Bridge computing device control in local networks of interconnected devices

• US 10,607,012 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2017
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Delphian Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Delphian Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Zimny, Arkadiusz, Hirpara, Ashok, Johnson, Thomas D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moreau, Austin J
• Application Number:
  US15/858,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20190205541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus for using a message broker that implements a publish-subscribe messaging protocol to exchange messages between a remote server and a bridge computing device of a local network of interconnected devices are disclosed. In one example, a bridge computing devices transmits to a remote server, a provisioning request in response to achieving a power-on state. The server generates and transmits, to the bridge computing device, a provisioning response that includes information indicating a channel to which the remote server will publish messages and a channel to which the bridge computing device should publish messages. The bridge computing device subscribes to the channel the server will publish to, and the server subscribes to the channel the bridge computing device will publish to. Third-party computing devices may also subscribe and publish to the channels in order to receive and provide messages to the bridge computing device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first computing device configured to connect a local network of interconnected devices to a wide area network, the first computing device comprising;

one or more first processors; and

first memory storing first instructions that, when executed by the one or more first processors, cause the first computing device to;

transmit, after achieving a power-on state, a provisioning request; and

a second computing device in signal communication with the first computing device, the second computing device comprising;

one or more second processors; and

second memory storing second instructions that, when executed by the one or more second processors, cause the second computing device to;

receive, from the first computing device, the provisioning request,

generate a provisioning response comprising;

first information indicating a first channel, provided by a message broker that implements a publish-subscribe messaging protocol, to which the first computing device shall publish one or more first messages, and

second information indicating a second channel, provided by the message broker, to which the second computing device shall publish one or more second messages,

subscribe to the first channel; and

transmit, to the first computing device, the provisioning response;

wherein the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to subscribe to the second channel after receiving the provisioning response.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to transmit, to the second computing device, an identifier; and

the second instructions, when executed, further cause the second computing device to identify, based on the identifier, a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second instructions, when executed, further cause the second computing device to transmit, to a third computing device, information indicating a channel to which the first computing device shall publish one or more messages; and

receipt of the information by the third computing device causes the third computing device to subscribe to the channel.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first channel to which the first computing device shall publish the one or more first messages is a device-specific channel that no other computing device of the local network of interconnected devices publishes to.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second instructions, when executed, further cause the second computing device to transmit, to a third computing device, a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

publication, by the first computing device and to a channel provided by the message broker, of a message causes the third computing device to decrypt, using the device-specific encryption key, at least a portion of the message that the first computing device has encrypted using the device-specific encryption key.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to decrypt, using the device-specific encryption key and after publication of a message by the third computing device to a channel provided by the message broker, at least a portion of the message that the third computing device has encrypted using the device-specific encryption key.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to;

encrypt at least a portion of a first message of the one or more first messages using a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device in order to obtain an encrypted message, and

publish the encrypted message to the first channel.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the portion of the first message that is encrypted using the device-specific encryption key comprises a payload of the first message.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second instructions, when executed, further cause the second computing device to;

encrypt at least a portion of a second message of the one or more second messages using a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device in order to obtain an encrypted message, and

publish the encrypted message to the second channel.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to publish, to the first channel, a first message of the one or more first messages; and

the second instructions, when executed, cause the second computing device to publish, to the second channel, a second message of the one or more second messages.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the first message comprises a request for a list of devices of the local network of interconnected devices that the second computing device determines to be associated with the first computing device; and

the second message comprises the list of devices.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the first message comprises a request for a portion of a file stored by the second computing device; and

the second message comprises the portion of the file requested.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first messages are a first type of message; and

the provisioning response further comprises third information indicating a third channel, provided by the message broker, to which the first computing device shall publish one or more third messages that are a second type of message different than the first type of message.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the provisioning response further comprises a first address of a first server of the message broker and a second address of a second server of the message broker; and

the first instructions, when executed, further cause the first computing device to;

connect to the first server at the first address before connecting to the second server, and

connect, automatically, to the second server at the second address after the first computing device loses connectivity to the first server.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device and after a second computing device achieves a power-on state, a provisioning request wherein the second computing device is configured to connect a local network of interconnected devices to a wide area network;

generating, by the first computing device and after receiving the provisioning request, a provisioning response comprising;

first information indicating a first channel, provided by a message broker that implements a publish-subscribe messaging protocol, to which the first computing device shall publish one or more first messages, and

second information indicating a second channel, provided by the message broker, to which the second computing device shall publish one or more second messages;

transmitting, by the first computing device to the second computing device, the provisioning response wherein receipt of the provisioning response by the second computing device causes the second computing device to subscribe to the first channel;

subscribing, by the first computing device, to the second channel; and

publishing, by the first computing device to the first channel, a message of the one or more first messages.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first computing device to a third computing device, the second information indicating the second channel to which the second computing device shall publish the one or more second messages; and

wherein receipt of the second information by the third computing device causes the third computing device to subscribe to the second channel.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first computing device to a third computing device, a device-specific encryption key associated with the second computing device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device from the second computing device, information indicating a plurality of message types that the second computing device shall publish.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, a message of the one or more second messages that the second computing device has published to the second channel; and

decrypting, by the first computing device and using a device-specific encryption key associated with the second computing device, at least a portion of the message that the second computing device has encrypted using the device-specific encryption key.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

encrypting, by the first computing device and using a device-specific encryption key associated with the second computing device, at least a portion of a message of the one or more first messages in order to obtain an encrypted message; and

publishing, by the first computing device to the first channel, the encrypted message.

22. A method comprising:

achieving, by a first computing device configured to connect a local network of interconnected devices to a wide area network, a power-on state;

transmitting, by the first computing device to a second computing device and after achieving the power-on state, a provisioning request;

receiving, by the first computing device from the second computing device, a provisioning response comprising;

first information indicating a first channel to which the first computing device shall publish one or more first messages, and

second information indicating a second channel to which the second computing device shall publish one or more second messages;

subscribing, by the first computing device and after receiving the provisioning response, to the second channel; and

publishing, by the first computing device to the first channel, a message.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

encrypting, by the first computing device and using a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device, at least a portion of a message of the one or more first messages to obtain an encrypted message; and

publishing, by the first computing device to the first channel, the encrypted message.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, a message of the one or more second messages published to the second channel; and

decrypting, by the first computing device and using a device-specific encryption key associated with the first computing device, at least a portion of the message that has been encrypted using the device-specific encryption key.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein:

the second computing device published the message to the second channel.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

a third computing device published the message to the second channel.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first computing device to the second computing device, information indicating a plurality of message types that the first computing device shall publish.