TECHNOLOGIES FOR MANAGING THE SECURITY AND CUSTODY OF ASSETS IN TRANSIT

• US 20160379165A1
• Filed: 06/23/2016
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: MOAKLEY, GEORGE P.
• Granted Patent: US 11,062,255 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• 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: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/42 for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Technologies for managing the security and custody of assets in transit are described. In some embodiments, the technologies include an IoT gateway that can make intelligent decisions concerning the status of assets over which it has custody, e.g., based on sensor data received from IoT devices associated with those assets. Technologies for managing the transfer of custody of assets between responsible parties (e.g., multiple gateways) are also described.

Claims

1. A system for managing the security and custody of assets in storage or transit, comprising:

an internet of things (IoT gateway) comprising a processor, memory, and communications circuitry, the IoT gateway configured to;

allocate a plurality of assets to an asset group;

receive sensor data from one or more sensors associated with each of the assets in said asset group, said sensor data comprising information concerning status factors affecting a respective one of said assets in said asset group; and

analyze the sensor data provided by each of said sensors associated with asset in said asset group over a common time period to determine whether or not a security threat is present with regard to any one of said plurality of assets or to said asset group;

wherein said analyzing comprises at least comparing sensor data from each of said sensors to sensor data provided by each other of said sensors over said common time period.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said sensors comprise an accelerometer and said sensor data comprises accelerometer data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the accelerometer data describes acceleration experienced by an asset over said common period of time and an acceleration vector associated with said acceleration.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said analyzing comprises comparing the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by a respective one of said assets during said common time period to the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by other assets during said common time period.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said IoT gateway is further configured to issue an alert when said analyzing reveals that at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by one of said assets in said asset group during said common time period differs from at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector of another of said assets in said asset group during said common time period.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said IoT gateway is configured to take or release custody over each sensor associated with one or more assets in said asset group.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said IoT gateway is a shipping gateway and is configured, in response to receipt of a custody transfer request from a receiving gateway, to transfer custody of one or more sensors associated with one or more assets in said asset group to said receiving gateway.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein prior to transferring custody of said one or more sensors, said shipping gateway is configured to verify the authenticity of said custody transfer request.

9. A method for managing the security and custody of assets in storage or transit, comprising:

allocating a plurality of assets to an asset group, each of said assets being associated with one or more sensors, each of said sensors being configured to monitor status factors affecting a corresponding one of said plurality of assets and to produce sensor data; and

analyzing sensor data provided by each of the sensors associated with assets in said asset group over a common time period to determine whether or not a security threat is present with regard to any one of said plurality of assets or to said asset group;

wherein said analyzing comprises at least comparing sensor data from each of said sensors to sensor data provided by each other of said sensors over said common time period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said sensors comprise an accelerometer and said sensor data comprises accelerometer data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the accelerometer data describes acceleration experienced by an asset over said common period of time and an acceleration vector associated with said acceleration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said analyzing comprises comparing the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by a respective one of said assets during said common time period to the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by other assets during said common time period.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising issuing an alert when said analyzing reveals that at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by one of said assets in said asset group during said common time period differs from at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector of another of said assets in said asset group during said common time period.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising taking custody of each sensor associated with one or more assets in said asset group.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in response to receipt of a custody transfer request from a receiving gateway, transferring custody of one or more sensors associated with one or more assets in said asset group to said receiving gateway.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising verifying the authenticity of said custody transfer request prior to transferring custody of said one or more sensors to said receiving gateway.

17. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performance of the following operations comprising:

allocating a plurality of assets to an asset group, each of said assets being associated with one or more sensors, each of said sensors being configured to monitor status factors affecting a corresponding one of said plurality of assets and to produce sensor data; and

analyzing sensor data provided by each of the sensors associated with assets in said asset group over a common time period to determine whether or not a security threat is present with regard to any one of said plurality of assets or to said asset group;

wherein said analyzing comprises at least comparing sensor data from each of said sensors to sensor data provided by each other of said sensors over said common time period.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said sensors comprise an accelerometer and said sensor data comprises accelerometer data.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the accelerometer data describes acceleration experienced by an asset over said common period of time and an acceleration vector associated with said acceleration.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein said analyzing comprises comparing the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by a respective one of said assets during said common time period to the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by other assets during said common time period.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein said instructions when executed by said one or more processors further result in performance of the following operations comprising:

issuing an alert when said analyzing reveals that at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector experienced by one of said assets in said asset group during said common time period differs from at least one of the acceleration and acceleration vector of another of said assets in said asset group during said common time period.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said instructions when executed by said one or more processors further result in performance of the following operations comprising:

taking custody of each sensor associated with one or more assets in said asset group.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein said instructions when executed by said one or more processors further result in performance of the following operations comprising:

in response to receipt of a custody transfer request from a receiving gateway, transferring custody of one or more sensors associated with one or more assets in said asset group to said receiving gateway.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein said instructions when executed by said one or more processors further result in performance of the following operations comprising:

verifying the authenticity of said custody transfer request prior to transferring custody of said one or more sensors to said receiving gateway.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein said instructions when executed by said one or more processors further result in performance of the following operations comprising:

verifying, after transferring custody of said one or more sensors, physical transfer of a corresponding one of said assets to said receiving gateway.