Method for collecting signed items of information for evaluating an energy balance associated with the use of at least one service by a communication terminal

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for collecting signed items of information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one provider server accessible via a communication network. Such a method comprises the following steps: - obtaining (11) items of contextual data representative of an energy context associated with the use; - signing (12) the items of contextual data, resulting in signed items of contextual data; - transmitting (13) the signed items of contextual data to a collection server to establish the energy balance.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] TITLE: Method for collecting signed information for the evaluation of an energy balance associated with the use of at least one service by a communication terminal.

[0003] Technical field

[0004] The invention relates to the field of communication networks. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for quantifying the impact of the use of certain digital technologies in terms of energy balance.

[0005] Prior art

[0006] Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a key issue in the fight against global warming. In this context, businesses and local authorities are particularly solicited and encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint. In the digital field, the situation is mixed. While it has been proven that in many aspects digital development has negative environmental impacts (including the growing increase in overall electricity and resource consumption attributable to the rise of digital technology in recent decades), digital technologies also offer solutions in other aspects that can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint, particularly through the potential for so-called "avoided" carbon emissions (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions that would have occurred if these technologies had not been available and used).For example, when a company provides its employees with digital means allowing them to telework, i.e. to carry out their work remotely from home, they no longer have to travel to and from their usual work site on telework days: the greenhouse gas emissions associated with these very often motorized journeys are thus avoided.

[0007] These positive impacts obtained thanks to digital technologies are, however, currently difficult to quantify precisely; at most, we have estimates based on comparisons between various scenarios (for example, between a scenario where employees telework two days out of a five-day working week, and a reference scenario in which these same employees travel to work on site, i.e. in their company's premises, for the five working days of the week). Also, this avoided carbon is not currently taken into account in the energy footprint of a company or community, nor in the achievement of its carbon neutrality objective.

[0008] In a context where strong incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are gradually being put in place by politicians, particularly on an economic level (carbon tax, carbon credit, etc.), the need for precise and verifiable measurements is becoming increasingly urgent, particularly on the part of companies, communities or organizations wishing to demonstrate that their energy balance must be understood as a whole, that is to say by accounting not only for the negative impacts, but also, where appropriate, for the positive impacts (for example in terms of carbon avoided), that their activities generate.

[0009] There is therefore a need for a solution that not only allows for more precise collection of information to draw up a comprehensive energy assessment associated with an activity, but also ensures that the veracity of the information collected can be assured and controlled.

[0010] Summary of the invention

[0011] The present technique makes it possible to propose a solution aimed at remedying certain drawbacks of the prior art. According to one aspect, the present technique relates to a method for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network. According to the general principle of the proposed technique, such a method comprises the following steps: obtaining so-called contextual data, representative of an energy context associated with said use; signing said contextual data, delivering signed contextual data; transmitting said signed contextual data to a collection server, for establishing said energy balance.

[0012] In this way, the present technique makes it possible to collect, sign, and relay to a remote server data representative of an energy context associated with the remote use, by means of an identified communication terminal, of one or more services offered by a service provider. In this way, the impacts in terms of energy balance associated with the activities of a company or other organization can be evaluated with much more precision, since the present technique makes it possible to take into account within these balances the impacts, both positive and negative, of operations carried out remotely (for example by employees in a teleworking situation). In addition, the present technique offers means of controlling and / or verifying the contextual data reported in such a framework.

[0013] In a particular embodiment, said obtaining of contextual data comprises obtaining, via at least one communication protocol, data from at least one third-party device connected to the same local network as said communication terminal.

[0014] In this way, energy data associated with the local environment of the communication terminal are also collected, making it possible to draw up an even more precise energy assessment, i.e. taking into account not only the use of the communication terminal as such, but also the potential energy impacts of this use on other devices (for example, an employee in a teleworking situation may tend to use certain devices - heating devices, household appliances, etc. - a little more intensively than they would have done if they had worked on their company premises).

[0015] According to a particular characteristic of this embodiment, said communication protocol is a communication protocol dedicated to the control and management of functions of a local home network.

