WIRELESS SENSOR FIELD ENUMERATION

• US 20160330186A1
• Filed: 07/18/2016
• Published: 11/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: HANSEN, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,935,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• 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

Abstract

A system for authenticating data acquired by multiple sensors prior to storing the data in a database is described. The system also authenticates users requesting data access and intelligence agents that provide analyses of data stored in the database. As a result, any data or data analysis obtained from the system is traceable and reliable.

Claims

1. A authentication system comprising:

a database;

an authentication server configured to;

register sensors and data requesters with the authentication server, wherein data from the sensors is obtained through the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags;

receive a request from a first sensor to store data in the database;

store the data in the database only in response to the authentication server authenticating the first sensor as one of the registered sensors;

receive a request from a first data requester for the stored data; and

provide requested data from the database to the first data requester only if the authentication server authenticates the first data requester as one of the registered data requesters.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a presentation server configured to;

register analysis requesters with the presentation server;

receive a request from an analysis requester of an analysis of at least some of the data stored in the database;

authenticate the analysis requester only if the analysis requester is determined to be one of the registered analysis requesters; and

allow the analysis requester access to the database to perform the analysis.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a gateway configured to aggregate data from at least some of the sensors and transmit the data to the authentication server for storage in the database, wherein the aggregated data is obtained from sensors reading RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a permanently established gateway having final routing information for routing data aggregated from the network of sensors to the authentication server; and

a mobile gateway that is configured to aggregate data from the network of sensors, and wherein the mobile gateways include a routing table for routing the aggregated data among the multiple mobile gateways to the permanently established gateway.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein at least some of the sensors measure an aspect of a person'"'"'s health, the data is personal medical data, and further wherein the mobile gateways include smart phones.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data is an encrypted hash value, and further wherein the hash value is generated by a secret hash function known to the sensor that generated the data and the authentication server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the sensors measure environmental conditions, the data is environmental data, and further wherein the data analysis provides recommendations for improving crop yields.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data requester specifies a presentation format for the requested data, and further wherein subsequent requests for data made by the data requester are presented in the specified presentation format.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the presentation format is selected from one of the following:

instantaneous values of sensor data, graphing of a time series of sensor data with tolerance bars, linear regression or curve fitting of sensor data, and correlation of sensor data against another form of metadata stored in the database.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein authenticating the data requester comprises ensuring payment information is obtained from the data requester for the requested data before providing data to the data requester.

11. A system for authenticating data provided by a network of multiple sensors and providing an authenticated presentation of the data, the system comprising:

a fixed gateway that stores routing information for routing data aggregated from the network of sensors to an authentication server, and further stores sensor information about which sensors are registered so that the fixed gateway is configured to authenticate a given sensor; and

a mobile gateway being configured to aggregate data from the network of sensors, and wherein each of the mobile gateways includes a routing table for routing the aggregated data to the fixed gateway,

wherein the authentication server configured to;

authenticate the fixed gateway;

receive the data from the fixed gateway;

store the data in the database; and

receive a request from a data requester;

determining if the data requester is authenticated to receive data from the database;

providing requested data from the database to the data requested only if the data requester is authenticated by the authentication server.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising

a presentation server configured to:

register analysis requesters with the presentation server;

receive a request from an analysis requester of an analysis of at least some of the data stored in the database;

authenticate the analysis requester only if the analysis requester is determined to be one of the registered analysis requesters; and

allow the analysis requester access to the database to perform the analysis.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein when the fixed gateway does not have the information to authenticate a sensor, and the fixed gateway queries the authentication server for authentication information.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the authentication server is one of multiple authentication servers, and further wherein the routing information stored at the fixed gateway routes data aggregated from the network of sensors to a predetermined one of the multiple authentication servers.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the data is obtained from sensors reading RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to determine a position of the RFID tags.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the presentation server is further configured to provide a list of analysts for performing the analysis.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

registering sensors at a server as registered sensors;

receiving data from a first sensor at the server;

determining, by the server, if the first sensor is one of the registered sensors;

storing the received data in a database only in response to the first sensor being authenticated by the server as a registered sensor; and

denying the received data from the first sensor in response to the sensor not being authenticated by the server as a registered sensor.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

registering analysis requesters at a server as registered sensors;

receiving a request from an analysis requester for an analysis of at least some of the stored data;

authenticating the analysis requester in response to determining that the analysis requester is authorized with the server as a registered analysis requester;

providing access to the at least some of the stored data to the analysis requester or an analyst only in response to the analysis requester being authenticated.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein authenticating the analysis requester comprises ensuring payment information is obtained from the analysis requester for the requested analysis before providing analysis to the analysis requester.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the data is obtained from sensors reading RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to determine a position of the RFID tag.