Digital Certificate Validation via Pre-stored Status Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

IoT devices face challenges in efficiently validating digital certificates due to memory and calculation-intensive processes, which delays other device processes and results in significant response times and computing efforts.

Innovation Solution

A procedure where a validation device requests validation information from a status collection device, allowing the status collection device to provide pre-stored validation information, thereby reducing the burden on the validation device and IoT devices, and ensuring that validation information is only determined in case of a negative test result.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If certificate validation is performed locally on IoT devices, then validation accuracy is ensured, but device processing capacity is overwhelmed and response time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevalidation accuracyVSAvoiddevice processing capacity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

A validation device is introduced as an intermediary between IoT devices and the status collection device. The validation device receives validation requests from IoT devices, queries the status collection device for certificate validation information, and returns the results. This intermediary approach protects IoT devices from being overwhelmed by computationally intensive validation operations while ensuring accurate validation results are obtained.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The certificate validation functionality is extracted from IoT devices and centralized in a dedicated validation device that queries a status collection device. By removing the computationally intensive validation process from resource-constrained IoT devices and placing it in a more capable validation device, the system maintains validation accuracy while preserving IoT device processing capacity for other tasks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Productivity

If certificate validation is delegated to a remote validation service, then device computing overhead is reduced, but response time until validation result is available increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedevice computing overheadVSAvoidresponse time

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Validation results are pre-computed and stored in advance in the status collection device. When a validation request is received, the validation device queries these pre-stored results rather than performing real-time validation or waiting for remote service computation. This preliminary preparation of validation information dramatically reduces the response time while keeping device computing overhead low.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Device complexity

If validation results are cached on a single server, then computation is centralized, but the cache is only available to the requesting server and not other servers in the network

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputation centralizationVSAvoidvalidation result sharing across servers

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The status collection device is designed as a universal, centralized repository that stores validation information accessible by multiple validation devices across the network. Instead of each server maintaining its own isolated cache, the multi-functional status collection device serves all validation devices, enabling any server to benefit from validation results computed by any other server, thus improving network-wide adaptability and resource utilization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

4Adaptability or versatility

If multiple servers validate the same certificates independently, then each server has its own validation capability, but computing overhead is duplicated across the network

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveserver validation capabilityVSAvoidnetwork computing overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple validation devices are merged into a unified system through the centralized status collection device. Instead of each server independently performing validation computations, the validation devices collectively query the single status collection device for validation results. This merging eliminates redundant computation across servers while preserving the ability of multiple servers to perform validation, significantly reducing network-wide computing overhead.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP3873051B1Method for validation of a digital certificate

Publication Date: 2025.04.02 SIEMENS AG

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AI summary

A method for validating a digital certificate by a validation device (15, 25), which verifies the certificate of a communication partner on behalf of a first device (11,..,14), comprising the following steps: - Requesting (S1) a validation of the communication partner's certificate by the first device (11,..,14) from a first validation device (15), - Querying (S2) a status collection device (30) for validation information by the first validation device (15), - Checking (S3) in the first validation device (15) whether validation information has been received from the status collection device (30), and - Sending (S4) the validation information from the first validation device (15) to the first device (11), whereby the certificate's validation information is determined in the first validation device (15) only if the check result is negative (S5).