[0016] In this way, contextual data from third-party devices can be collected quickly and easily, using known, efficient and proven communication protocols, such as those used for data exchange at the level of a home automation network, for example.

[0017] In a particular embodiment, said contextual data belongs to the group comprising: a current geographical position of said communication terminal; data representative of a current energy consumption of said communication terminal; data representative of a current overall energy consumption associated with a local environment of said communication terminal; data representative of a current consumption of network data of said communication terminal; data representative of an energy mix, comprising an inventory of different current energy sources used by said communication terminal and / or within said local environment of said communication terminal, and their proportion;data representative of the detection of an event impacting the energy consumption of said communication terminal and / or the overall current energy consumption associated with said local environment of said communication terminal; data representative of end-to-end performance or by segment of data exchanges carried out via said communication network, between said communication terminal and said at least one provider server.;

[0018] In this way, a large number of contextual data of very varied natures are likely to be collected within the framework of the implementation of the process according to the present technique, ultimately making it possible to draw up a very detailed and very precise energy balance associated with the use of the service(s) considered.

[0019] In a particular embodiment, said signature is implemented by means of an encryption key included in an electronic signature certificate issued by an external certification authority.

[0020] In this way, the integrity and origin of the contextual data can be subsequently verified by third-party equipment, in particular equipment responsible for establishing energy balances.

[0021] In a particular embodiment, said method is implemented within an electronic device through which at least one data stream linked to said use of said service passes.

[0022] In this way, the method according to the present technique can be implemented within an existing device already implemented to allow the use of the service considered. Its implementation is thus facilitated. In a particular embodiment, said transmission is carried out by encapsulation of said signed data within at least one outgoing flow among said data flows linked to said use of said service.

[0023] In this way, the same data flows as those exchanged within the framework of the use of the service(s) considered are used to send the contextual data to a remote device responsible for collecting them, which makes it possible to avoid multiplying the network flows (and therefore over-using the communication network) during the implementation of the method.

[0024] In a particular embodiment, said electronic device is implemented: within said communication terminal; within gateway equipment delivering a local network to which said communication terminal is connected; within network equipment of a cellular network to which said communication terminal is connected.

[0025] In this way, the method according to the present technique is particularly flexible and adaptable to numerous network contexts or configurations (wired, cellular, etc.), insofar as it can be implemented within different equipment and at various locations or nodes of a communication network.

[0026] In a particular embodiment, said method comprises, prior to said obtaining step, a step of receiving data representative of an implementation policy, comprising information belonging to the group comprising: identification information of said at least one service for which said obtaining, signing and transmission steps are implemented when using said service; identification information of said communication terminal.

[0027] In this way, it is possible to finely target the communication terminals and services for which the establishment of an energy balance is desired. In this way, the proposed technique also makes it possible to configure with great flexibility a desired degree of granularity for the establishment of such an energy balance (from a very fine granularity at the flow level, to a broad granularity thanks to an aggregation mechanism), and this both at the level of the services and the communication terminals used.According to a particular characteristic of this embodiment, said implementation policy further comprises information representative of at least one energy measurement to be implemented at said communication terminal in the event of obtaining contextual data representative of a detection of at least one predetermined event, said at least one energy measurement belonging to the group comprising: putting said communication terminal into standby mode; switching said communication terminal into energy saving mode; deactivating at least one functionality of said communication terminal; switching the electrical source for the power supply of said communication terminal.

[0028] In this way, measures, and more particularly energy-saving measures, can be automatically triggered at the communication terminal, in certain specific circumstances identified.

[0029] According to a particular characteristic, said predetermined event belongs to the group comprising: the reception of load shedding information from equipment of an external energy supplier; the reception of a request for erasure from equipment of said external energy supplier; the reception of a notification of partial or complete energy source switching from an energy control device present in a local environment of said communication terminal.

