Apparatus, system and method of protecting domains of a multimode wireless radio transceiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9307409-B2
Application number	US-201314141477-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2013
Priority date	Dec 27, 2013
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of protecting domains of a multimode wireless radio transceiver. For example, an apparatus may include a protection domain controller (PDC) to restrict access of a configuration software to a protection domain of a plurality of protection domains of a multimode wireless radio transceiver based on a security level of the configuration software, wherein the protection domain includes one or more radio configuration parameters of the multimode wireless radio transceiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
one or more memory components configured to store a plurality of radio configuration parameters to configure one or more functionalities of a multimode wireless radio transceiver; and
a protection domain controller (PDC) component configured to control access to a plurality of protection domains corresponding to a plurality of security levels, a protection domain of said plurality of protection domains is configured to enable access to one or more radio configuration parameters of said plurality of configuration parameters, the plurality of protection domains comprising
at least a reduced privilege protection domain in which one or more internal certifications are required to access at least one radio configuration parameter of said reduced privilege protection domain, and
a privileged protection domain in which one or more external certifications are required to access at least one radio configuration parameter of said privileged protection domain, the PDC component is configured to process a launch policy of a configuration software, the launch policy to indicate a security level of the configuration software,
the configuration software comprising a code to configure said multimode wireless radio transceiver, data to configure at least one of said plurality of radio configuration parameters, a public verification key, and a digital signature verifying said code and said data, the PDC component is configured to determine a selected protection domain of said plurality of protection domains based on the launch policy, and to restrict access of the configuration software to the selected protection domain.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said PDC component is configured to enable said configuration software to access said radio configuration parameters to configure said multimode wireless radio transceiver based on said security level.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said PDC component is configured to validate said digital signature with one or more stored verification keys, said PDC component is configured enable said configuration software to access said selected protection domain only if the digital signature is successfully validated.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of protection domains includes at least three different protection domains.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of protection domains include at least an unprivileged protection domain in which no certification is required to access one or more radio configuration parameters of said unprivileged protection domain.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said PDC component is configured to generate a hardware trap in response to an attempt of said configuration software to access a radio configuration parameter, which is not included in said protection domain.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a radio frequency (RF) monitor component configured to monitor one or more dynamic parameters of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, wherein said dynamic parameters relate to RF transmissions of said multimode wireless radio transceiver.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein said RF monitor component is configured to generate an alert message if at least one dynamic parameter of said one or more dynamic parameters exceeds a predefined parameter threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein said PDC component is configured to trigger said multimode wireless radio transceiver to transmit values of said one or more dynamic parameters to a remote device in response to a monitor request message received from said remote device.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein said one or more dynamic parameters include one or more RF parameters selected from a group consisting of a transmission power of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, a transmission frequency of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, and an RF modulation of said multimode wireless radio transceiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a failsafe controller component configured to shutdown one or more Hardware (HW) components of said multimode wireless radio transceiver in response to a failsafe message received from a remote device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said PDC component is configured to store a hash value representing said configuration software and to transmit said hash value to a remote device in response to an attestation request message received from said remote device.

13. A system comprising:
a wireless communication device including:
at least one antenna;
a multimode wireless radio transceiver;
one or more memory components configured to store a plurality of radio configuration parameters to configure one or more functionalities of said multimode wireless radio transceiver;
a protection domain controller (PDC) component configured to control access to a plurality of protection domains corresponding to a plurality of security levels, a protection domain of said plurality of protection domains is configured to enable access to one or more radio configuration parameters of said plurality of configuration parameters, the plurality of protection domains comprising
at least a reduced privilege protection domain in which one or more internal certifications are required to access at least one radio configuration parameter of said reduced privilege protection domain, and
a privileged protection domain in which one or more external certifications are required to access at least one radio configuration parameter of said privileged protection domain, the PDC component is configured to process a launch policy of a configuration software, the launch policy to indicate a security level of the configuration software,
the configuration software comprising a code to configure said multimode wireless radio transceiver, data to configure at least one of said plurality of radio configuration parameters, a public verification key, and a digital signature verifying said code and said data, the PDC component is configured to determine a selected protection domain of said plurality of protection domains based on the launch policy, and to restrict access of the configuration software to the selected protection domain; and
a radio frequency (RF) monitor component configured to monitor one or more dynamic parameters relating to RF transmissions of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, and to trigger said multimode wireless radio transceiver to transmit values of said one or more dynamic parameters to a remote device.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein said RF monitor component is configured to trigger said wireless radio transceiver to transmit said values of said one or more dynamic parameters in response to a monitor request message received from said remote device.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein said one or more dynamic parameters include one or more RF parameters selected from a group consisting of a transmission power of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, a transmission frequency of said multimode wireless radio transceiver, and an RF modulation of said multi mode wireless radio transceiver.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein said RF monitor component is configured to generate an alert message if at least one dynamic parameter of said one or more dynamic parameters exceeds a predefined parameter.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein said RF monitor component is configured to trigger said multimode wireless radio transceiver to transmit said alert message to said remote device.

18. A method to be

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Sheikh Farhana Asrar
• Koeberl Patrick
• Walker Jesse
• Alavi Hossein
• Long Men
• Krishnamurthy Ram Kumar
• Narendra Trivedi Alpa T

Classifications

• H04W24/04

  Arrangements for maintaining operational condition · CPC title

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• H04W12/08 Primary

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title