ENHANCED SECURITY FOR OVER THE AIR (OTA) FIRMWARE CHANGES

• US 20110173457A1
• Filed: 08/13/2010
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tendrill Networks Incorporated (Uplight, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tendrill Networks Incorporated (Uplight, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reh, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US12/856,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20110173457A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/572 Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption

Abstract

A system and method for providing enhanced security for Over The Air (OTA) firmware changes defers decryption of a firmware image until it is transferred into a protected internal memory of a wireless device. An updated firmware image is encrypted at a source and transmitted to a wireless device having a processor, internal memory, and external memory. The wireless device stores the encrypted firmware image in its external memory. In response to receiving an instruction to load a new firmware image, the processor retrieves the encrypted firmware image from the external memory. The processor decrypts the encrypted firmware image and programs the internal memory in accordance with the decrypted firmware image.

Claims

1. A method in a wireless device of providing security for firmware, the wireless device having a processor, internal memory, and external memory, the method comprising:

receiving by the processor an encrypted firmware image;

storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory;

receiving by the processor an instruction to load a new firmware image in the internal memory;

in response to receiving the instruction, retrieving by the processor the encrypted firmware image from the external memory;

decrypting by the processor the encrypted firmware image; and

programming the internal memory in accordance with the decrypted firmware image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving by the processor the encrypted firmware image comprises:

receiving by the processor the encrypted firmware image from an energy service portal device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving by the processor the encrypted firmware image from the energy service portal device comprises:

receiving by the processor the encrypted firmware image from the energy service portal device via a home area network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving by the processor the encrypted firmware image comprises:

receiving by the processor a portion of the encrypted firmware image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory comprises:

storing a portion of the encrypted firmware image in the external memory.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory comprises:

storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory for a certain time period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory comprises:

storing the encrypted firmware image in the external memory for an unspecified time period.

8. A system for providing security for firmware, the system comprising:

external memory configured to store an encrypted firmware image; and

a processor coupled to the external memory, the processor comprising;

internal memory; and

a bootloader configured to;

retrieve the encrypted firmware image from the external memory;

decrypt the encrypted firmware image; and

program the internal memory based on the decrypted firmware image.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein system further comprises:

a radio configured to;

receive the encrypted firmware image from an energy service portal device; and

transfer the encrypted firmware image to an application, and

wherein the processor further comprises;

the application configured to;

receive the encrypted firmware image from the radio; and

store the encrypted firmware image in the external memory.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the radio is configured to transfer the encrypted firmware image to the application a segment at a time, and wherein the application is configured to store the encrypted firmware image in the external memory a segment at a time.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the external memory is configured to store the encrypted firmware image for a definite period of time.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the external memory comprises nonvolatile memory.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the internal memory comprises flash memory.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the system operates in accordance with the ZigBee Smart Energy protocol.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the bootloader is configured to retrieve the encrypted firmware image from the external memory in response to receiving a command from a home area network to load a new firmware image into the internal memory.

16. A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for providing security for firmware, the instructions comprising:

Instructions for receiving an encrypted firmware image;

Instructions for storing the encrypted firmware image in an external memory;

instructions for retrieving the encrypted firmware image from the external memory;

instructions for decrypting the encrypted firmware image; and

instructions for programming an internal memory in accordance with the decrypted firmware image.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for retrieving the encrypted firmware image from the external memory comprise:

Instructions for receiving a command to load a new firmware image into the internal memory; and

In response to receiving the command, Instructions for retrieving the encrypted firmware image from the external memory.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for receiving the encrypted firmware image comprise:

Instructions for receiving the encrypted firmware image from an energy service portal device.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for receiving the encrypted firmware image from the energy service portal device comprise:

Instructions for receiving the encrypted firmware image from the energy service portal device via a home area network.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the encrypted firmware image includes at least one of a firmware update, a bug fix, a feature addition, or a data change.