[0030] In this way, the energy measurements implemented at the level of the communication terminal can in particular be triggered in response to internal requests (i.e. from equipment connected to the same local network as the communication terminal) or external requests (i.e. from external equipment, not connected to the local network to which the communication terminal is connected). In particular, the proposed technique makes it possible to automate a reaction to certain requests, in particular issued by the operator of an energy network (typically an electricity supplier) in certain exceptional circumstances (for example in the event of energy production being punctually insufficient to satisfy all consumers), then to constitute proof, by the mechanism of collecting and signing contextual data, that an appropriate response to these requests has indeed been provided.

[0031] In a particular embodiment, said identification information of said at least one service takes the form of at least one domain name associated with said at least one service.

[0032] In this way, it is very simple to define a desired granularity for establishing an energy balance, since identification by domain names makes it possible to very precisely target particular flows to be isolated, or on the contrary a vast set of services to be aggregated, in particular thanks to the particular syntax (hierarchical structure in sub-domains and domains) of this type of information.

[0033] In a particular embodiment, during said transmission, said signed contextual data is routed according to said identification information of said at least one service and / or according to said identification information of said communication terminal, or an internal identifier associated with said identification information.

[0034] In this way, the present technique also allows to direct with great precision and flexibility the signed contextual data, for example to servers dedicated to the establishment of different energy balances depending on the communication terminal and / or the services used.

[0035] According to another aspect, the present technique also relates to an electronic device for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network. Such an electronic device comprises: means for obtaining so-called contextual data, representative of an energy context associated with said use; means for signing said contextual data, delivering signed contextual data; means for transmitting said signed contextual data to a collection server, for establishing said energy balance.

[0036] According to another aspect, the proposed technique also relates to a computer program product downloadable from a communication network and / or stored on a computer-readable medium and / or executable by a microprocessor, comprising program code instructions for executing a method of collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance, as described previously in any of its embodiments, when executed on a computer.

[0037] The proposed technique also relates to a computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising program code instructions for executing the steps of the method as described above, in any of its embodiments.

[0038] Such a recording medium may be any entity or device capable of storing the program. For example, the medium may include a storage medium, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a microelectronic circuit ROM, or a magnetic recording medium, for example a USB flash drive or a hard disk.

[0039] On the other hand, such a recording medium may be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, which may be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means, so that the computer program contained therein is remotely executable. The program according to the invention may in particular be downloaded over a network, for example the Internet.

[0040] The different embodiments mentioned above can be combined with each other to implement the invention.

[0041] Figures

[0042] Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment, given as a simple illustrative and non-limiting example, and the appended drawings, among which:

[0043] [Fig 1] illustrates the general principle of a method for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance, in a particular embodiment of the proposed technique;

[0044] [Fig 2] presents a sequence diagram of the process of collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance, in a particular embodiment of the proposed technique;

[0045] [Fig 3] describes a simplified architecture of an electronic device for implementing the proposed technique, in a particular embodiment.

[0046] Detailed description of the invention

[0047] The technique described below overcomes some of the above-mentioned drawbacks.

[0048] In all figures in this document, elements and steps of the same nature are designated by the same numerical reference.

[0049] According to a first aspect, the present technique relates to a method for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal (e.g. a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, etc.), of at least one service provided by at least one provider server accessible via a communication network (typically a wide area network, such as the Internet for example). Such a service may for example take the form of an application or a set of applications made available by a service provider (e.g. an employee's company, or a third-party company) via dedicated servers, in order to allow a user (an employee, a collaborator, a member of an organization, etc.) to carry out various operations remotely (e.g. from home).In a teleworking context, which is an example of a typical context in which the present technique is of particular interest, such applications are typically business applications allowing an employee to carry out the various tasks incumbent upon him as part of his work. The general principle of the method according to the present technique is illustrated in relation to Figure 1. As detailed below, this method is implemented within an electronic device which can be integrated within various equipment of the communication network, and it comprises the steps detailed below, in a particular embodiment.

[0050] In a step 11, the electronic device obtains data representative of an energy context associated with the use of the service(s) considered, called contextual data in the context of this document. Such data may be of relatively varied natures, but have in common the fact of being relevant, where appropriate after various processing and / or analysis operations which are not the subject of this technique, for the determination of an overall energy balance associated with the use of the service considered. Examples of contextual data according to this technique are given below, for illustrative and non-limiting purposes.

