System and method for wireless interface selection and for communication and access control of subsystems, devices, and data in a vehicular environment

• US 10,117,066 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2014
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Addepalli, Sateesh K., Dai, Lillian Lei, Bonomi, Flavio, Zhu, Xiaoqing, Maino, Fabio R., Monclus, Pere, Pan, Rong, Natarajan, Preethi, Ermagan, Vina, Loukissas, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Kao, Jutai
• Application Number:
  US14/485,050
• Publication Number:
  US 20150029987A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/45 Structures or tools for the administration of authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/008 where the control data relates to payload of a different packet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• 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: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 : Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0009 : for a plurality of users or terminals, e.g. group communication or moving wireless networks user group management H04W4/08; processing of subscriber group data H04W8/186
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 : Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 : Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 : Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 : based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 : Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 : based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 : Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 : in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 : where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0264 : by selectively disabling software applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/12 : Outer and inner loops
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 : Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/225 : Calculation of statistics, e.g. average, variance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 : taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 : distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 : based on regulatory allocation policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 : for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 : Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 : Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 : Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 : Data link layer protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 : Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 : between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 30/60 : Planning or developing urban green infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method in one embodiment includes intercepting a message in an on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment, verifying the message is sent from the source, verifying the message is not altered, evaluating a set of source flow control policies associated with the source, and blocking the message if the set of source flow control policies indicate the message is not permitted. In specific embodiments, the message is not permitted if a level of access assigned to the source in the set of source flow control policies does not match a level of access tagged on the message. In further embodiments, the method includes evaluating a set of receiver flow control policies associated with the receiver, and blocking the message if the set of receiver flow control policies indicates the message is not permitted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

intercepting a message in an on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verifying the source is authorized to send the message;

verifying the message is not altered;

evaluating a set of source flow control policies associated with the source; and

blocking the message if at least one policy of the set of source flow control policies indicates the message is not permitted, wherein the message is not permitted if a level of access assigned to the source in the set of source flow control policies does not match a level of access tagged on the message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating a set of receiver flow control policies associated with the receiver; and

blocking the message if the set of receiver flow control policies indicates the message is not permitted.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a type of access required by the message, wherein the message is not permitted if a level of access tagged on the message is not allowed by the set of receiver flow control policies for the type of access required by the message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the message includes data tagged by an owner of the data other than the source, the message is not permitted if one or more tags of the data indicate the receiver does not have permission to read the data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the message is not blocked, the receiver sends data to the source in response to the message, wherein the data is tagged with at least a portion of a set of receiver flow control policies associated with the receiver.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the source is an application process of a third party application installed on the OBU.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiver is one of a machine device of one of a plurality of subsystems of the vehicle, a network interface of the OBU, or a second application process of a second application installed on the OBU.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

downloading the third party application to the OBU;

establishing a network connection to a datacenter associated with an authorized entity;

authenticating the OBU to the datacenter; and

downloading from the datacenter the set of source flow control policies for the third party application if the third party application is registered with the authorized entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of source flow control policies is applied to a group of applications on the OBU, each application in the group of applications authorized for a same level of access to the receiver.

10. An on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment, the OBU comprising:

at least one processor; and

an information flow control monitoring module adapted, when executed by the at least one processor, to;

intercept a message in the OBU between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verify the source is authorized to send the message;

verify the message is not altered;

evaluate a plurality of flow control policies associated with the source and the receiver; and

block the message if one or more of the plurality of flow control policies indicate the message is not permitted, wherein the message is not to be permitted if a level of access assigned to the source in the plurality of flow control policies does not match a level of access tagged on the message.

11. The OBU of claim 10, wherein the evaluation of the plurality of flow control policies is to include:

identifying a type of access requested by the message;

identifying a level of access tagged on the message; and

determining whether the type of access requested by the message is permitted based on the level of access tagged on the message.

12. The OBU of claim 10, wherein the evaluation of the plurality of flow control policies is to include a determination of whether the message is permitted to access data from the receiver, wherein the determination is based on a secrecy tag of the data and a level of access tagged on the message.

13. The OBU of claim 10, wherein the message is verified as being sent from the source based on an ownership tag associated with the message, and wherein the message is verified as not being altered based on an integrity tag associated with the message.

14. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

intercept a message in an on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verify the source is authorized to send the message;

verify the message is not altered;

evaluate a set of source flow control policies associated with the source; and

block the message if at least one policy of the set of source flow control policies indicates the message is not permitted, wherein the set of source flow control policies is to be applied to a group of applications on the OBU if each application in the group of applications is authorized for a same level of access to the receiver.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the evaluation of the set of source flow control policies is to include a determination of whether the message is permitted to access data from the receiver, wherein the determination is based on a secrecy tag of the data and a level of access tagged on the message.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the source is an application process of a third party application installed on the OBU.

17. A system, comprising an electronic device in a vehicular network environment of a vehicle, the electronic device including at least one processor for:

detecting a trigger on an electronic device in a vehicular network environment of a vehicle;

identifying an interface usage policy for an agent and a corresponding application on the electronic device;

selecting a first wireless interface of a plurality of wireless interfaces on the electronic device for a network session between an application process of the application and a remote node, wherein the first wireless interface is selected based, at least in part, on one or more criteria in the interface usage policy;

associating the electronic device with a controller in a network environment;

associating the first wireless interface of the electronic device with a first wireless infrastructure device in the network environment;

providing Internet Protocol (IP) mapping information to the controller;

establishing a network session between the electronic device and the remote node through the first wireless interface, wherein packets of the network session are routed through the controller;

intercepting a first message in the electronic device being sent from a first source to a first receiver;

evaluating one or more predefined policies to determine whether the first source is permitted to communicate with the first receiver;

blocking the first message if the first source is not permitted to communicate with the first receiver, wherein a first subsystem of the vehicular network environment includes one of the first source and the first receiver;

intercepting a second message in the electronic device being sent from a second source to a second receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verifying the second source is authorized to send the second message;

verifying the second message is not altered;

evaluating a set of source flow control policies associated with the second source; and

blocking the second message if the set of source flow control policies indicates the second message is not permitted.

18. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

intercept a message in an on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verify the source is authorized to send the message;

verify the message is not altered;

evaluate a plurality of flow control policies associated with the source and the receiver; and

block the message if one or more of the plurality of flow control policies indicate the message is not permitted, wherein the message is not to be permitted if a level of access assigned to the source in the plurality of flow control policies does not match a level of access tagged on the message.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the processor to evaluate the plurality of flow control policies associated with the source and the receiver by:

identifying a type of access requested by the message;

identifying a level of access tagged on the message; and

determining whether the type of access requested by the message is permitted based on the level of access tagged on the message.

20. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

intercept a message in an on-board unit (OBU) of a vehicular network environment between a source and a receiver in the vehicular network environment;

verify the source is authorized to send the message;

verify the message is not altered;

evaluate a set of source flow control policies associated with the source; and

block the message if at least one policy of the set of source flow control policies indicates the message is not permitted, wherein, when the message includes data tagged by an owner of the data other than the source, the message is not permitted if one or more tags of the data indicate the receiver does not have permission to read the data.