Blockchain Data Broker for IoT Device Ownership Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing complex ownership transfer and rightful device ownership contexts in the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem is daunting due to the large number of IoT devices being deployed, especially with the integration of cryptocurrencies for transactions.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a blockchain, such as a Bitcoin blockchain, for facilitating device ownership transfer, involving entities like manufacturer devices, data broker devices, and provenance verifier devices to securely record and verify ownership through cryptographic keys and zero-knowledge proofs, ensuring a transparent and tamper-proof record of device ownership.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional ownership management methods are used for IoT devices, then device deployment is simple, but managing ownership transfer and tracking rightful device ownership contexts becomes increasingly complex and difficult with billions of devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a data broker as an intermediary entity that mediates between IoT devices and the ownership management system. The data broker receives attestation data from devices, verifies provenance through cryptographic keys, and manages ownership records, thereby simplifying the overall system complexity while enabling scalable device deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the ownership management functionality from the core IoT device into a separate provenance verification system. By removing ownership management complexity from individual devices and concentrating it in dedicated verification entities, the system achieves both high device deployment speed and simplified ownership tracking.
2Reliability
If cryptographic verification methods are implemented for each device, then ownership security is improved, but the computational overhead and verification time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-provisioning each IoT device with cryptographic keys and attestation credentials during manufacturing. This allows for rapid verification later, as the verification process only needs to check pre-computed attestation data rather than performing complex cryptographic operations in real-time, thus maintaining high security while reducing verification time.
3Device complexity
If a centralized ownership database is used, then ownership tracking is simplified, but the system becomes a single point of failure and less resilient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized ownership database into distributed provenance verification entities that operate independently across the network. Each entity maintains local verification capabilities and can operate autonomously, eliminating the single point of failure while keeping ownership tracking manageable through modular design.
Data Source
AI summary
Technologies for transferring ownership of a compute device include a data broker device to receive a provenance verification key of the compute device from a manufacturer device, receive attestation data of the compute device, and verify a provenance of the compute device based on the attestation data. The attestation data is indicative of one or more security attributes of the compute device. The data broker device updates a block chain with an acknowledgment of an assignment of the compute device to the data broker device, wherein the block chain identifies each transaction associated with ownership of the compute device.