[0051] Firstly, the contextual data includes information making it possible to estimate or confirm a geographical position of the communication terminal and / or a distance between the communication terminal and previously identified servers (typically the servers of a company, or the servers which provide the service used by the communication terminal). Such information includes, for example, geographical coordinates obtained via a satellite positioning system (e.g. GPS, Galileo, Glonass, etc.) by means of a dedicated chip embedded in the terminal, or data representative of the end-to-end performance (Round-Trip Time, Spin Bit) or by segment of the data exchanges carried out via the communication network between the communication terminal and the servers providing the service used. Such information is useful, for example, to prove a teleworking situation, i.e.a context in which travel did not need to be made, and therefore to deduce a quantity of greenhouse gas emissions avoided.

[0052] Second, the contextual data includes data representative of current energy consumption of the communication terminal, including for example the instantaneous power consumption of the communication terminal or its average power consumption over a predetermined sliding time window (for example an average power consumption of the communication terminal over the last ten minutes, the last half hour, the last hour, etc.).

[0053] Thirdly, the contextual data includes data representative of overall current energy consumption associated with a local environment of said communication terminal. This data includes, for example, instantaneous or average electricity consumption reported by various equipment (e.g., connected household appliances: televisions, screens, refrigerators, radiators, connected sockets, network access points, etc.) connected to the same local network as the communication terminal. It also includes, for example, information on the status of certain equipment, i.e., whether it is on, on standby (and, if applicable, in what standby level), or completely off.Fourthly, contextual data includes data representative of an energy mix, listing the different common energy sources used by the communication terminal and / or within the local environment of the communication terminal, as well as their proportion. For example, in a situation of teleworking by an employee at home equipped with solar panels, such data indicates that at the time of use of the service in question by means of the communication terminal, 80% of the electrical energy consumed within the home is supplied by the conventional electricity network (i.e. by the energy supplier with which the employee has subscribed to an offer), and that the remaining 20% ​​is supplied by the solar panels (renewable energy generated through self-production).

[0054] Fifth, contextual data includes data representative of current network data consumption by the communications terminal. Such information is particularly useful in that it makes it possible to detect and count periods of potentially energy-intensive usage (live broadcasting or "streaming", downloading, etc.).

[0055] Sixthly, as detailed with examples below, the contextual data includes data representative of the detection of particular events likely to impact the energy consumption of the communication terminal and / or the overall current energy consumption associated with the local environment of said communication terminal. Such events take, for example, the form of notifications (e.g., load shedding notification) or requests (e.g., a request for erasure) from an energy supplier, for example, an electricity supplier.

[0056] As shown with the previous examples, depending on the nature of the contextual data collected, these can be obtained from the communication terminal itself, and / or from other equipment with which the electronic device is able to communicate. In a particular embodiment, at least part of the contextual data is obtained from equipment connected to the same local network as the communication terminal, typically a local network provided by a home gateway (more commonly called a “box” or “internet box”, used to provide Internet access to the various terminals and connected objects in the home).Different communication protocols may be used in this context, for the collection of contextual data at the level of the electronic device, in particular communication protocols adapted or dedicated to the control and management of functions of a local domestic network, for example a home automation network (e.g. WiFi, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Matter, etc. communication protocols).

[0057] In a step 12, the contextual data are time-stamped and signed by the electronic device, using an encryption key previously obtained and stored within this device. According to a particular characteristic, this encryption key is included in an electronic signature certificate issued by an external certification authority. In this way, the integrity and origin of the contextual data can be verified subsequently by third-party equipment, in particular equipment responsible for establishing energy balances.

[0058] In a step 13, the signed contextual data is transmitted to a collection server responsible for establishing, from this data, an energy balance associated with the use of the service. Alternatively, the collection server can delegate all or part of the establishment of the energy balance to a third-party server (for example, a carbon ticket conversion server).

[0059] In a particular embodiment, the method according to the present technique comprises, prior to step 11 of obtaining the contextual data, a step 10 of receiving data representative of a policy for implementing the collection operations. The implementation policy comprises more particularly: information identifying the service(s) whose use must be the subject of the establishment of an energy balance; and / or information identifying the communication terminal by means of which a use of these services must be the subject of the establishment of the energy balance.

[0060] Such an implementation policy takes for example the form of structured data (accessible for example in a file, in a database, etc.) defining rules making it possible, among other things, to define the communication terminal (or several communication terminals) and the services whose associated use must be the subject of an energy balance, that is to say for which the steps of obtaining 11, signing 12 and transmission 13 are implemented. These data are possibly grouped according to an aggregation policy making it possible to configure whether the energy balance must be extended to several services (aggregation of services) or several communication terminals (aggregation of terminals), or on the contrary differentiated by terminal and / or service. Thus, via the aggregation policy, it is possible to finely define a desired degree of granularity for establishing the energy balance.

[0061] According to a particular characteristic, the identifying information of the services takes the form of domain names. For example, an identifying information of the type "*. teams. microsoft" in the structured data means that contextual data representative of an energy context must be collected when the Teams™ videoconferencing application from the software solution publisher Microsoft™ is used, that is to say when data flows associated with the teams. microsoft domain and all its subdomains (included by the presence of the special character "*" in the domain name) are emitted from the communication terminal. Various types of syntax can be used within the structured data to mark the grouping (i.e. aggregation), dissociation, or even exclusion of certain services from the collection process.

[0062] The information identifying the communication terminal(s) for which the method is to be implemented may, for example, take the form of an IP address or a MAC address associated with the communication terminal, or any other information enabling the terminal to be identified with certainty (e.g., a serial number, a machine name, etc.). Thus, it is possible to select by this means the communication terminals concerned by the implementation of the method according to the proposed technique. For example, if we take the previous example of the Teams videoconferencing service, it is possible to specify that only uses of the service from a communication terminal for professional use (e.g., from a laptop provided by a company to an employee) must be taken into account.Use of this same service from an unidentified communication terminal of the user, for example a personal communication terminal of the user (e.g. his tablet), will not trigger the collection mechanism described in relation to the steps of obtaining 11, signing 12 and transmission 13 of the method according to the present technique.

[0063] This technique thus offers great freedom in configuring a desired degree of granularity for establishing the energy balance (from very fine granularity at the flow level, to broad granularity thanks to the aggregation mechanism), both at the level of the services and the communication terminals used.

[0064] In a particular embodiment, the electronic device that implements the method described in relation to Figure 1 is a device through which at least one data stream linked to the use of the service for which an energy balance is desired passes. According to a particular characteristic of this embodiment, the transmission (step 13) of the signed contextual data can then be carried out by encapsulating this signed data within at least one outgoing data stream among the data streams linked to the use of the service. By outgoing data stream, we mean a stream sent by the communication terminal to the server providing the service.In other words, in such an implementation, at least some data streams exchanged between the communication terminal and a provider server in the context of the use of the service are enriched to integrate the additional data that are the signed contextual data (i.e. representative of a verifiable energy context). This enrichment of the streams can for example be carried out at the transport layer level, for example by encapsulating the signed contextual data in frames according to a transport protocol used (e.g. TCP, QUIC, etc.). Alternatively, the signed contextual data can also be transmitted via dedicated data streams, distinct from those exchanged in the context of the use of the service(s) made available by at least one provider server.

[0065] According to a particular characteristic, the signed contextual data transmitted in step 13 are routed according to the identification information of the service considered, according to the identification information of the communication terminal, or according to an internal identifier associated with said identification information, assigned for example by the electronic device (eg an internal flow identifier). In this way, the present technique also makes it possible to finely configure the destination of the collected signed contextual data, possibly by directing them to different collection servers according to the service(s) and / or the communication terminal used.

[0066] In a particular embodiment, the implementation policy obtained in step 10 further comprises information representative of at least one energy measurement to be implemented at the communication terminal, in the case of detection of at least one predetermined event received for example from an external energy supplier or from an energy control device present in the local environment of the communication terminal. Such events may for example comprise a load shedding notification, a request for erasure, a notification of an energy source switch (partial or complete) from an energy control device present in a local environment of said communication terminal, etc.

