M2M Server Architecture for Battery-Saving PKI Communications
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing M2M communication systems face challenges in conserving battery life, managing radio-frequency spectrum, and ensuring secure, efficient communication through intermediate firewalls, especially when modules sleep between messages, and require scalable PKI key management and compatibility with various cryptographic algorithms.
Innovation Solution
A server-based system using public key infrastructure (PKI) manages secure communication between modules and applications, supporting asymmetric and symmetric ciphering, hash algorithms, and key derivation, enabling efficient energy use and secure translation between different cryptographic methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If modules sleep between messages to conserve battery life, then energy consumption is reduced, but communication reliability deteriorates due to connection establishment overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The server establishes and maintains a persistent secure connection channel in advance, allowing modules to sleep without repeatedly establishing connections. The server pre-configures the communication pathway so that when modules wake up, they can immediately transmit messages through the pre-established channel, reducing connection overhead and improving reliability during sleep-wake cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary that maintains a persistent connection between modules and the network. This intermediary role allows modules to sleep while the server keeps the communication pathway open, eliminating the need for modules to repeatedly establish connections and thereby improving communication reliability during sleep-wake cycles.
2Reliability
If PKI key management is implemented for secure communication, then security is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex PKI key management functions from the resource-constrained modules and relocates them to the server. The server handles certificate validation, key derivation, and cryptographic operations, while modules only perform simple encrypted message transmission. This extraction reduces module complexity while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The server serves as an intermediary that performs complex PKI operations on behalf of modules. It validates certificates, derives session keys, and manages cryptographic communications, allowing modules to maintain security without implementing complex key management systems themselves.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cryptographic algorithms are supported for compatibility, then versatility is improved, but processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive cryptographic algorithm implementation from modules and consolidates it at the server. The server supports multiple algorithms for compatibility while modules use simpler, algorithm-agnostic encryption interfaces, reducing processing requirements at the module level while maintaining versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
A set of servers can support secure and efficient “Machine to Machine” communications using an application interface and a module controller. The set of servers can record data for a plurality of modules in a shared module database. The set of servers can (i) access the Internet to communicate with a module using a module identity, (i) receive server instructions, and (iii) send module instructions. Data can be encrypted and decrypted using a set of cryptographic algorithms and a set of cryptographic parameters. The set of servers can (i) receive a module public key with a module identity, (ii) authenticate the module public key, and (iii) receive a subsequent series of module public keys derived by the module with a module identity. The application interface can use a first server private key and the module controller can use a second server private key.