Transmission of authentication keys

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12307234-B2
Application number	US-202218045571-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2022
Priority date	Oct 11, 2022
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a first control module. The first control module is programmed to generate an update command including a plurality of authentication keys and a mapping associating the authentication keys with a plurality of second control modules transmit the update command over a vehicle network. The update command is functionally addressed to be receivable by the second control modules.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle system comprising:
a first control module;
a plurality of second control modules; and
a vehicle network, the vehicle network communicatively coupling the first control module and the second control modules;
wherein the first control module is a computing device including at least a processor that is programmed to:
generate an update command, the update command including a plurality of authentication keys and including a mapping associating the authentication keys with the second control modules, the mapping listing module identifiers for the second control modules and key identifiers for the authentication keys associated with the module identifiers; and
transmit the update command over the vehicle network, wherein the update command is functionally addressed to be receivable by the second control modules;
wherein each second control module is programmed to:
in response to receiving the update command, identify the authentication keys that are associated with that second control module based on the mapping;
parse the key identifiers with the respective module identifier;
update with the identified authentication keys; and
update with the authentication keys of the parsed key identifiers.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the mapping associates more than one of the second control modules with one of the authentication keys.

3. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the first control module is further programmed to receive a configuration file indicating groups of the second control modules, and generate the update command based on the configuration file.

4. The vehicle system of claim 3 , wherein the first control module is further programmed to, after receiving the configuration file, receive a transmission command, and transmit the update command in response to receiving the transmission command.

5. The vehicle system of claim 4 , wherein the first control module is further programmed to validate the transmission command, and refrain from transmitting the update command until the transmission command is validated.

6. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication keys in the update command are encrypted.

7. The vehicle system of claim 6 , wherein the authentication keys in the update command are differently encrypted from each other.

8. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the update command is receivable by a third control module that is not listed in the update command.

9. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the first control module is further programmed to receive a plurality of verifications indicating that the second control modules received the update command.

10. The vehicle system of claim 9 , wherein the first control module is further programmed to, upon failing to receive at least one of the verifications from at least one of the second control modules, retransmit the update command over the vehicle network.

11. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication keys are symmetric encryption keys.

12. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein each second control module is programmed to, in response to receiving the update command, transmit a verification to the first control module.

13. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the second control modules are programmed to encrypt messages with the authentication keys.

14. The vehicle system of claim 13 , wherein a first key of the authentication keys is associated with a group of the second control modules, and each second control module in the group is programmed to encrypt messages to others of the second control modules in the group with the first key.

15. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein each second control module is programmed to receive a configuration file indicating at least one group of the second control modules to which that second control module belongs, and the second control modules in each group are associated with one of the authentication keys.

16. A method comprising:
generating an update command by a first control module, the update command including a plurality of authentication keys and including a mapping associating the authentication keys with a plurality of second control modules, the mapping listing module identifiers for the second control modules and key identifiers for the authentication keys associated with the module identifiers;
transmitting the update command over a vehicle network by the first control module, wherein the update command is functionally addressed to be receivable by the second control modules, wherein the vehicle network communicatively couples the first control module and the second control modules;
in response to receiving the update command, identify the authentication keys that are associated with that second control module based on the mapping by each second control module;
parse the key identifiers with the respective module identifier by each second control module;
parse the key identifiers with the respective module identifier by each second control module; and
update with the authentication keys of the parsed key identifiers.

17. A vehicle system comprising:
a first control module;
a plurality of second control modules; and
a vehicle network, the vehicle network communicatively coupling the first control module and the second control modules;
wherein the first control module is a computing device including at least a processor that is programmed to:
generate an update command, the update command including a plurality of authentication keys and including a mapping associating the authentication keys with a plurality of second control modules, a first key of the authentication keys being associated with a group of the second control modules; and
transmit the update command over a vehicle network, wherein the update command is functionally addressed to be receivable by the second control modules; and
wherein each second control module is programmed to:
encrypt messages with the authentication keys; and
encrypt messages to others of the second control modules in the group with the first key.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Kajuluri Venkata Kishore
• Nelson Jacob David
• Smyth Cameron

Classifications

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• H04L9/0891

  Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• H04L9/0819 Primary

  Key transport or distribution, i.e. key establishment techniques where one party creates or otherwise obtains a secret value, and securely transfers it to the other(s) (network architectures or network communication protocols for key distribution in a packet data network H04L63/062) · CPC title