[0067] In response to such detection, the electronic device may request the implementation, at the level of the communication terminal, of measures, in particular energy saving measures, comprising for example: putting said communication terminal into standby mode; switching said communication terminal into energy saving mode; deactivating at least one functionality of said communication terminal; switching the electrical source for the power supply of said communication terminal.

[0068] The contextual data obtained following these measurements, time-stamped and signed, can thus be used to prove, where appropriate, that a company or community has reacted correctly following a particular request (for example from an energy supplier or a higher authority) and that an appropriate response has indeed been provided in response to the detection of the particular event.

[0069] According to the embodiments, the electronic device can be implemented within the communication terminal itself by means of which the service is used, or within an intermediate device (or node) of the communication network located between this communication terminal and the servers providing said service. For example, the electronic device is implemented within a gateway device providing a local network to which the communication terminal is connected (e.g. via WiFi, Ethernet, etc.), and interfacing with a wide area network (e.g. the Internet network) to which the provider servers are connected. According to another example, the electronic device is implemented within a network device of a cellular network through which the communication terminal has the possibility of accessing the wide area network to which the provider servers are connected, via at least one cellular communication interface (e.g.3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) of the communication terminal. Such network equipment of the cellular network may, for example, be a mobile terminal (typically a smartphone), which may be the communication terminal by means of which the service is used, or any other terminal. It may also, according to another example, be equipment of a UPF (“User Plane Function”) entity of the cellular network, when the latter is a 5G network. It is understood that the preceding examples are given for purely illustrative purposes, and not as a limitation.

[0070] For greater clarity, a sequence diagram illustrating over time an example of possible interactions between different actors involved in the implementation of the collection method according to the present technique, according to some of the particular embodiments described previously, is now presented in relation to Figure 2.

[0071] In the context presented in relation to figure 2, an implementation policy POL is transmitted to the electronic device DE responsible for executing the collection method according to the present technique, in accordance with step 10 previously described in relation to figure 1. This implementation policy is for example transmitted by an NMS server of the network management station type, operated by a telecommunications operator.

[0072] According to this POL implementation policy, the use by means of a TC communication terminal of an APP application made available via a remote SRVF server of a service provider must be subject to the collection of information, in anticipation of the establishment of an energy balance associated with this use.

[0073] After receiving this POL policy by the electronic device DE, a CNX connection is established between the communication terminal TC and the provider server SRVF, marking the start of a session for using the APP application.

[0074] The electronic device DE then begins collecting data representative of an energy context associated with said use, in accordance with step 11 previously described in relation to Figure 1. Telemetry data T1, T2, T3 are then obtained by the electronic device DE, via one or more communication protocols including, for example, home automation type communication protocols, dedicated to the control and management of functions of a domestic local network. These telemetry data can be transmitted, for example, by the communication terminal TC itself (contextual data T1 of Figure 2), but also by other EQS equipment, for example, connected to the same local network as the communication terminal TC (for example, in a teleworking situation, connected household appliances or IT equipment: television, heating, domestic gateway 1, etc.) (contextual data T2 of Figure 2).Telemetry data may also include data representative of an energy mix currently consumed within a household (e.g., quantity and proportion of electricity consumed from the electricity grid vs. from self-production devices - solar panels, wind turbines, etc. - installed within the household), such contextual data being provided, for example, by a TPM energy monitoring device (contextual data T3 in Figure 2).

[0075] The contextual data (T1, T2, T3, etc.) obtained are time-stamped and signed by the electronic device DE during a signature operation SIG1, as and when they are received or in bulk, in accordance with step 12 previously described in relation to figure 1.

[0076] As part of the use of the APP application by the TC communication terminal, application messages are exchanged between this TC terminal and the SRVF provider server, including incoming (FDE1, FDE2) and outgoing (FDS1, FDS2) data flows.

