Vehicle gateway network protection

• US 10,055,904 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Miller, Jason Michael, Bielawski, Jr., John Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kyung J
• Application Number:
  US15/190,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20170372535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

Example systems and method are disclosed for vehicle network gateway protection. An example disclosed method to protect a vehicle includes managing state transitions of a gateway separating a telematic dongle and a vehicle data bus. The example method also includes, when the gateway is in a field state, blocking first requests from the telematic dongle. Additionally, the example method includes, in response to the gateway transitioning to the field state, blocking the first requests and second requests from the telematic dongle for a period of time.

Claims

1. A method to protect a vehicle, the method comprising:

intercepting messages sent by a telematic dongle by a gateway that physically separates the telematic dongle from a vehicle data bus;

when the gateway is in a field state, blocking the messages sent by the telematic dongle to the vehicle data bus that include a first type of request; and

in response to the gateway transitioning to the field state, blocking the messages sent by the telematic dongle to the vehicle data bus that include the first type of request and a second type of request for a period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, including when the gateway is in the field state, allowing messages that include the second type of request sent by the telematic dongle to reach the vehicle data bus.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein states of the gateway include the field state, a transition state, and a diagnostic state.

4. The method of claim 1, including:

in response to power being applied to the gateway, obtaining a feature status value from a non-volatile protected memory;

when the feature status value is indicative of being enabled, transitioning the gateway to a transition state; and

when the feature status value is indicative of being disabled, transitioning the gateway to a diagnostic state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein when the gateway is in the diagnostic state, allowing messages that include the first type of request and the second type of request sent by the telematic dongle to reach the vehicle data bus.

6. The method of claim 4, including, when the gateway is in the transition state:

monitoring a speed of the vehicle;

when the speed of the vehicle satisfies a threshold, transitioning the gateway to the field state; and

when the speed of the vehicle does not satisfy the threshold, transitioning the gateway to the diagnostic state.

7. The method of claim 4, including when the gateway is in the diagnostic state:

monitoring a speed of the vehicle; and

when the speed of the vehicle satisfies a threshold and the feature status value in the non-volatile protected memory is indicative of the being enabled, transitioning to the gateway to the field state.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of request cause electronic control units communicatively coupled to the vehicle data bus to reset or transition to a diagnostic session, and wherein the second type of request cause the electronic control units communicatively coupled to the vehicle data bus to report status information.

9. The method of claim 1, including:

storing a value indicative of a setting of a feature status in non-volatile protected memory; and

in response to a request to change the value indicative of the feature status in the non-volatile protected memory to be indicative of a disabled setting;

requesting an authentication token; and

in response to the authentication token being valid, changing the value in the non-volatile protected memory to be indicative of the disabled setting.

10. A system to protect a vehicle, the system comprising:

a gateway in the vehicle electrically connected to a diagnostic port, the gateway physically separating the diagnostic port and a telematic dongle plugged into the diagnostic port from a vehicle data bus, the gateway including non-volatile protected memory and a processor;

the non-volatile protected memory storing a value indicative of a feature status; and

the processor to;

when the gateway is in a field state, block messages that include a first type of diagnostic requests sent by the telematic dongle to electronic control units; and

in response to the gateway transitioning to the field state, block, for a period of time, messages that include the first type of diagnostic requests and a second type of diagnostic requests sent by the telematic dongle to the electronic control units.

11. The system of claim 10, including when the gateway is in the field state, allowing messages that include the second type of diagnostic requests sent by the telematic dongle to reach the electronic control units.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein states of the gateway include the field state, a transition state, and a diagnostic state.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is to:

in response to power being applied to the gateway, obtain the value of the feature status from the non-volatile protected memory;

when the value of the feature status is indicative of being enabled, transition the gateway to a transition state; and

when the value of the feature status is indicative of being disabled, transition the gateway to a diagnostic state.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is to, when the gateway is in the diagnostic state, allow the messages that include the first type of diagnostic requests and the messages that include the second type of diagnostic requests sent by the telematic dongle to reach the electronic control units.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein, when the gateway is in the transition state, the processor is to:

monitor a speed of the vehicle;

when the speed of the vehicle satisfies a threshold, transition the gateway to the field state; and

when the speed of the vehicle does not satisfy the threshold, transition the gateway to the diagnostic state.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein when the gateway is in the diagnostic state, the processor is to:

monitor a speed of the vehicle; and

when the speed of the vehicle satisfies a threshold and the value of the feature status is indicative of being enabled, transition the gateway to the field state.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the first type of diagnostic requests cause the electronic control units communicatively coupled to the vehicle data bus to reset or transition to a diagnostic session, and wherein the second type of diagnostic requests cause the electronic control units communicatively coupled to the vehicle data bus to report status information.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein in response to a request to change the value of the feature status in the non-volatile protected memory to be indicative of a disabled setting, the processor is to:

request an authentication token; and

in response to the authentication token being valid, change the value of the feature status in the non-volatile protected memory to be indicative of a disabled setting.