Granted Patent B2

US 11,507,698 · App. 17/152,037 · Granted Nov 22, 2022

Inventors: Mohamed Sohail (Sheikh Zayed, EG); Said Tabet (Austin, TX)

Assignee: Dell Products L.P.

G06F21/64G06F16/2379G16Y30/10G16Y40/35H04L63/20H04L67/12

Abstract

Claims (62)

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a data item that is associated with an IoT device, the IoT device including one or more of a sensor, an actuator, or an energy source;

obtaining, from a blockchain-based attestation system, a trust score that is associated with the data item, the trust score being generated by using a consensus-building mechanism for authenticating the data item that is provided by the blockchain-based attestation system;

when the trust score satisfies a predetermined condition, using the data item; and

when the trust score fails to satisfy the predetermined condition, discarding the data item,

wherein the IoT device is configured to operate as a node in the blockchain-based attestation system, and the blockchain-based attestation system includes one or more other IoT devices that are part of a same IoT device network as the IoT device,

wherein the trust score is generated based on security data that is stored in a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system, the security data indicating a likelihood of intrusion into the IoT device network, the security data being is generated by security software that is executed on an external computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data item includes a command for the IoT device to perform an action, and

using the command includes transmitting the command to the IoT device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data item includes a command for the IoT device to perform an action, and

using the command includes executing the command by the IoT device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement that is associated with the IoT device, and

using the data item includes forwarding the data item to a recipient.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement that is associated with the IoT device, and

using the data item includes at least one of storing the data item in a memory and performing an action based on the data item.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein trust score is generated by executing a rule that is stored in a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system, the rule being executed by a plurality of nodes of the blockchain-based attestation system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trust score indicates a level of trust accorded to the data item by the blockchain-based attestation system.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the IoT device is configured to store a copy of at least a portion of a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trust score associated with the data item is generated based on a trust score associated with the IoT device that is stored in a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system, the trust score associated with the IoT device being generated by the blockchain-based attestation system, the trust score associated with the IoT device indicating a level of trust accorded by the blockchain-based attestation system to software that is executing on the IoT device.

10. A computing device, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor that is operatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to perform the operations of:

obtaining a data item;

obtaining, from a blockchain-based attestation system, a trust score that is associated with the data item, the trust score being generated by using a consensus-building mechanism for authenticating the data item that is provided by the blockchain-based attestation system, the trust score being generated based on security data that is stored in a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system, the security data indicating a likelihood of intrusion into the IoT device network, the security data being is generated by security software that is executed on an external computing device;

when the trust score satisfies a predetermined condition, using the data item; and

when the trust score fails to satisfy the predetermined condition, discarding the data item,

wherein the computing device is configured to operate as a node in the blockchain-based attestation system, and the blockchain-based attestation system includes one or more other computing devices.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein:

the data item includes a command for an IoT device to perform an action, and

using the command includes transmitting the command to the IoT device.

12. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein:

the data item includes a command to perform an action, and

using the command includes executing the command.

13. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement, and

using the data item includes forwarding the data item to a recipient.

14. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement, and

using the data item includes storing the data item in the memory or performing an action based on the data item.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more processor-executable instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the operations of:

obtaining a data item that is associated with an IoT device, the IoT device including one or more of a sensor, an actuator, or an energy source;

obtaining, from a blockchain-based attestation system, a trust score that is associated with the data item, the trust score being generated by using a consensus-building mechanism for authenticating the data item that is provided by the blockchain-based attestation system, the trust score is generated based on security data that is stored in a ledger of the blockchain-based attestation system, the security data indicating a likelihood of intrusion into the IoT device network, the security data being is generated by security software that is executed on an external computing device;

when the trust score satisfies a predetermined condition, using the data item; and

when the trust score fails to satisfy the predetermined condition, discarding the data item,

wherein the IoT device is configured to operate as a node in the blockchain-based attestation system, and the blockchain-based attestation system includes one or more other IoT devices that are part of a same IoT device network as the IoT device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the data item includes a command for the IoT device to perform an action, and

using the command includes transmitting the command to the IoT device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the at least one processor is part of the IoT device;

the data item includes a command for the IoT device to perform an action,

using the command includes executing the command.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement that is associated wtih the IoT device, and

using the data item includes forwarding the data item to a recipient.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the data item includes a sensor measurement that is generated by the IoT device, and

using the data item includes at least one of storing the data item in a memory and performing an action based on the data item.

Assignments (9)

Continuity (1)

Cited By (2)

US 12,341,852 US 12,388,643