Device using secure storage and retrieval of data

• US 10,037,436 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2015
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Armouche, Hadi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Naghdali, Khalil
• Application Number:
  US14/967,066
• Publication Number:
  US 20170169250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 963 Days
• Field of Search: 713193
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

An appliance is capable of storing and processing data related to details surrounding its ownership, behavior, and history within itself in a secure and unalterable way. The appliance may experience multiple transfers in ownership during its lifetime. Certain data stored in the appliance may be encrypted such that only qualifying parties (e.g., owners) may be able to access the data. Some data may remain private to an individual owner while other data may be made available to subsequent owners by passing a shared secret that can be utilized to decrypt the other data. Data may be stored in the appliance in chronological order and may be signed by appropriate parties such that it is not possible to alter the data without detection.

Claims

1. An appliance comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

one or more state monitoring sensors coupled to the processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor, including code that is executable by the processor, for implementing a method comprising;

receiving, by the appliance and from a first owner device, a first encryption key and a second encryption key associated with a first owner of the appliance;

storing the first encryption key and the second encryption key in the appliance;

encrypting, by the appliance, first owner private data stored in the appliance using the first encryption key, wherein the first owner private data is not accessible to a second owner of the appliance;

encrypting, by the appliance, owners private data stored in the appliance using the second encryption key to form encrypted owners private data, wherein the owners private data is accessible by the second owner of the appliance;

receiving, by the appliance, from the first owner device associated with the first owner, ownership transfer data including the second encryption key, wherein the second encryption key is encrypted by the first owner device;

generating, by the appliance, an ownership transfer entry comprising the ownership transfer data;

receiving, by the appliance from a second owner device associated with the second owner, a decryption request for the ownership transfer data;

decrypting, by the appliance, the ownership transfer data;

retrieving, by the appliance, the second encryption key from the ownership transfer data; and

sending, by the appliance, the second encryption key to the second owner device, wherein the second owner device utilizes the second encryption key to access the owners private data.

2. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the first encryption key and the second encryption key are symmetric encryption keys.

3. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the appliance from the second owner device, a subsequent decryption request including the second encryption key for the owners private data;

decrypting, by the appliance, the encrypted owners private data;

retrieving, by the appliance, the owners private data; and

sending, by the appliance, the owners private data to the second owner device.

4. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises, prior to encrypting the first owner private data:

monitoring, by the one or more state monitoring sensors of the appliance, first data related to the appliance;

generating, by the appliance, the first owner private data based on the first data; and

storing, by the appliance, the first owner private data.

5. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises, prior to encrypting the owners private data:

monitoring, by the one or more state monitoring sensors of the appliance, second data related to the appliance;

generating, by the appliance, the owners private data based on the second data; and

storing, by the appliance, the owners private data.

6. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the first owner private data is accessible to only the first owner of the appliance.

7. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the owners private data is accessible to the first owner and the second owner of the appliance.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by an appliance and from a first owner device, a first encryption key and a second encryption key associated with a first owner of the appliance;

storing the first encryption key and the second encryption key in the appliance;

encrypting, by the appliance, first owner private data stored in the appliance using the first encryption key, wherein the first owner private data is not accessible to a second owner of the appliance; and

encrypting, by the appliance, owners private data stored in the appliance using the second encryption key to form encrypted owners private data, wherein the owners private data is accessible by the second owner of the appliance;

receiving, by the appliance, from the first owner device associated with the first owner, ownership transfer data including the second encryption key, wherein the second encryption key is encrypted by the first owner device;

generating, by the appliance, an ownership transfer entry comprising the ownership transfer data;

receiving, by the appliance from a second owner device associated with the second owner, a decryption request for the ownership transfer data;

decrypting, by the appliance, the ownership transfer data;

retrieving, by the appliance, the second encryption key from the ownership transfer data; and

sending, by the appliance, the second encryption key to the second owner device, wherein the second owner device utilizes the second encryption key to access the owners private data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first encryption key and the second encryption key are symmetric encryption keys.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the appliance from the second owner device, a subsequent decryption request including the second encryption key for the owners private data;

decrypting, by the appliance, the owners private data;

retrieving, by the appliance, the owners private data from the owners private data; and

sending, by the appliance, the owners private data to the second owner device.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising, prior to encrypting the first owner private data:

monitoring, by one or more state monitoring sensors of the appliance, first data related to the appliance;

generating, by the appliance, the first owner private data based on the first data; and

storing, by the appliance, the first owner private data.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising, prior to encrypting the owners private data:

monitoring, by one or more state monitoring sensors of the appliance, second data related to the appliance;

generating, by the appliance, the owners private data based on the second data; and

storing, by the appliance, the owners private data.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first owner private data is accessible to only the first owner of the appliance.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating, by the appliance, a digest of the first owner private data and owners private data;

digitally signing, by the appliance, the digest to form a signed digest; and

storing the signed digest in the appliance.