Method for managing the status of a connected device

1. A method for managing the status of a connected device by publishing assertions in an immutable distributed database composed of a plurality of compute nodes, a pair of keys comprising a public key and a private key being associated with the connected device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by the connected device from a first terminal associated to a first user an instruction message comprising an identifier of said first user and at least a status information to be taken into account for the connected device, said status information being used to manage the ownership of the connected device;

verifying by the connected device that the first user is allowed to modify the status of the connected device and in case of a positive verification, preparing an assertion request comprising the status information, the assertion request being signed by the connected device using its private key;

sending by the connected device the assertion request to the immutable distributed database for publishing an assertion comprising the status information, the assertion being published once the signature is positively verified by a compute node of the distributed immutable database using the public key associated to the connected device.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the status information status information comprises an identifier of the new owner of the connected device.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the identifier of the new owner is the public key belonging to a pair of keys comprising a public key and a private key, said key pair being attributed to the new owner of the connected device.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the instruction message comprises an identifier of the former owner of the connected device and an indication for replacing it by the new owner thanks to the publication of an assertion in the immutable distributed database indicating the new owner as the legitimate owner.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the received instruction message comprises a secret data, the first user being considered as allowed to modify the status of the connected device if the received secret data is identical to a secret data stored in the connected device which demonstrates that the first user and the connected device are sharing the same secret.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the ownership of the connected device is transferred from the first user to a second user for him to become the new owner, the transfer being initiated by the second user using a second terminal to which it is associated by sending an acknowledgement message to the first terminal, said acknowledgment message comprising at least an instruction for transferring the ownership of the connected device to the second user and an identifier of the second user.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the ownership of the connected device is transferred from a second user to the first user for him to become the new owner, the transfer being initiated by the second user using a second terminal to which it is associated by sending an acknowledgement message to the first terminal, said acknowledgment message comprising at least an instruction for transferring the ownership of the connected device to the first user and an identifier of the second user.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the connected device verifies that the first user is allowed to modify the status of the connected device by checking its internal ownership record or in the immutable distributed database if a publish assertion indicates that it is the legitimate owner of the connected device.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the instruction message is received from the first terminal on which an application is installed, said application being adapted to control the preparation of the instruction message.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the connected device sends a request to the immutable distributed database in order to read its status information as published in the immutable distributed database and receives in response said status information.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein if the received status information indicates that the connected device is stolen or lost, it switches into a minimum service mode and waits for receiving instructions from its legitimate owner.

12. A connected device which is associated to a status information accessible to a third party by reading an assertion published in a immutable distributed database composed of a plurality of compute nodes, a pair of keys comprising a public key and a private key being associated to the connected device, the connected device being configured

to receive an instruction message comprising an identifier of a first user and at least a status information to be taken into account for the connected device, said status information being used to manage the ownership of the connected device;

to verify that the first user is allowed to modify the status of the connected device and in case of a positive verification, to prepare an assertion request comprising the status information, the assertion request being signed by the connected device using its private key;

to send the assertion request to the immutable distributed database for publishing an assertion comprising the status information, the assertion being published once the signature is positively verified by a compute node of the immutable distributed database using the public key associated to the connected device.

13. The connected device of claim 12 , wherein the status information comprises an identifier of the new owner of the connected device.

14. The connected device of claim 13 , wherein the identifier of the new owner is the public key belonging to a pair of keys comprising a public key and a private key, said key pair being attributed to the new owner of the connected device.

15. The connected device of claim 14 , wherein the instruction message comprises an identifier of the former owner of the connected device and an indication for replacing it by the new owner thanks to the publication of an assertion in the immutable distributed database indicating the new owner as the legitimate owner.

16. The connected device of claim 12 , wherein the received instruction message comprises a secret data, the first user being considered as allowed to modify the status of the connected device if the received secret data is identical to a secret data stored in the connected device which demonstrates that the first user and the connected device are sharing the same secret.

17. The connected device of claim 13 , wherein the ownership of the connected device is transferred from the first user to a second user for him to become the new owner, the transfer being initiated by the second user using a second terminal to which it is associated by sending an acknowledgement message to the first terminal, said acknowledgment message comprising at least an instruction for transferring the ownership of the connected device to the second user and an identifier of the second user.

18. The connected device of claim 13 , wherein the ownership of the connected device is transferred from a second user to the first user for him to become the new owner, the transfer being initiated by the second user using a second terminal to which it is associated by sending an acknowledgement message to the first terminal, said acknowledgment message comprising at least an instruction for transferring the ownership of the connected device to the first user and an identifier of the second user.

19. The connected device of claim 13 , wherein the connected device verifies that the first user is allowed to modify the status of the connected device by checking its internal ownership record or in the immutable distributed database if a publish assertion indicates that it is the legitimate owner of the connected device.

20. The connected device of claim 12 , wherein the instruction message is received from the first terminal on which an application is installed, said application being adapted to control the preparation of the instruction message.

21. The connected device of claim 12 , wherein the connected device sends a request to the immutable distributed database in order to read its status information as published in the immutable distributed database and receives in response said status information.

22. The connected device of claim 21 , wherein if the received status information indicates that the connected device is stolen or lost, it switches into a minimum service mode and waits for receiving instructions from its legitimate owner.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the immutable distributed database is a database in which data is stored across the plurality of compute nodes of the immutable distributed database.

24. The connected device of claim 12 , wherein the immutable distributed database is a database in which data is stored across the plurality of compute nodes of the immutable distributed database.