[0077] In the embodiment illustrated in relation to Figure 2, the outgoing data streams are used to relay the signed contextual data to a server responsible for using them. In this case, the electronic device DE is a device through which these data streams linked to the use of the application APP pass; it can, for example, be integrated into a home gateway which delivers the local network to which the communication terminal TC is connected and which interfaces with a wide area network such as the Internet.

[0078] At the time when this application data passes through it, the electronic device DE enriches the outgoing data flow FDS1 with the signed contextual data (for example via encapsulation of this data in the data frames generated at a transport layer, according to a protocol such as TCP or QUIC for example).

[0079] The contextual data thus conveyed is extracted at the level of, for example, the final equipment (the supplier server), or alternatively as illustrated in Figure 2 at the level of an intermediate equipment, for example a “reverse proxy” type RP equipment.

[0080] In a particular embodiment, the POL implementation policy received at the electronic device DE can also provide energy measures to be implemented at the communication terminal, in the event of obtaining contextual data representative of a detection of certain predetermined events.

[0081] Such events may include events internal to a local environment of the communication terminal, or external events.

[0082] Two examples of predetermined events EV1 and EV2 are illustrated in Figure 2 for purely limiting and non-limiting purposes. Event EV1 originates from the TPM energy controller device as described previously. It is therefore an internal event, representing, for example, the crossing of an electrical consumption threshold or a switch of electrical consumption to a particular source (for example, crossing a threshold of 80% of the electricity consumed from solar panels in the home). Event EV2 originates from equipment external to the local environment of the communication terminal. It is therefore an external event, originating, for example, from an energy supplier FE with which a user has taken out a contract. Event EV2 may, for example, be the receipt of a load shedding notification or a notification of a load shedding request encouraging users to reduce their electrical consumption.

[0083] Depending on the POL policy implemented, upon receipt of such events, the electronic device DE sends a CMD request to the communication terminal TC, so that the latter can make ADP adjustments to its consumption via energy measures such as putting it on standby, switching to energy saving mode, deactivating certain particularly energy-consuming functions (e.g. streaming), etc.

[0084] Contextual data, in particular telemetry data T4, T5, T6 continue to be received at the electronic device DE after this adaptation ADP, this data possibly being used subsequently to demonstrate good reception and an appropriate reaction to the EV1 and / or EV2 events received. Again, this contextual data is subject to a timestamp and signature operation SIG2 in accordance with step 12 previously described in relation to FIG. 1, and transmission to a collection server in accordance with step 13 previously described in relation to FIG. 1 (for example via encapsulation within an outgoing data flow FDS2 sent by the communication terminal TC to the provider server SRVF in the context of the use of the application APP).At the end of a session of use of the APP application, the signed contextual data DCS extracted from the data flows exchanged with the SRVF provider server are for example transmitted to a server responsible for establishing an energy balance BE linked to the use of this service, via operations of analysis and processing of this data which are not the subject of this document. In the example illustrated in figure 1, it is for example the network management server NMS which receives this DCS data from the reverse proxy RP, then which establishes this energy balance BE (it being understood that in other embodiments, the server responsible for establishing this balance is a completely different server, for example a server specialized in this type of operation).

[0085] According to another aspect, the proposed technique also relates to an electronic device for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network. Such a device is capable of carrying out the method previously described in any of its embodiments. More particularly, such a device according to the present technique comprises: means for obtaining so-called contextual data, representative of an energy context associated with said use; means for signing said contextual data, delivering signed contextual data; means for transmitting said signed contextual data to a collection server, for establishing the energy balance.

[0086] Figure 3 represents, in a schematic and simplified manner, the structure of such a device, in a particular embodiment. This electronic device comprises for example a memory 31 consisting of a buffer memory M, a processing unit 32, equipped for example with a microprocessor pP, and controlled by the computer program Pg 33, implementing steps of the method for collecting signed information according to at least one embodiment of the invention. To this end, the device also comprises at least one communication interface (e.g. an Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. communication interface), allowing it to receive and transmit messages from and to other equipment connected to the same communication network as itself (e.g. a local network and / or a wide area network). It also has access to a signature tool allowing it to electronically sign data.

