Unmanned retail delivery vehicle protection systems and methods of protection

• US 10,631,169 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2019
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: High, Donald R., Winkle, David C., O'Brien, John J., Cantrell, Robert L., Mattingly, Todd D.
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US16/424,101
• Publication Number:
  US 20190373476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 329 Days
• Field of Search: 726 25
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices

Abstract

Some embodiments provide systems and methods of enhancing protection of unmanned retail delivery vehicles. Some of these embodiments comprise: a plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles (UDV); a plurality of lure unmanned vehicles; and a procedure randomization system configured to randomly select a protection procedure that is not to be implemented by a first lure unmanned vehicle to enhance an attack vulnerability; and wherein a first lure vehicle control circuit of the first lure unmanned vehicle is configured to obtain a first lure route and control the first lure unmanned vehicle to travel along the first lure route while preventing the selected first protection procedure from being applied while applying at least a sub-set of the set of the plurality of protection procedures to a full capacity while the first lure unmanned vehicle travels along the first lure route.

Claims

1. An unmanned retail delivery vehicle protection system, comprising:

a plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles (UDV) each configured to carry a package to a corresponding predefined delivery location of multiple different delivery locations, wherein each unmanned delivery vehicles comprises a vehicle control circuit configured to obtain delivery route information defining a delivery route between a launch location to a delivery location, control the unmanned delivery vehicle to travel along the delivery route from the launch location to the delivery location and release at least one package for delivery at the delivery location;

a plurality of lure unmanned vehicles each comprising a lure motor, a lure propulsion system, a lure wireless transceiver, and a lure vehicle control circuit that is communicatively coupled with the lure motor, and the lure wireless transceiver; and

a procedure randomization system, wherein the procedure randomization system is configured to randomly select at least a first protection procedure, of a set of a plurality of different protection procedures, that is not to be implemented by a first lure unmanned vehicle to enhance an attack vulnerability of the first lure unmanned vehicle, of the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, from an external attack threat, wherein the set of the plurality of different protection procedures comprises at least wireless communication protection schemes, routes of travel, and operational commands; and

wherein a first lure vehicle control circuit of the first lure unmanned vehicle is configured to obtain a first lure route and control the first lure unmanned vehicle to travel along the first lure route while preventing the selected first protection procedure from being applied while applying at least a sub-set of the set of the plurality of protection procedures to a full capacity while the first lure unmanned vehicle travels along the first lure route.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the procedure randomization system is further configured to randomly select at least a second protection procedure of the set of the plurality of protection procedures that is to be implemented at a reduced capacity from the full capacity to further enhance an attack vulnerability of the first lure unmanned vehicle from the external attack threat;

and

wherein the first lure vehicle control circuit is configured to implement the selected second protection procedure at the reduced capacity applied while applying at least the sub-set of the set of the plurality of protection procedures to their full capacity while the first lure unmanned vehicle travels along the first lure route.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the procedure randomization system is further configured to randomly select the first lure route from a sub-set of multiple different lure routes.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a central control circuit separate from and communicatively coupled with the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, wherein the central control circuit is configured to identify a location of a previously detected attack, and to define the sub-set of the multiple different lure routes, from a set of a plurality of different lure routes, that are within a threshold distance of the location of the previously detected attack.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a central control circuit separate from and communicatively coupled with each the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, and configured to;

receive a first detection location of the first lure unmanned vehicle corresponding to a detection by the first lure vehicle control circuit of the detected external attack; and

direct at least a second lure unmanned vehicle and a third lure unmanned vehicle of the set of the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles to different probing locations that are within thresholds of the first detection location, and triangulate an estimated attacker location based on subsequent location information provided by at least the second and third lure unmanned vehicles.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the central control circuit is further configured to direct instructions to the first lure unmanned vehicle to disengage from further interaction with the external attack, and communicate a second lure route to the second lure unmanned vehicle that is within the threshold distance with the first detection location;

and

wherein the procedure randomization system is further configured to randomly select at least a second protection procedure, of the set of a plurality of different protection procedures, that is not to be implemented to enhance an attack vulnerability of the second lure unmanned vehicle from an external attack threat while traveling along the second lure route and while the first lure unmanned vehicle is disengaged from the external attack.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the first lure vehicle control circuit is configured to:

