Event indicator creation using first and second sets of values

• US 8,994,514 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2012
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.), ETH Zurich
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Juels, Ari, Capkun, Srdan, Zanetti, Davide
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Application Number:
  US13/720,003
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.51, 340/10.52, 340/10.41
• US Class Current: 340/10.51
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/01 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

An apparatus comprises a transceiver, a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to obtain an identifier and a first set of values from a device via the transceiver, to determine a second set of values, the second set of values being based at least in part on the first set of values and a probabilistic function, to transmit the second set of values to the device via the transceiver, and to create an event indicator associated with the identifier in the memory, the event indicator comprising at least a portion of the first set of values.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to;

obtain an identifier and a first set of values from a device via the transceiver;

determine a second set of values, the second set of values being based at least in part on the first set of values and a probabilistic function;

transmit the second set of values to the device via the transceiver; and

create an event indicator associated with the identifier in the memory, the event indicator comprising at least a portion of the first set of values;

wherein the event indicator is utilizable for identifying evidence of cloning of the device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver, memory and processor form a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is an electronic product code (EPC) tag.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first set of values comprises a sequence of random values and a pointer value indicating a most recently modified set of the sequence of random values.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the most recently modified set of the sequence of values comprises a single one of the sequence of random values.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the step of determining the second set of values comprises:

modifying a given set of the sequence of random values in the first set of values; and

incrementing the pointer value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein each of the random sequence of values has a position, and the given set, of the random sequence of values is in a next position relative to a position of the most recently modified set of the random sequence of values.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the event indicator further comprises a flag value indicative of whether an event is usable for performing a trace of the device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the first value and the second value is 8 bits in length.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the event indicator further comprises a time value indicative of a time in which the processor reads the identifier and first set of values from the device, a location value indicative of a location of the apparatus, and a process value indicative of a process performed at the location and the time.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the process performed at the location and the time is at least one of an into-a-chain event, a receiving event, a stocking event, a shipping event, and an out-of-the-chain event.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to verify that the second set of values was written to a memory of the device.

14. An apparatus comprising:

interface circuitry;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to;

store an identifier and a first set of values in the memory;

receive a second set of values from a reader; and

write the second set of values to the memory;

wherein the second set of values is determined based at least in part on the first set of values and a probabilistic function;

wherein at least a portion of the first set of values is used to create an event indicator associated with the identifier; and

wherein the event indicator is utilizable for identifying evidence of cloning of the apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first set of values comprises a sequence of random values and a pointer value indicating a most recently modified set of the sequence of random values.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second set of values is determined by modifying a given set of the sequence of random values in the first set of values and incrementing the pointer value.

17. A method comprising the steps of:

obtaining an identifier and a first set of values from a given device;

determining a second set of values, the second set of values being based at least in part on the first set of values and a probabilistic function;

transmitting the second set of values to the given device; and

creating an event indicator associated with the identifier, the event indicator comprising at least a portion of the first set of values;

wherein the event indicator is utilizable for identifying evidence of cloning of the given device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of repeating the obtaining, determining, transmitting and storing steps.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

comparing a pair of time-consecutive event indicators associated with a given identifier; and

determining whether a possible counterfeit of the given device has entered a supply chain based at least in part on the comparison of the pair of time-consecutive event indicators;

wherein each of the two or more event indicators comprises a set of values.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein each of the sets of values comprises a sequence of random values and a pointer indicative of a most recently modified set of the sequence of random values.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each of the random sequence of values has a position, the pointer indicates the most recently modified set of positions in the sequence of random values, and the comparing step comprises determining whether the random sequence of values in the first event indicator in the pair of event indicators is the same as the random sequence of values in the second event indicator in the pair of event indicators, except in the positions indicated in the pointer of the second event indicator.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein each of the event indicators further comprises a flag value indicative of whether an event is usable for performing a trace of the given device;

and wherein when the flag value indicates that an event is not usable for performing a trace of the given device, ignoring said event indicator when performing said comparing and determining steps.

23. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having instruction code embodied therein which when executed by a processor implements the steps of the method of claim 17.

24. A method comprising the steps of:

storing an identified and a first set of values in a memory of a device;

receiving a second set of values from a reader; and

writing the second set of values to the memory;

wherein the second set of values is determined based at least in part on the first set of values and a probabilistic function;

wherein at least a portion of the first set of values is used to create an event indicator associated with the identifier; and

wherein the event indicator is utilizable for identifying evidence of cloning of the device.

25. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having instruction code embodied therein which when executed by a processor implements the steps of the method of claim 24.