Validation engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11284257-B2
Application number	US-201916409536-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2019
Priority date	May 14, 2018
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

In accordance with some embodiments, an apparatus for privacy protection is provided. The apparatus includes a housing arranged to hold a personal communication device. The apparatus further includes a local communication device at least partially supported by the housing, where the local communication device includes a personal communication device interface modem operable to provide a communication channel between the peripheral interface and the personal communication device. The apparatus further includes a validation engine coupled to the local communication device and operable to validate at least one of one or more portions of the personal communication device, a user of the personal communication device, or operational status of the personal communication device through the local communication device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a housing arranged to hold a personal communication device;
a local communication device at least partially supported by the housing, wherein the local communication device includes a personal communication device interface modem operable to provide a communication channel associated with the personal communication device;
a non-transitory memory at least partially supported by the housing; and
a controller coupled to the local communication device and the non-transitory memory, wherein a validation engine stored in the non-transitory memory, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to use a root key created on the apparatus to generate one or more certificates and use the one or more certificates to validate at least one of one or more portions of the personal communication device, a user of the personal communication device, or operational status of the personal communication device through the local communication device, wherein:
the one or more certificates include certificates of safe processes, and the validation engine includes a chain validation engine, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to use a hardware root of trust to validate processes, including obtaining, via the local communication device, a signature of a process on the personal communication device, and validating the process by comparing the signature of the process with the certificates of safe processes.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a plurality of components mateable with one another, including at least one switch connectable to the validation engine.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the validation engine includes an equipment validation engine, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to validate the one or more portions of the personal communication device or the operational status of the personal communication device based on a position of the at least one switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the validation engine includes a presence validation engine operable to identify radio frequency (RF) emission from the personal communication device in order to validate that the housing holds the personal communication device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a magnet and a magnetometer, wherein:
the magnet is coupled to a moving component of the housing;
the magnetometer is coupled to the validation engine and operable to measure a change in magnetic field caused by a movement of the magnet coupled to the housing; and
the validation engine, when executed by the controller, further causes the apparatus to validate loading or unloading of the personal communication device based on the change in the magnetic field caused by the movement of the magnet coupled to the housing.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an RF power detector, at least partially supported by the housing and connectable to the local communication device, operable to detect an RF emission waveform in proximity to the personal communication device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the validation engine includes a proximity validation engine connectable to the RF power detector, when the proximity validation engine is executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to obtain an operational mode of the personal communication device and validate whether or not the RF emission waveform is consistent with the operational mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a peripheral interface at least partially supported by the housing, wherein the peripheral interface is connectable to a supplemental functional device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the validation engine is connectable to the peripheral interface through the local communication device and operable to obtain an identifier of the supplemental functional device and authenticate the supplemental functional device based at least in part on the identifier.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the validation engine is connectable to the peripheral interface through the local communication device and operable to trigger an authentication of the supplementation function device by a second device, distinct from the apparatus, and receive an authentication result from the second device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a first remote communication interface at least partially supported by the housing, wherein the personal communication device includes a second remote communication interface.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the validation engine, when executed by the controller, further causes the apparatus to compare information from the first remote communication interface with information from the second remote communication interface to validate the second remote communication interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a power supply provided to supply power to the local communication device, the non-transitory memory, and the controller.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the validation engine, when executed by the controller, further causes the apparatus to obtain a power level of the power supply and trigger an alert when the power level is below a threshold.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the validation engine includes a user validation engine, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to validate an identity of the user of the personal communication device, including:
obtaining biometric data of the user from one or more sensors that are at least partially supported by the housing; and
authenticating the user based on the biometric data.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the validation engine includes an encryption validation engine, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to validate at least one of validity or integrity of encrypted communication through the local communication device, including:
obtaining certificates in the encrypted communication;
determining whether or not the certificates are valid based on the one or more certificates; and
triggering an alert or action in response to a determination that the certificates are invalid.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an accelerometer, coupled to the validation engine and operable to detect a vibration of the personal communication device and notify the validation engine of the vibration.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a microphone and a speaker, coupled to the validation engine, wherein:
the speaker is operable to output masking signals;
the microphone is operable to detect audio signals proximate to the apparatus; and
the validation engine includes an audio path validation engine, which, when executed by the controller, causes the apparatus to validate an amplitude of at least a portion of the masking signals detected by the microphone.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein using a hardware root of trust to create the root key includes using a hardware true random number generator to create the root key and stored storing the root key in the non-transitory memory.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the certificates of safe processes are generated and provisioned on the apparatus, and stored in the non-transitory memory.

Assignees

• Ppip Llc

Inventors

• Fong Michael
• Fong Nerie Hsin-Wu
• Thomas Teddy David

Classifications

• G06F21/57

  Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities · CPC title

• H04L2463/082

  applying multi-factor authentication · CPC title

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• H04W12/68

  Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title