SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC ASSETS

• US 20110010720A1
• Filed: 07/12/2010
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Certicom Corporation (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Smith, Keelan, Stiemerling, Thomas Rudolf, Jones, Richard Gwynn, Nguyen, Chinh Khac
• Granted Patent: US 9,111,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

An asset management system is provided which comprises one or more controllers, which operate as main servers and can be located at the headquarters of an electronic device manufacturer to remotely control their operations at any global location. The controller can communicate remotely over the Internet or other network to control one or more secondary or remote servers, herein referred to as appliances. The appliances can be situated at different manufacturing, testing or distribution sites. The controller and appliances comprise hardware security modules (HSMs) to perform sensitive and high trust computations, store sensitive information such as private keys, perform other cryptographic operations, and establish secure connections between components. The HSMs are used to create secure end-points between the controller and the appliance and between the appliance and the secure point of trust in an asset control core embedded in a device.

Claims

1. A method for managing electronic assets, said method comprising:

providing an appliance communicatively connectable to a controller, said appliance being configured to obtain electronic assets from said controller, said appliance providing communicative connections to a plurality of agents, said plurality of agents being configured to apply said electronic assets to devices; and

enabling separate threads to be initiated on said appliance for said controller and for each agent, to enable said appliance to obtain assets from said controller and distribute said electronic assets to said agents in parallel threads.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said appliance comprises a server at a manufacturing facility remote from said controller.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said parallel threads operate independently to separate a connection delay on one thread from another thread.

4. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed cause a computing device to:

provide an appliance communicatively connectable to a controller, said appliance being configured to obtain electronic assets from said controller, said appliance providing communicative connections to a plurality of agents, said plurality of agents being configured to apply said electronic assets to devices; and

enable separate threads to be initiated on said appliance for said controller and for each agent, to enable said appliance to obtain assets from said controller and distribute said electronic assets to said agents in parallel threads.

5. An appliance device comprising a processor, a memory, communicative connectability with a controller device, and communicative connectabililty with a plurality of agents, said appliance device being configured to:

communicatively connect to a controller, obtain electronic assets from said controller, provide communicative connections to a plurality of agents, said plurality of agents being configured to apply said electronic assets to devices; and

enable separate threads to be initiated on said appliance for said controller and for each agent, to enable said appliance to obtain assets from said controller and distribute said electronic assets to said agents in parallel threads.

6. A method for managing electronic assets, said method comprising:

providing a controller configured to obtain electronic assets and to provide said electronic assets to one or more appliances, said controller comprising one or more user interface (UI); and

enabling separate threads to be initiated on said controller for each UI connection and for each of said one or more appliances to enable said controller to distribute said assets and handle UI interactions in parallel threads.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said controller comprises a server remote from one or more manufacturing facilities comprising respective ones of said plurality of appliances.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein said parallel threads operate independently to separate a connection delay on one thread from another thread.

9. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed cause a computing device to:

provide a controller configured to obtain electronic assets and to provide said electronic assets to one or more appliances, said controller comprising one or more user interface (UI); and

enable separate threads to be initiated on said controller for each UI connection and for each of said one or more appliances to enable said controller to distribute said assets and handle UI interactions in parallel threads.

10. A controller device comprising a processor, a memory, one or more user interfaces, and communicative connectability to a plurality of appliances, said controller device being configured to:

obtain electronic assets and to provide said electronic assets to one or more appliances, said controller comprising one or more user interface (UI); and

enable separate threads to be initiated on said controller for each UI connection and for each of said one or more appliances to enable said controller to distribute said assets and handle UI interactions in parallel threads.

11. A method of controlling the distribution of electronic assets to a test application in a manufacturing process, said method comprising:

providing a daemon application programming interface (API) on said test application to provide assets upon detecting a request therefor, and to obtain log data from said test application during testing;

initiating a daemon in connection with said daemon API to obtain said log data from said daemon API and to provide said assets to said daemon API, said daemon hosting an agent API for communicating with an appliance remote to said test application;

utilizing said agent API to obtain a batch comprising a plurality of assets and to provide one or more log reports containing said log data separately from said test application; and

caching said assets to provide a quantity of said assets to said daemon API upon request therefrom to enable said daemon API to provide said assets to said test application thereby avoiding session establishment between said test application and said appliance for obtaining said electronic assets.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

caching said log reports; and

providing said log reports to said appliance.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said daemon API comprises a resource management system for implementing resource management processes and registering said processes with said daemon to indicate when to fetch said assets and send back log data.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said resource management system associates said processes by name with a particular product profile.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein said daemon retains a record of assets not used when said test application terminates.

16. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed cause one or more computing devices to:

provide a daemon application programming interface (API) on said test application to provide assets upon detecting a request therefor, and to obtain log data from said test application during testing;

initiate a daemon in connection with said daemon API to obtain said log data from said daemon API and to provide said assets to said daemon API, said daemon hosting an agent API for communicating with an appliance remote to said test application;

utilize said agent API to obtain a batch comprising a plurality of assets and to provide one or more log reports containing said log data separately from said test application; and

cache said assets to provide a quantity of said assets to said daemon API upon request therefrom to enable said daemon API to provide said assets to said test application thereby avoiding session establishment between said test application and said appliance for obtaining said electronic assets.

17. A method for securely communicating between remotely separated modules in an asset management system, said method comprising:

providing at each module in said system, a hardware security module (HSM) for performing sensitive operations within a secure boundary; and

providing in each HSM, a functional module comprising source code for implementing non-traditional operations to protect said operations within said secure boundary.

18. A hardware security module (HSM) comprising:

a secure boundary for performing sensitive operations; and

a functional module comprising source code for implementing non-traditional operations to protect said operations within said secure boundary.

19. A method for distributing electronic assets to devices, said method comprising:

defining a first asset to be added to a device;

defining a second asset to be added to said device;

defining a product type and associating said first and second assets with said product type; and

distributing said first and second assets together for each device associated with said product type.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said first asset is one of a serial number, a key, and a feature set.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein said second asset is one of a serial number, a key, and a feature set.

22. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed cause a computing device to:

define a first asset to be added to a device;

define a second asset to be added to said device;

define a product type and associating said first and second assets with said product type; and

distribute said first and second assets together for each device associated with said product type.