IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,127,069
Granted Patent B2
US 12,127,069 · App. 17/025,519 · Granted Oct 22, 2024

Geofence-based edge service control and authentication

Inventors: Francesc Guim Bernat (Barcelona, ES); Kshitij Arun Doshi (Tempe, AZ); Ned M. Smith (Beaverton, OR); Ben McCahill (Greystones, IE); Miltiadis Filippou (Munich, DE)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04W4/021H04L9/0643H04W12/041H04W12/64
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,127,069
App. No.
17/025,519
Filed
Sep 18, 2020
Granted
Oct 22, 2024
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2641
USPC
455/411
Abstract

Methods, systems, and use cases for geofence-based edge service control and authentication are discussed, including an orchestration system with memory and at least one processing circuitry coupled to the memory. The processing circuitry is configured to perform operations to obtain, from a plurality of connectivity nodes providing edge services, physical location information, and resource availability information associated with each of the plurality of connectivity nodes. An edge-to-edge location graph (ELG) is generated based on the physical location information and the resource availability information, the ELG indicating a subset of the plurality of connectivity nodes that are available for executing a plurality of services associated with an edge workload. The connectivity nodes are provisioned with the ELG and a workflow execution plan to execute the plurality of services, the workflow execution plan including metadata with a geofence policy. The geofence policy specifies geofence restrictions associated with each of the plurality of services.

Claims (58)

1. An orchestration system comprising:

memory; and

at least one processing circuitry coupled to the memory, the at least one processing circuitry configured to perform operations to:

obtain, from a plurality of connectivity nodes providing edge at least one of a plurality of services associated with an edge workload, physical location information and resource availability information associated with each of the plurality of connectivity nodes; and

provision the plurality of connectivity nodes with a workflow execution plan to execute the plurality of services associated with the edge workload, the workflow execution plan including metadata with a geofence policy, wherein the geofence policy specifies geofence restrictions associated with each of the plurality of services.

2. The orchestration system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of connectivity nodes comprises at least one of:

a plurality of edge connectivity nodes forming a plurality of node clusters; and

a plurality of non-terrestrial connectivity nodes.

3. The orchestration system of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the non-terrestrial connectivity nodes is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite or a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite configured to receive, transmit, store, or process data associated with at least one of the plurality of services.

4. The orchestration system of claim 1 , wherein the workflow execution plan further includes a cryptographic hash, the cryptographic hash binding at least one of the plurality of services with the geofence policy.

5. The orchestration system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to perform operations to:

store the workflow execution plan in a distributed ledger record accessible to the plurality of connectivity nodes.

6. The orchestration system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to perform operations to:

provision the plurality of connectivity nodes with an edge-to-edge location graph (ELG), the ELG based on the physical location information and the resource availability information, the ELG indicating a subset of the plurality of connectivity nodes that are available for executing the plurality of services associated with the edge workload;

select a connectivity node of the subset of the plurality of connectivity nodes indicated by the ELG to execute a service of the plurality of services associated with the workflow execution plan; and

verify a geofence restriction of the geofence restrictions that corresponds to the service is satisfied by the selected connectivity node.

7. The orchestration system of claim 6 , wherein to verify the geofence restriction is satisfied, the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to:

validate the cryptographic hash within the workflow execution plan.

8. The orchestration system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to perform operations to:

schedule the execution of the service by the selected connectivity node, based on a successful validation of the cryptographic hash and a successful verification that the geofence restriction corresponding to the service is satisfied by the selected connectivity node.

9. The orchestration system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to perform operations to:

decode a notification of completion of the execution of the service by the selected connectivity node;

update based on the notification; and

select based on the geofence policy, a subsequent service of the plurality of services for execution by at least a second connectivity node of the subset of the plurality of connectivity nodes.

10. The orchestration system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to perform operations to:

suspend the execution of the service by the selected connectivity node, based on at least one of the following:

an unsuccessful validation of the cryptographic hash;

an unsuccessful verification that the geofence restriction corresponding to the service is satisfied by the selected connectivity node; and

a notification from the selected connectivity node that a current geolocation no longer corresponds to a permissive geolocation associated with the geofence restriction.

11. The orchestration system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing circuitry is within one of an Edge-as-a-Service (EaaS) edge orchestrator node or EaaS meta-orchestrator node.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when deployed and executed by processing circuitry of an orchestration system, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations that:

obtain, from a plurality of connectivity nodes providing at least one of a plurality of services associated with an edge workload, physical location information and resource availability information associated with each of the plurality of connectivity nodes; and

provision the plurality of connectivity nodes with a workflow execution plan to execute the plurality of services associated with the edge workload, the workflow execution plan including metadata with a geofence policy, wherein the geofence policy specifies geofence restrictions associated with each of the plurality of services.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of connectivity nodes comprises at least one of:

a plurality of edge connectivity nodes forming a plurality of node clusters; and

a plurality of non-terrestrial connectivity nodes.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the non-terrestrial connectivity nodes is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite or a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite configured to receive, transmit, store, or process data associated with at least one of the plurality of services.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the workflow execution plan further includes a cryptographic hash, the cryptographic hash binding at least one of the plurality of services with the geofence policy.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the processing circuitry to perform operations that:

store the workflow execution plan in a distributed ledger record accessible to the plurality of connectivity nodes.

17. A method performed by an edge computing device operable in an edge computing system, the method comprising:

encoding current geolocation information of the edge computing device for transmission to a network management device;

decoding a configuration message with a workflow execution plan for an edge workload;

retrieving a geofence policy within metadata of the workflow execution plan, the geofence policy specifying geofence restrictions associated with each of a plurality of services associated with an edge workload; and

selecting a service of the plurality of services for execution based on a successful verification that a geofence restriction of the geofence restrictions specified by the geofence policy for the selected service is satisfied by the current geolocation information of the edge computing device.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the edge computing device comprises at least one of:

an edge connectivity node within a plurality of edge connectivity nodes forming a plurality of node clusters; and

a non-terrestrial connectivity node of a plurality of non-terrestrial connectivity nodes.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the non-terrestrial connectivity node is a Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite or a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite configured to receive, transmit, store, or process data associated with at least one of the plurality of services.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

determining the current geolocation information of the edge computing device using geolocation information received from a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite or a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

determining the current geolocation information of the edge computing device using terrestrial location information from a subset of the plurality of edge connectivity nodes.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the workflow execution plan further includes a cryptographic hash, the cryptographic hash binding at least the selected service with the geofence policy.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein verifying the geofence restriction is satisfied comprises:

validating the cryptographic hash within the workflow execution plan using an attestation logic.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:

executing the service based on successful validation of the cryptographic hash and a successful verification that the geofence restriction corresponding to the service is satisfied by the geolocation information of the edge computing device.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 14, 2023
From: GUIM BERNAT, FRANCESC; DOSHI, KSHITIJ ARUN; SMITH, NED M.; MCCAHILL, BEN; FILIPPOU, MILTIADIS
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 063949/0383 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20210006972A1 · Jan 7, 2021