DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING SECURE COMMUNICATIONS OVER A CELLULAR NETWORK
A process for communicating utility-related data over at least one network is described. the process includes: collecting utility-related data at a hub device during a first predetermined period of time; securing the utility-related data at the hub device using digital envelopes during the first predetermined period of time; initiating by the hub device an autonomous wake up process during a second predetermined period of time; sending the secure utility-related data over a first network to a designated server via at least one User Datagram protocol (“UDP”) message during the second predetermined period of time; and receiving an acknowledgement of receipt message of the at least one UDP message from the designated server; wherein the first and second predetermined periods of time typically do not overlap, but may overlap.
1 . A computer implemented method for coordinating firmware updates comprising:
receiving, from a designated server, firmware upgrades at a hub device, wherein the firmware upgrades comprise one or more firmware upgrade images for updating one or more target devices, wherein the hub device acts as both a coordinator and gateway between a WAN and one or more HAN devices;
performing firmware upgrade on a target device when the target device is the hub device;
transferring the one or more images to the one or more target devices when the one or more target devices are HAN devices; and
initiating upgrade of the one or more target devices in accordance with the transferred one or more images.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aborting the upgrade to the one or more target devices when transfer of an image to the one or more target devices fails.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aborting the upgrade on the one or more target devices when an upgrade to one target device in the one or more target devices fails to activate.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising scheduling an activation time for each firmware upgrade.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a log of a progress of each firmware image upgrade, wherein the log is readable by the designated server from which the firmware upgrades were received.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a firmware upgrade comprises verifying integrity of each image in the one or more images, using a certificate from a trusted authority.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein when there are two or more target devices, the firmware upgrade is performed sequentially.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein when there are two or more images for one target device, the firmware upgrade is performed sequentially.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein when the firmware upgrade is performed sequentially, each firmware upgrade image is associated with a sequence number and wherein a second firmware upgrade is not performed on a second target device until a first firmware upgrade is performed successfully on a first target device.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the firmware upgrade is synchronized across two or more target devices, such that activation of the two or more target devices occurs at a same time.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an image of the one or more images is transferred to two or more target devices.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein aborting the upgrade to the one or more target devices when transfer of an image to the one or more target devices fails is initiated by the designated server.