[0087] Upon initialization, the code instructions of the computer program 33 are loaded into the buffer memory before being executed by the processor of the processing unit 32. The processing unit 32 receives as input E, for example, a message indicating to it an implementation policy to be applied in order to establish an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network.

[0088] The microprocessor of the processing unit 32 then carries out the steps of the information collection method, according to the instructions of the computer program 33. More particularly, the electronic device obtains via its communication interfaces data representative of an energy context associated with the use of the targeted services, then it signs this data via its signature tool. These operations deliver signed contextual data, which are then transmitted by the processing unit 32 at output S to a collection server, for the establishment of one or more energy balances.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. Method for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network, said method being characterized in that it comprises the following steps: obtaining (11) so-called contextual data, representative of an energy context associated with said use; signing (12) said contextual data, delivering signed contextual data; transmitting (13) said signed contextual data to a collection server, for establishing said energy balance.

2. Method according to claim 1 characterized in that said obtaining of contextual data comprises obtaining, via at least one communication protocol, data from at least one third-party device connected to the same local network as said communication terminal.

3. Method according to claim 2 characterized in that said communication protocol is a communication protocol dedicated to the control and management of functions of a domestic local network.

4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said contextual data belong to the group comprising: a current geographical position of said communication terminal; data representative of a current energy consumption of said communication terminal; data representative of a current overall energy consumption associated with a local environment of said communication terminal; data representative of a current consumption of network data of said communication terminal; data representative of an energy mix, comprising an inventory of different current energy sources used by said communication terminal and / or within said local environment of said communication terminal, and their proportion; data representative of the detection of an event impacting the energy consumption of said communication terminal and / or the overall current energy consumption associated with said local environment of said communication terminal; data representative of an end-to-end performance or by segment of data exchanges carried out via said communication network, between said communication terminal and said at least one supplier server.

5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said signature is implemented by means of an encryption key included in an electronic signature certificate issued by an external certification authority.

6. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it is implemented within an electronic device through which at least one data flow linked to said use of said service passes.

7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that said transmission is carried out by encapsulation of said signed data within at least one outgoing flow among said data flows linked to said use of said service.

8. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that said electronic device is implemented: within said communication terminal; within gateway equipment delivering a local network to which said communication terminal is connected; within network equipment of a cellular network to which said communication terminal is connected.

9. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises, prior to said obtaining step (11), a step of receiving (10) data representative of an implementation policy, comprising information belonging to the group comprising: identification information of said at least one service for which said obtaining (11), signing (12) and transmission (13) steps are implemented during the use of said service; identification information of said communication terminal.

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that said implementation policy further comprises information representative of at least one energy measurement to be implemented at said communication terminal in the event of obtaining contextual data representative of a detection of at least one predetermined event, said at least one energy measurement belonging to the group comprising: putting said communication terminal on standby; switching said communication terminal to energy saving mode; deactivating at least one functionality of said communication terminal; switching the electrical source for the power supply of said communication terminal.

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that said predetermined event belongs to the group comprising: the reception of load shedding information from equipment of an external energy supplier; the reception of a request for erasure from equipment of said external energy supplier; receiving a notification of a partial or complete energy source switchover from an energy control device present in a local environment of said communication terminal.

12. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that said identification information of said at least one service takes the form of at least one domain name associated with said at least one service.

13. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that during said transmission (13), said signed contextual data are routed according to said identification information of said at least one service and / or according to said identification information of said communication terminal, or an internal identifier associated with said identification information.

14. Electronic device for collecting signed information for establishing an energy balance associated with the use, by means of a communication terminal, of at least one service provided by at least one supplier server accessible via a communication network, said electronic device being characterized in that it comprises: means for obtaining so-called contextual data, representative of an energy context associated with said use; means for signing said contextual data, delivering signed contextual data; means for transmitting said signed contextual data to a collection server, for establishing said energy balance.

15. Computer program product downloadable from a communications network and / or stored on a computer-readable medium and / or executable by a microprocessor, characterized in that it comprises program code instructions for executing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, when executed by a computer.

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