System and method for secure addition of machine readable identification to an off-line database

• US 9,652,721 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2011
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Plugins, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Liberty Plugins, Inc.
• Inventors: Redmann, William Gibbens, Outwater, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akki, Munear
• Application Number:
  US13/989,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20130238536A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,002 Days
• Field of Search: 340 52, 340438, 340 51, 340 521, 340 522, 715705, 705 1425, 713184-186, 320109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/20 by driver identification
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/005 dispensed for the electrical charging of vehicles electrical charging as such, B60L50/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A system that allows secure identification tokens (e.g., smart cards or RFID tags), often used for enabling such systems, to be securely added to a secure, local database of identification tokens authorized to operate the device, system or service. Such authorizations may be open-ended or have an expiration date. The addition of the identification token is achieved without requiring communication with a central controller by wired or wireless means, but is instead triggered by a message authorizing the addition of an identification token to the local database. The same invention can be used, in some embodiments, to allow magnetic stripe cards or biometric measurements to become authorized to operate or allow access to the system or device or service.

Claims

1. A first system for controlling operation of a second system, the first system comprising:

a controller;

a reader, the controller able to read a first identification presented by a user through said reader, the first identification read as a first data representative of the first identification;

a keypad, the controller able to accept a learn command from the user through said keypad, the learn command having been provided to the user, of the learn command comprising a second data representative of a duration;

and,

a memory accessible by the controller;

wherein,

if the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller allows operation of the second system if the first data is in the memory, otherwise the controller does not allow operation of the second system; and

,

if the learn command is accepted and validated by the controller and the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller adds the first data to the memory to expire after the duration has elapsed, otherwise the first data is not added to the memory.

2. The first system of claim 1, wherein the first identification comprises an indicia, and at least a portion of the second data is representative of the indicia.

3. The first system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the learn command indicates the duration, and the controller deletes the first data after the duration is elapsed.

4. The first system of claim 1, wherein the learn command comprises a checksum and the learn command being validated by the controller is based on the checksum corresponding to the rest of the learn command.

5. The first system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first clock providing a current time to the controller;

wherein, the second data is representative of the start time and the learn command being validated by the controller is based on a start time and the current time.

6. The first system of claim 5, wherein the second data is representative of the duration and the learn command is not validated by the controller if the current time is after the start time plus the duration.

7. The first system of claim 5, wherein the learn command is not validated by the controller if the current time is after the start time plus the duration.

8. The first system of claim 1, wherein the learn command is encrypted and the controller decrypts the learn command.

9. The first system of claim 8, wherein the controller has a first key used when decrypting the learn command.

10. The first system of claim 1, wherein the second data is specific to a specific group of identifications comprising the first identification.

11. A third system to generate the learn command for the first system of claim 5, comprising:

a) a processor having access to a communication channel, the processor having programming to perform the steps;

1) accept a request through the communication channel, the request comprising a third data representative of a time;

2) generating the learn command using the third data; and

3) returning the learn command through the communication channel;

wherein the steps

     2) and

     3) are performed in response to the request.

12. A third system to generate the learn command for the first system of claim 5, comprising:

a) a second clock, the second clock synchronized with the first clock;

b) a processor having access to a communication channel, the processor able to read the second clock, the processor further having programming to perform the steps;

1) accept a request through the communication channel,

2) reading a first time from the second clock;

3) generating the learn command using the first time as the start time; and

4) returning the learn command through the communication channel;

wherein the steps

     2),

     3), and

     4) are performed in response to the request.

13. A third system to generate the learn command for the first system of claim 2 comprising:

a) a processor having access to a communication channel, the processor having programming to perform the steps;

1) accept a request through the communication channel, the request comprising a third data representative of the indicia;

2) generating the learn command using the third data; and

3) returning the learn command through the communication channel;

wherein the steps

     2) and

     3) are performed in response to the request.

14. A third system to generate the learn command for the first system of claim 9 comprising:

a) a processor having access to a communication channel, the processor having access to a second key for encryption corresponding to the first key, the processor having programming to perform the steps;

1) accept a request through the communication channel, the request comprising identifying information corresponding to the first key;

2) determining the second key corresponding to the identifying information;

3) generating the learn command using the second key; and

4) returning the learn command through the communication channel;

wherein the steps

     2),

     3), and

     4) are performed in response to the request.

15. A first system for controlling operation of a second system, the first system comprising:

a controller;

a reader, the controller able to read a first identification presented by a user through said reader, the first identification read as a first data representative of the first identification;

a keypad, the controller able to accept a learn command from the user through said keypad, the learn command having been provided to the user, the learn command comprising a second data representative of a duration; and

,

a memory accessible by the controller;

wherein,

if the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller allows operation of the second system if the first data is in the memory and not expired, otherwise the controller does not allow operation of the second system; and

,

if the learn command is accepted and validated by the controller and the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller adds the first data to the memory to expire after the duration has elapsed, otherwise the first data is not added to the memory.

16. A first system for controlling operation of a second system, the first system comprising:

a controller;

a reader, the controller able to read a first identification presented by a user through said reader, the first identification having an indicia, the first identification read as a first data representative of at least a portion of the indicia;

a keypad, the controller able to accept a learn command from the user through said keypad, the learn command having been provided to the user, the learn command comprising a second data representative of a duration and at least the portion of the indicia; and

,

a memory accessible by the controller;

wherein,

if the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller allows operation of the second system if at least a portion of the first data is in the memory, otherwise the controller does not allow operation of the second system; and

,

if the learn command is accepted and validated by the controller and the first identification is presented to the reader, the controller adds a portion of the first data to the memory to expire after the duration has elapsed, otherwise the first data is not added to the memory.