Systems and methods for relating network intrusions to passenger-owned devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10992689-B2
Application number	US-201816134882-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2018
Priority date	Sep 18, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle network system is configured to detect unauthorized intrusions by a passenger-owned device, and to identify the passenger-owned device based at least in part on stored information representative of network communications. The vehicle network system can be further configured to determine a position of the intruding passenger-owned device within a passenger area of the vehicle and to obtain a name and/or camera image of a passenger associated with the device. The position of the intruding device can be identified based at least in part on communications between the intruding device and one or more network-access devices distributed throughout the passenger area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A correlation engine of a network system on board a vehicle, the network system including a network bus, a network processor connected to the network bus, a network storage area of at least a first storage device connected to the network bus, a first plurality of wireless network-access devices distributed in a passenger area of the vehicle that are accessible by a passenger using a passenger-owned device having a corresponding wireless communication device, and a first plurality of network nodes including the first plurality of network-access devices, wherein the network processor is configured to detect an unauthorized data intrusion on the network system by the passenger-owned device communicating wirelessly with the network system through at least one of the first plurality of network-access devices; the correlation engine comprising:
a correlation-engine processor, and
a correlation-engine storage area of the at least the first storage device;
wherein the correlation-engine processor is configured to:
(a) receive from the network processor intrusion information associated with a detected unauthorized data intrusion, including information regarding a communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion;
(b) store on the correlation-engine storage area communications information including information that is unique to the passenger-owned device, and including actual and optional routes through network nodes of the first plurality of network nodes traversed by the communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion;
(c) store passenger-area information relating passenger positions to locations of the first plurality of network-access devices; and
(d) determine a position of the passenger in the passenger area using distance vectoring based at least in part on the stored communications signal route information.

2. The correlation engine of claim 1 , wherein the correlation-engine processor is further configured to assign a unique code to the passenger-owned device, and associate the unique code with communications by the passenger-owned device on the network system.

3. The correlation engine of claim 2 , wherein the network system further includes a first plurality of network nodes including the first plurality of network-access devices, and the correlation-engine processor is further configured to:
store communication-signal information for at least one network node of the first plurality of network nodes for communications received by the at least one network-access device from the passenger-owned device, and
correlate communications information associated with the passenger-owned device with passenger-related information of a passenger based at least in part on the communication-signal information, the passenger-related information including passenger positions,
wherein the correlation-engine processor is configured to determine the position of the passenger based on the correlation.

4. The correlation engine of claim 3 , wherein the communication-signal information includes timing information for each of a second plurality of network nodes of the first plurality of network nodes for communications transmitted by the passenger-owned device and received by the second plurality of network nodes, and the correlation-engine processor is configured to determine the position of the passenger using multilateration based at least in part on the communication-signal information.

5. The correlation engine of claim 3 , further comprising a plurality of first sensors distributed in predetermined locations in the passenger area, each first sensor being configured to receive a first signal from a first transmitter on the passenger-owned device that is not the wireless communication device, and wherein the correlation-engine processor is configured to store in the correlation-engine storage area first-sensor information associated with the first signal and correlate the first sensor information with the communication-signal information based at least in part on the communications information and the passenger-related information.

6. The correlation engine of claim 3 , where the vehicle further includes a plurality of cameras distributed about the passenger area, and wherein the intrusion information associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion includes information regarding a communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion, and the correlation-engine processor is further configured to store camera images of passenger positions in the passenger area, and associate the determined position of the passenger with a stored camera image of the determined position of the passenger taken when the communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion was received by a network-access device proximate to the determined position of the passenger.

7. The correlation engine of claim 1 , where the network system is configured to communicate with the passenger-owned device over one of a plurality of channels each having a different channel frequency, and wherein the correlation-engine processor is further configured to assign to the passenger-owned device one of the plurality of channels, and associate the assigned channel with communications by the passenger-owned device on the network system.

8. A method of relating a data intrusion on a network of a vehicle to a passenger on the vehicle, the network including a network processor, a network storage area of at least a first storage device, a first plurality of wireless network-access devices distributed in a passenger area of the vehicle that are accessible by the passenger using a passenger-owned device having a corresponding wireless communication device, a first plurality of network nodes including the first plurality of network-access devices, and a plurality of cameras distributed about the passenger area, the method comprising:
storing on a correlation-engine storage area communications information representative of data communications occurring on the network, the data communications including information that is unique to the passenger-owned device and the communications information including information regarding a communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion,
receiving from the network processor intrusion information associated with a detected unauthorized data intrusion on the network by the passenger-owned device communicating wirelessly with the network system through at least one of the first plurality of network-access devices;
storing communication-signal information for at least one network node of the first plurality of network nodes for communications received by the at least one network-access device from the passenger-owned device; and
correlating communications information associated with the passenger-owned device with passenger-related information of the passenger based at least in part on the communication-signal information, the passenger-related information including passenger positions;
determining a location of the passenger-owned device based at least in part on the communications information correlation;
storing camera images of passenger positions in the passenger area; and
associating the determined location with a stored camera image of the determined location taken when the communication signal associated with the detected unauthorized data intrusion was received by a network-access device proximate to the determined location.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising assigning a unique code to the passenger-owned device, and associating the unique code with communications by the passenger-owned device

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Vanguardia Michael R
• Nguyen Daniel
• Mitchell Timothy M

Classifications

• H04W12/63

  Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent · CPC title

• H04W12/30

  Security of mobile devices; Security of mobile applications · CPC title

• H04W4/42 Primary

  for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft · CPC title

• B64D45/0015

  Devices specially adapted for the protection against criminal attack, e.g. anti-hijacking systems · CPC title

• H04L63/1416 Primary

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