As computers have become ever more miniaturized and commoditized, manufacturers are producing more and more varied devices that include one or more embedded computer or processor. The computer in a computerized device can control the device's operation; collect, store, and share data; communicate with other computers and other computerized devices; and update its own software, among other things.
The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of computerized physical devices that have embedded processor(s), electronics, software, data, sensors, actuators, and/or network connectivity, which enable these devices to connect and exchange data via digital networks, including the Internet, cellular networks, and other wireless networks. Typically, each “thing” is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system, and is able to communicate and inter-operate within the existing Internet infrastructure.
“Things”, in the IoT sense, can refer to a wide variety of computerized devices, such as consumer appliances, enterprise devices used in business and corporate settings, manufacturing machines, farming equipment, energy-consuming devices in homes and buildings (switches, power outlets, bulbs, televisions, etc.), medical and healthcare devices, infrastructure management devices, robots, drones, and transportation-related devices and vehicles, among many others.
For example, most, if not all, modern vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, aircraft, trains, watercraft, and the like) contain several embedded processors or embedded computers in their subsystems, and are computer-controlled in at least some aspects. Similarly, a growing number of modern transportation infrastructure devices (e.g., traffic lights, traffic cameras, traffic sensors, bridge monitors, bridge control systems, and the like) contain at least one, and often many, embedded processors or embedded computer systems, and are computer-controlled in at least some aspects. These computer-controlled elements of the transportation network typically communicate with each other, passing various types of information back and forth, and they may react, respond, change their operation, or otherwise depend upon the information received/sent from/to other vehicles in Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V; also known as C2C, Car-to-Car) communications and/or from/to infrastructure elements in Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I, also known as C2I, Car-to-Infrastructure) communications for safe, correct, efficient, and reliable operation. These elements, communications, actions, and interactions may be collectively referred to as a V2X environment, where X represents any device, including another vehicle.
The computers in computerized devices operate according to their software and/or firmware and data in conjunction with the operation of their hardware, (such as processors, memory, busses, etc.), and the input data that the computerized devices use, (such as data from other devices; for example, location data (e.g., from a GPS device), speed data, braking data, time data, temperature data, etc.). Problems with software, data, hardware, or inputs can cause a computerized device to operate in an aberrant or anomalous manner, such that the device behaves in a way that deviates from its standard, normal, or expected behavior. Such problems may be unintentional, such as a problem caused by the failure of a hardware device or an unintentional bug in software; or intentional, such as a problem caused by unauthorized persons or organizations (e.g., hackers) replacing or changing the software in a computerized device.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems, methods and techniques for securely identifying computerized devices that are behaving in an anomalous or aberrant manner, for example, in order to reduce or stop the effects of their misbehavior on other devices and their environment.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds