METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING DATA FROM A SENSOR DEVICE TO AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT, A SENSOR DEVICE AND AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT

• US 20170250961A1
• Filed: 02/21/2017
• Published: 08/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Rasbornig, Friedrich
• Granted Patent: US 11,245,673 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• 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 9/0819 Key transport or distribution, i.e. key establishment techniques where one party creates or otherwise obtains a secret value, and securely transfers it to the other(s) network architectures or network communication protocols for key distribution in a packet data network H04L63/062

Abstract

A method for communicating data from a sensor device to an Electronic Control Unit using a single-wire bi-directional communication protocol includes providing a first key of the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device, encrypting sensor data of the sensor device using the first key to determine encrypted data, and transmitting the encrypted data from the sensor device to the Electronic Control Unit.

Claims

1. A method for communicating data from a sensor device to an Electronic Control Unit using a single-wire bi-directional communication protocol, the method comprising:

providing a first key of the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device;

encrypting sensor data of the sensor device using the first key to determine encrypted data; and

transmitting the encrypted data from the sensor device to the Electronic Control Unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the first key from the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a trigger pulse from the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device, the trigger pulse indicating the start of a data frame; and

transmitting the encrypted data in response to the trigger pulse.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first key is transmitted using the trigger pulse.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second key from the sensor device to the Electronic Control Unit.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

encrypting second data of the Electronic Control Unit with the second key to determine second encrypted data; and

transmitting the second encrypted data from the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the first key is transmitted before the trigger pulse.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the first key from the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device comprises:

transmitting a first portion of the first key before a first trigger pulse of a first data frame; and

transmitting a second portion of the first key before a second trigger pulse of a subsequent second data frame.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the second key is transmitted before a trigger pulse.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the second key from the sensor device to the Electronic Control Unit comprises:

transmitting a first portion of the second key before a first trigger pulse of a first data frame; and

transmitting a second portion of the second key before a second trigger pulse of a subsequent second data frame.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the encrypted data is transmitted using the SPC protocol or using the PSI5 protocol.

12. A method for communicating data from a sensor device to an Electronic Control Unit:

transmitting a first key from the Electronic Control Unit to the sensor device;

encrypting sensor data of the sensor device using the first key to determine encrypted data; and

transmitting the encrypted data from the sensor device to the Electronic Control Unit.

13. A sensor device for communicating sensor data to an Electronic Control Unit, comprising:

a key interface configured to provide a first key of the Electronic Control Unit;

an encryption module configured to encrypt the sensor data using the first key to determine encrypted data;

an output interface configured to transmit the encrypted data to the Electronic Control Unit using a wired connection; and

an input interface configured to receive data from the Electronic Control Unit.

14. The sensor device of claim 13, wherein the key interface is configured to receive the first key from the Electronic Control Unit via the input interface.

15. The sensor device of claim 13, wherein the input interface is configured to receive data from the Electronic Control Unit using the same wired connection as the output interface.

16. The sensor device of claim 13, further comprising:

a decryption module configured to decrypt a data transmission from the Electronic Control Unit using an internal key of the sensor device.

17. The sensor device of claim 16, wherein the output interface is further configured to transmit a second key to the Electronic Control Unit, the second key being a public key associated to the internal key.

18. The sensor device of claim 13, further comprising a sensor configured to determine the sensor data, the sensor data being indicative of a physical quantity.

19. The sensor device of claim 18, wherein the physical quantity is a magnetic field.

20. An Electronic Control Unit for receiving sensor data from a sensor device, comprising:

a key interface configured to provide an internal key of the Electronic Control Unit;

an input interface configured to receive encrypted data from the sensor device using a wired connection;

an output interface configured to transmit data to the sensor device; and

a decryption module configured to decrypt the encrypted data using the internal key to determine the sensor data.

21. The Electronic Control Unit of claim 20, wherein the output interface is configured to transmit data to the sensor device using the same wired connection as the input interface.

22. The Electronic Control Unit of claim 20, wherein the output interface is configured to transmit a first key to the sensor device, the first key being a public key associated to the internal key.

23. The Electronic Control Unit of claim 20, further comprising:

an encryption module configured to encrypt data using a second key to determine encrypted data.

24. The Electronic Control Unit of claim 23, wherein the input interface is further configured to receive the second key from the sensor device.

25. The Electronic Control Unit of claim 20, wherein the Electronic Control Unit is configured to receive information from a sensor device of a vehicle.