Method and system for technician authentication of a vehicle

• US 20040003249A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Temic Automotive of North America, Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Dabbish, Ezzat A., Levenson, Samuel M., Fehr, Walton L., Puhl, Larry C., Reinold, Jurgen
• Granted Patent: US 7,228,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/170
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0234 related to maintenance or repairing of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• 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 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response

Abstract

The service technician accesses the prospective vehicle and obtains from a certification authority a certification that an authentic vehicle is associated with a cryptographic key. The service technician utilizes the cryptographic key in cryptographic communication with the prospective vehicle via a secure device having limited accessibility but being accessible by the service technician. The service technician determines whether the prospective vehicle is the authentic vehicle based on whether the cryptographic key is successfully utilized in the cryptographic communication with the prospective vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for authentication of a prospective vehicle by a service technician for performing a service operation on the prospective vehicle, the method performed by the service technician and a secure device, and comprising the steps of:

accessing the prospective vehicle;

obtaining from a certification authority a certification that an authentic vehicle is associated with a cryptographic key;

utilizing the cryptographic key in cryptographic communication with the prospective vehicle via a secure device having limited accessibility but being accessible by the service technician; and

determining whether the prospective vehicle is the authentic vehicle based on whether the cryptographic key is successfully utilized in the cryptographic communication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the certification comprises a digital certificate.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the certification comprises a digital signature of the certification authority.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the certification authority is authenticated by a second certification authority.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining that the certification authority is authorized to certify the authentic vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of obtaining the certification comprises obtaining a certification that a vehicle having an identified attribute is associated with the cryptographic key.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the authentic vehicle has a first cryptographic key and the cryptographic key with which the certification associates the authentic vehicle is a second cryptographic key corresponding to the first cryptographic key.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first cryptographic key is accessible only by the authentic vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first cryptographic key is a private cryptographic key of the authentic vehicle and the second cryptographic key is a public cryptographic key of the authentic vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of performing the service operation upon determining the prospective vehicle is the authentic vehicle.

11. A method for authentication of a prospective component of a vehicle by a service technician for performing a service operation on the vehicle with respect to the prospective component, the method performed by the service technician and a secure device, and comprising the steps of:

accessing the prospective component;

obtaining from a certification authority a certification that an authentic component is associated with a cryptographic key;

utilizing the cryptographic key in cryptographic communication with the prospective component via a secure device having limited accessibility but being accessible by the service technician; and

determining whether the prospective component is the authentic component based on whether the cryptographic key is successfully utilized in the cryptographic communication.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the certification comprises a digital certificate.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the certification comprises a digital signature of the certification authority.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the certification authority is authenticated by a second certification authority.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of determining that the certification authority is authorized to certify the authentic component.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of obtaining the certification comprises obtaining a certification that a component having an identified attribute is associated with the cryptographic key.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the authentic vehicle has a first cryptographic key and the cryptographic key with which the certification associates the authentic component is a second cryptographic key corresponding to the first cryptographic key.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the first cryptographic key is accessible only by the authentic vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the first cryptographic key is a private cryptographic key of the authentic vehicle and the second cryptographic key is a public cryptographic key of the authentic component.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of performing the service operation upon determining the prospective vehicle is the authentic component.