7: Microsoft patents automatic device pairing system.

A recent patent application (via WMPowerUser.com) describes a system devised by Microsoft to enable automatic pairing of devices over short-range wireless connections such as Bluetooth and Wireless USB. With this system, after an initial manual pairing, say between a phone and a PC, would allow those devices to automatically pair with other related devices, such as a second PC.

The pairing mechanism would act as an alternative to the preexisting pairing mechanisms already built in to these protocols, and would require device support for both sides of the operation. Public key cryptography is used to securely share pairing information among different devices; that information might be transmitted via USB key, network connection or any other convenient method. The described system respects uesr identities, so merely pairing with a computer would not mean that anyone logged into the machine would be able to use an automatically paired device.