Methods and systems for location-based authentication using neighboring sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10154048-B2
Application number	US-201615074745-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2016
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

Various embodiments include methods, and computing devices implementing the methods, for authenticating vehicle information by polling selected sensors. A server computing device receiving vehicle information from a reporting vehicle may compare the received vehicle information to contextual information to generate a comparison result, and determine whether the received vehicle information should be evaluated with greater scrutiny based on the comparison result. The server computing device may select sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information (and in response to determining that the received vehicle information should be evaluated with greater scrutiny), and poll the selected sensors to received sensor information. The server computing device may use the received sensor information to corroborate the received vehicle information, and perform a responsive action based on the result of the corroboration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining the veracity of vehicle information corresponding to autonomous vehicles, comprising:
determining, via a processor in a server computing device, whether vehicle information received from a reporting vehicle should be evaluated based on a result of comparing the received vehicle information to contextual information, wherein the processor in the server computing device determines whether the vehicle information includes suspicious information that should be evaluated with greater scrutiny, wherein the processor in the server computing device compares the received vehicle information to previous reports from the same vehicle, reports received from other vehicles or information in a road condition database;
in response to determining that the vehicle information includes suspicious information, identifying, by the server computing device, sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information to identify a location of a segment of a road reported as blocked or area near a reported emergency and in response to determining, based on the result of comparing the received vehicle information to the contextual information, that the received vehicle information should be evaluated;
polling, by the server computing device, the identified sensors to receive sensor information; and
verifying, in the server computing device, the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information
in response to determining that the vehicle information has not been successfully verified, the server computing device discarding the vehicle information and determining whether the reporting vehicle has been infected with malware or is experiencing a cyber-attack; and
sending, by the server computing device, a control message to the reporting vehicle that includes information suitable for invoking a malware detection system in the reporting vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, in the server computing device, whether to perform a responsive action based on a result of the verification.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein verifying the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information comprises the server computing device comparing the received vehicle information to the received sensor information.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information comprises:
applying, in the server computing device, the received vehicle information to a first behavior model to generate a first value;
applying, in the server computing device, received sensor information to a second behavior model to generate a second value; and
labeling, by the server computing device, the received vehicle information as corroborated in response to determining that a difference between the first value and the second value exceeds a threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information comprises the server computing device identifying spatially relevant sensors based on location information included in the received vehicle information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information comprises:
determining, in the server computing device, an applicable location based on the received vehicle information;
identifying, by the server computing device, a vehicle that is in close proximity to the applicable location; and
identifying, by the server computing device, a sensor that is included in the identified vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information comprises the server computing device identifying a fixed road sensor based on the received vehicle information.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, in the server computing device, a number of sensors that should be polled in order to corroborate the received vehicle information,
wherein identifying sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information comprises selecting the determined number of sensors for polling.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the received vehicle information is corroborated by the received sensor information;
storing the received vehicle information in a database in response to determining that the received vehicle information is corroborated by the received sensor information; and
discarding the received vehicle information in response to determining that the received vehicle information is not corroborated by the received sensor information.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining whether the reporting vehicle is infected with malware in response to determining that the received vehicle information is not corroborated by the received sensor information.

11. A server computing device, comprising:
a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to:
determine whether vehicle information received from a reporting vehicle should be evaluated based on a result of a comparison of the received vehicle information to contextual information, wherein the processor determines whether the vehicle information includes suspicious information that should be evaluated with greater scrutiny, wherein the processor compares the received vehicle information to previous reports from the same vehicle, reports received from other vehicles or information in a road condition database;
in response to determining that the vehicle information includes suspicious information, identify sensors for polling based on the received vehicle information to identify a location of a segment of a road reported as blocked or area near a reported emergency and in response to determining, based on the result of the comparison of the received vehicle information to the contextual information, that the received vehicle information should be evaluated;
poll identified sensors to receive sensor information; and
verify the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information in response to determining that the vehicle information has not been successfully verified, discarding the vehicle information and determining whether the reporting vehicle has been infected with malware or is experiencing a cyber-attack; and
sending a control message to the reporting vehicle that includes information suitable for invoking a malware detection system in the reporting vehicle.

12. The server computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to determine whether to perform a responsive action based on a result of the verification.

13. The server computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to verify the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information by comparing the received vehicle information to the received sensor information.

14. The server computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to verify the received vehicle information based on the received sensor information by:
applying the received vehicle information to a first behavior model to generate a first value;
applying received sensor information to a second behavior model to generate a second value; and
labeling the received vehicle information as corroborated in response to determining that a difference between the first value and the second value exceeds a threshold value.

15. The ser

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Krishnamurthi Govindarajan
• Das Saumitra Mohan
• Gupta Rajarshi

Classifications

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G08G1/0112

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title

• G06F2221/2111

  Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS · CPC title

• H04L63/1416 Primary

  Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection · CPC title

• H04L63/145

  the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms · CPC title