Secure key acknowledgement—frequency dilution

• US 10,513,245 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2019
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fell Technology AS
• Original Assignee: Fell Technology AS
• Inventors: Eriksen, Fredrik, Frost Roine, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bee, Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US16/273,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20190248328A1
• Time in Patent Office: 315 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/101 Bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/108 Encryption
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/205 Mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/209 Remote starting of engine
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/23 using manual input of alphanumerical codes
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/24 using electronic identifiers containing a code not memorised by the user
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/31 of human presence inside or outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B63H 2021/216 using electric control means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00388 code verification carried out according to the challenge/response method
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00412 the transmitted data signal being encrypted
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00174 Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys mechanical locks with electric permutation E05B49/00; arrangements for sensing or reading record carriers G06K7/00; electronic switching H03K17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00857 where the code of the data carrier can be programmed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 : Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention provides a system for securely establishing a connection between a key and a receiver within or connected to, a vehicle such as, but not limited to, a car/motorized vehicle, a boat/vessel or a house. The key establishes contact to the receiver by sending a radio transmission. The receiver will respond, upon receipt of incoming transmission, with a message containing a pattern of multiple (2 or more) frequencies the key must transmit information on sequentially to allow for the receiver to do certain actions based on information transmitted by the key such as, but not limited to, turning on ignition, starting engine, switching relays.

Claims

1. A wireless key transmission system, comprising:

a receiving unit, comprising;

a transceiver that transmits and receives encrypted data from a key transmitter, wherein data includes communication requests and a plurality of keys from the key transmitter;

key processing electronics configured to analyze data received from the key transmitter to determine the legitimacy of the received data from the key transmitter and generate a clearance signal if the received key data is legitimate;

transceiver electronics configured to operate the transceiver and configured to receive data from the key transmitter, wherein the transceiver electronics generates a frequency map for transmission to the key transmitter after receipt of a clearance signal from the key processing electronics for received data related to a communication request; and

an actuator configured to engage an action of a plurality of actions requested by a key of the plurality of keys after the key processing electronics have generated a clearance signal for the key of the plurality of keys; and

a key transmitter, comprising;

a transceiver that transmits and receives encrypted data from the receiving unit;

transceiver electronics configured to control operation of the transceiver, wherein the transceiver electronics receives the frequency map from the receiving unit and uses the frequency map to communicate keys of the plurality of keys to the receiving unit; and

key processing electronics configured to formulate a plurality of keys for processing by the receiving unit, wherein each key corresponds to an action engageable by the actuator.

2. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver electronics generates the frequency map as a random selection of frequencies within a given frequency band.

3. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein each frequency in the frequency map corresponds to an action of the plurality of actions.

4. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the key processing electronics in the receiving unit comprises a CPU.

5. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the key transmitter includes a second transceiver that communicates keys of the plurality of keys to the receiving unit.

6. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the receiving unit is located within a vehicle.

7. The wireless key transmission system of claim 6 wherein an action of the plurality of actions comprises a request to the actuator to engage a motor on the vehicle and wherein the actuator engages the motor.

8. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver on the receiving unit and the transceiver on the key transmitter employs AES128 encryption.

9. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 further comprising a CPU in the transceiver electronics of the key transmitter.

10. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the key transmitter further comprises:

a key actuator whose physical actuation engages the key processing electronics.

11. The wireless key transmission system of claim 10 wherein the key actuator comprises at least one of a button, a proximity Sensor, a visual Sensor, and an automated engagement device.

12. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 further comprising a battery that provides power to the key processing electronic circuitry.

13. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver electronics in the receiving unit includes the circuitry that encrypts messages to be sent via the transceiver.

14. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the actuator in the receiving unit engages at least one of turning on lights, turning off light, unlocking doors, locking doors, starting engines, turning off engines, and engages a starter or completes a circuit.

15. The wireless key transmission system of claim 1 wherein the receiving unit further comprises a CAN Bus interface that transmits data to external devices.

16. A wireless key transmission system, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a communication request from a key system, generate a random list of frequencies, encrypt the frequency list, and transmit a message to the key system that includes the encrypted frequency list; and

a key system configured to send the communication request and send the communication request to the receiver, receive from the receiver the message comprising the encrypted frequencies list, decrypt the encrypted frequencies list, prepare an action message for transmission to the receiving unit, and transmit the action message along with a verification message on each of the frequencies included in the encrypted frequencies list,

wherein the receiver engages an action specified in the action message after it has verified that the key system has sent verification messages on each of the frequencies included in the encrypted frequencies list.