detect that the attack has infiltrated a first layer of operation of the first lure vehicle control circuit, present the attack with access to a predefined non-critical layer of operation, present fake information regarding the operation of the first lure vehicle control circuit through the non-critical layer of operation, and collect attack information regarding at least one or more of controls the attack is attempting to access and software tools being utilized in the attack.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first lure vehicle control circuit is configured to enable the attack to infiltrate a virtual vehicle control circuit of the first lure vehicle control circuit, wherein the virtual control circuit appears to the attack to implement commands from the attack to appear as though controlling the first lure unmanned vehicle without actually affecting the operation of the first lure unmanned vehicle, while providing an appearance of further penetration by the attack into the operations of the virtual vehicle control circuit.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a central control circuit separate from and communicatively coupled with the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, wherein the central control circuit is configured to;

receive, over time from the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, multiple notifications of communications detected by the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles from multiple different untrusted sources geographically distributed over multiple different delivery routes;

evaluate each of the notifications based on a history of numerous previous other communications directed at one or more other of the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles and acquired over time;

identify, based on the evaluation of the notifications based on the history, a first source of the multiple different sources and change a status of the first source to a first trusted source from which the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles are subsequently to accept communications.

10. A method of protecting unmanned retail delivery vehicles, comprising:

operating a plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles (UDV) each configured to carry a package to a corresponding predefined delivery location of multiple different delivery locations while traveling along a corresponding delivery route from a corresponding launch location to the corresponding delivery location and release at least one package for delivery at the delivery location;

operating a plurality of lure unmanned vehicles; and

randomly selecting, through a procedure randomization system, at least a first protection procedure, of a set of a plurality of different protection procedures, that is not to be implemented by a first lure unmanned vehicle to enhance an attack vulnerability of the first lure unmanned vehicle, of the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, from an external attack threat, wherein the set of the plurality of different protection procedures comprises at least wireless communication protection schemes, routes of travel, and operational commands;

obtaining, by a first lure vehicle control circuit of the first lure unmanned vehicle, a first lure route; and

controlling the first lure unmanned vehicle to travel along the first lure route while preventing the selected first protection procedure from being applied while applying at least a sub-set of the set of the plurality of protection procedures to a full capacity while the first lure unmanned vehicle travels along the first lure route.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

randomly selecting at least a second protection procedure of the set of the plurality of protection procedures that is to be implemented at a reduced capacity from the full capacity to further enhance an attack vulnerability of the first lure unmanned vehicle from the external attack threat; and

implementing, by the first lure vehicle control circuit, the selected second protection procedure at the reduced capacity applied while applying at least the sub-set of the set of the plurality of protection procedures to their full capacity while the first lure unmanned vehicle travels along the first lure route.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

randomly selecting the first lure route from a sub-set of multiple different lure routes.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying, at a central control circuit separate from and communicatively coupled with the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, a location of a previously detected attack; and

defining the sub-set of the multiple different lure routes, from a set of a plurality of different lure routes, that are within a threshold distance of the location of the previously detected attack.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a first detection location of the first lure unmanned vehicle corresponding to a detection by the first lure vehicle control circuit of the detected external attack; and

directing at least a second lure unmanned vehicle and a third lure unmanned vehicle of the set of the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles to different probing locations that are within thresholds of the first detection location, and triangulating an estimated attacker location based on subsequent location information provided by at least the second lure unmanned vehicles.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

directing instructions to the first lure unmanned vehicle to disengage from further interaction with the external attack;

communicating a second lure route to the second lure unmanned vehicle that is within the threshold distance with the first detection location; and

randomly selecting at least a second protection procedure, of the set of a plurality of different protection procedures, that is not to be implemented to enhance an attack vulnerability of the second lure unmanned vehicle from an external attack threat while traveling along the second lure route and while the first lure unmanned vehicle is disengaged from the external attack.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting, by the first lure vehicle control circuit, that the attack has infiltrated a first layer of operation of the first lure vehicle control circuit;

presenting the attack with access to a predefined non-critical layer of operation;

presenting fake information regarding the operation of the first lure vehicle control circuit through the non-critical layer of operation; and

collecting attack information regarding at least one or more of controls the attack is attempting to access and software tools being utilized in the attack.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

enabling, by the first lure vehicle control circuit, the attack to infiltrate a virtual vehicle control circuit of the first lure vehicle control circuit that appears to the attack to implement commands from the attack to appear as though controlling the first lure unmanned vehicle without actually affecting the operation of the first lure unmanned vehicle, and while providing an appearance of further penetration by the attack into the operations of the virtual vehicle control circuit.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, over time from the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles, multiple notifications of communications detected by the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles from multiple different untrusted sources geographically distributed over multiple different delivery routes;

evaluating each of the notifications based on a history of numerous previous other communications directed at one or more other of the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles and acquired over time; and

identifying, based on the evaluation of the notifications based on the history, a first source of the multiple different sources and change a status of the first source to a first trusted source from which the plurality of unmanned delivery vehicles and the plurality of lure unmanned vehicles are subsequently to accept communications.