Wireless low-energy secure data transfer

• US 9,436,270 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Pitigoi-Aron, Radu, McGloin, Justin Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): LEWIS, LISA C
• Application Number:
  US14/179,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20150227191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/72 in cryptographic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• 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 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide for a sensor system with enhanced low-power features. Embodiments can include transmission of sensor data from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit. The sensor data can flag the sensor data with a particular header ID, enabling the receiver unit to route the sensor data to a low-power processing unit within the receiver unit without using the receiver unit'"'"'s higher-power application processer. Embodiments can also utilize a proprietary encryption engine to provide a supplementary encryption layer to any encryption utilized in the wireless protocol. The transmitter unit can also compress and batch the sensor data for sending, to further increase power savings.

Claims

1. A method of processing sensor data in a low-power wireless sensor interconnectivity system, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data with a wireless communications interface of a mobile device, wherein;

the sensor data includes information indicative of data collected from one or more sensors,

the mobile device includes a secure island comprising components, including one or more routing components, configured to securely route and process data received with the wireless communications interface,

the mobile device includes an application processor separate from the secure island and a low-power processing unit composing at least a part of the secure island, and

the sensor data is received while the application processor is in a low-power state;

determining a routing identifier associated with the sensor data; and

based on the determined routing identifier, providing the sensor data to the low-power processing unit using the one or more routing components of the secure island.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising decrypting the sensor data with the low-power processing unit using an encryption key.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising establishing the encryption key using biometric verification.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the biometric verification comprises using a scan of a fingerprint.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the encryption key is one of a plurality of predetermined encryption keys stored in a One Time Programmable (OTP) memory of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising writing a time stamp to an OTP memory regarding usage of the encryption key.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising decompressing the sensor data with the low-power processing unit.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the sensor data to a cloud-based decision support system (DSS).

9. An apparatus in a low-power wireless sensor interconnectivity system, the apparatus comprising:

a secure island comprising components, including one or more routing components, configured to securely route and process data received with the wireless communications interface;

an application processor separate from the secure island;

a low-power processing unit composing at least a part of the secure island;

a wireless communication interface communicatively coupled with the application processor and the low-power processing unit, the wireless communication interface configured to receive, while the application processor is in a low-power state, sensor data including information indicative of data collected from one or more sensors; and

one or more routing components communicatively coupled with the wireless communication interface and the low-power processing unit, the one or more routing components configured to;

determine a routing identifier associated with the sensor data; and

provide the sensor data to the low-power processing unit, based on the determined routing identifier, using the one or more routing components of the secure island.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the low-power processing unit is configured to decrypt the sensor data using an encryption key.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a biometric verification module configured to establish the encryption key using biometric verification.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the biometric verification module comprises a fingerprint scanner.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the encryption key is one of a plurality of predetermined encryption keys, the apparatus further comprising a One Time Programmable (OTP) memory of the apparatus configured to store the plurality of predetermined encryption keys.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein an OTP memory is configured to store a time stamp regarding usage of the encryption key.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the low-power processing unit is configured to decompress the sensor data.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein either or both the low-power processing unit or the application processor is configured to send the sensor data to a cloud-based decision support system (DSS) via the wireless communication interface.

17. A mobile device comprising:

means for receiving sensor data, wherein;

the means for receiving sensor data includes means for receiving information indicative of data collected from one or more sensors,

the mobile device includes secure routing and processing means, configured to securely route and process data received with the means for receiving sensor data, and

the means for receiving sensor data includes means for receiving the sensor data while an application processor of the mobile device is in a low-power state, the application processor being separate from the secure routing and processing means;

means for determining a routing identifier associated with the sensor data; and

means for providing the sensor data to a low-power processing unit based on the determined routing identifier, wherein the lower-power processing unit composes at least a part of the secure routing and processing means, and the secure routing and processing means compose at least a part of the means for providing the sensor data to the low-power processing unit.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising means for decrypting the sensor data using an encryption key while the application processor of the mobile device is in the low-power state.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, further comprising means for establishing the encryption key using biometric verification.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the means for establishing the encryption key using biometric verification comprises means for using a scan of a fingerprint.

21. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the encryption key is one of a plurality of predetermined encryption keys, further comprising means for storing the plurality of predetermined encryption keys in a One Time Programmable (OTP) memory of the mobile device.

22. The mobile device of claim 18 further comprising means for writing a time stamp to an OTP memory regarding usage of the encryption key.

23. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising means for decompressing the sensor data while the application processor of the mobile device is in the low-power state.

24. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising means for sending the sensor data to a cloud-based decision support system (DSS).

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for processing sensor data in a low-power wireless sensor interconnectivity system, the instructions including code for causing one or more components of a mobile device to perform functions including:

receiving sensor data with a wireless communications interface of the mobile device, wherein;

the code for receiving sensor data includes code for receiving information indicative of data collected from one or more sensors,

the mobile device includes a secure island comprising components, including one or more routing components, configured to securely route and process data received with the wireless communications interface, and

the code for receiving sensor data includes code for receiving the sensor data while an application processor of the mobile device, separate from the secure island, is in a low-power state;

determining a routing identifier associated with the sensor data; and

providing the sensor data to a low-power processing unit composing at least a part of the secure island, based on the determined routing identifier, using the one or more routing components of the secure island.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising code for decrypting the sensor data using an encryption key while the application processor of the mobile device is in the low-power state.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising code for establishing the encryption key using biometric verification.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the encryption key is one of a plurality of predetermined encryption keys, further comprising c for storing the plurality of predetermined encryption keys in a One Time Programmable (OTP) memory of the mobile device.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising code for writing a time stamp to an OTP memory regarding usage of the encryption key.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising code for sending the sensor data to a cloud-based decision support system (DSS).