Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Vehicle Configuration Verification With Failsafe Code (USPTO 10,826,706)

2020 NOV 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,826,706, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Floyd, Matthew Lewis (Alpharetta, GA); Smith, Jr., Leroy Luther (Sandy Springs, GA); Benzio, Brittney (Atlanta, GA); Barnard, Nathan (Bloomington, IL); Lowry, Shannon Marie (Atlanta, GA).

This patent was filed on July 3, 2018 and was published online on November 16, 2020.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “In the automotive industry, vehicles may have a multitude of complex software and firmware components. For example, forward collision detection and air temperature control may be implemented in separate software modules. Vehicle manufactures are increasingly implementing autonomous and semi-autonomous driving functionality and/or introducing additional software modules with critical responsibilities. The safety of some vehicles may now be dependent on the integrity of these software modules.

“Existing software verification techniques may be ill-suited for the number of existing vehicles, and possible valid vehicle configurations. For example, during peak times, a highway may have a high flow of vehicles each with a distinct software configuration. Verifying each software module of each vehicle against a centralized database in peak times may be impractical due to processing delays. Additionally, consumers may have a low tolerance for transportation delays.

“Conventional software verification techniques may also be ill-suited for verifying vehicle software configurations, and may have several drawbacks, such as being manually intensive, inefficient, annoying, ineffective, and/or time intensive.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments relate to systems and methods for vehicle configuration verification and/or unauthorized vehicle modification detection. For example, the systems described herein may receive a vehicle image that includes trusted configurations of vehicle software modules. The systems may calculate a configuration hash value of the software modules, and generate a data block including the configuration hash value. In certain embodiments, the data block may be included in a block-chain, such that the data block includes a hash value of a previous data block. The systems may further store and/or transmit the data block to any number of network participants using a distributed or peer-to-peer network. For example, the systems may transmit the data block to smart roadway systems and/or toll plaza computer systems (and/or other remote servers), such that the configuration of vehicles in use may be validated against the stored vehicle configuration hash values.

“In one aspect, a computer system for verifying vehicle software configuration may be provided. In some exemplary embodiments, the computer system may include a processor and a non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to: (i) transmit, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; (ii) receive, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; (iii) retrieve a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; (iv) execute the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment; and (v) transmit the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The smart contract code segment, when executed by the one or more processors, may facilitate: (i) determining that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and (ii) generating an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The computer system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for verifying vehicle software configuration may be provided. In some exemplary embodiments, the method may include: (i) transmitting, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; (ii) receiving, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; (iii) retrieving a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; (iv) executing the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment; and (v) transmitting the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The smart contract code segment, when executed by the one or more processors, may facilitate: (i) determining that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and (ii) generating an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The method may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer executable instructions embodied thereon may be provided. In some exemplary embodiments, when executed by a computing device including at least one processor coupled to a memory, the computer executable instructions may cause the computing device to: (i) transmit, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; (ii) receive, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; (iii) retrieve a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; (iv) execute the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment, wherein the smart contract code segment; and (v) transmit the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The smart contract code segment, when executed by the one or more processors, may facilitate: (i) determining that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and generating an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment. The computer-readable storage medium may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“We claim:

“1. A computer system for remote verification of a vehicle software configuration stored within a vehicle, the computer system comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to: transmit, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; receive, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; retrieve a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; execute the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment, wherein the smart contract code segment, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: determine that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and generate an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment; and transmit the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the smart contract code segment further includes a failsafe destination, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to autonomously navigate to the failsafe destination.

“3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the failsafe code segment is further configured to cause the vehicle computing system to generate a route to the failsafe destination not including smart roadways.

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to revert one or more configuration changes made to the vehicle computing system.

“5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to revert software changes until a current vehicle configuration hash value matches a fallback configuration hash value included in the smart contract code segment.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to disable at least one autonomous driving functionality on the vehicle computing system.

“7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the failsafe code segment is further configured to cause the vehicle to exit a smart roadway before disabling autonomous driving functionality.

“8. A computer-implemented method for remote verification of a vehicle software configuration stored within a vehicle, using one or more processors, said method comprising: transmitting, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; receiving, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; retrieving a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; executing the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment, wherein the smart contract code segment, when executed by the one or more processors, facilitates: determining that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and generating an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment; and transmitting the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the smart contract code segment further includes a failsafe destination, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to autonomously navigate to the failsafe destination.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the failsafe code segment is further configured to cause the vehicle computing system to generate a route to the failsafe destination not including smart roadways.

“11. The method of claim 8, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to revert one or more configuration changes made to the vehicle computing system.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to revert software changes until a current vehicle configuration hash value matches a fallback configuration hash value included in the smart contract code segment.

“13. The method of claim 8, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to disable at least one autonomous driving functionality on the vehicle computing system.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the failsafe code segment is further configured to cause the vehicle to exit a smart roadway before disabling autonomous driving functionality.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a computing device including at least one processor coupled to a memory, the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to: transmit, to a vehicle computing system, an authentication request including a hash algorithm specification; receive, from the vehicle computing system, a current configuration hash value and a vehicle identifier; retrieve a trusted data block from a memory based upon the vehicle identifier, the trusted data block including a stored configuration hash value and a smart contract code segment; execute the smart contract code segment, the smart contract code segment including a failsafe code segment, wherein the smart contract code segment, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: determine that the current configuration hash value is invalid based on the stored configuration hash value; and generate an authentication response including the failsafe code segment, the authentication response is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment; and transmit the authentication response to the vehicle computing system, thereby causing the vehicle computing system to execute the failsafe code segment.

“16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the smart contract code segment further includes a failsafe destination, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to autonomously navigate to the failsafe destination.

“17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the failsafe code segment is further configured to cause the vehicle computing system to generate a route to the failsafe destination not including smart roadways.

“18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to revert one or more configuration changes made to the vehicle computing system.

“19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to cause the vehicle computing system to revert software changes until a current vehicle configuration hash value matches a fallback configuration hash value included in the smart contract code segment.

“20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the failsafe code segment is configured to disable at least one autonomous driving functionality on the vehicle computing system.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Floyd, Matthew Lewis; Smith, Jr., Leroy Luther; Benzio, Brittney; Barnard, Nathan; Lowry, Shannon Marie. Systems And Methods For Vehicle Configuration Verification With Failsafe Code. U.S. Patent Number 10,826,706, filed July 3, 2018, and published online on November 16, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,826,706.PN.&OS=PN/10,826,706RS=PN/10,826,706

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)