FIELD

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for secure communication between electronic assets, a computer hub, and a central server.

INTRODUCTION

Electronic assets can be used in different applications and for various support roles. Electronic assets can support short-range physical and radio frequency communication methods. The short-range electronic assets can exchange data when communication resources support short-range data exchange. Different types of electronic asserts can connect and exchange data using different types of communication methods. For example, electronic assets in the field of body health, wellness and vital signs can use Bluetooth connectivity and, in some cases, Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity for collecting, accessing and displaying digital readings for the purposes of personal wellness and health.

In the field of personal health and wellness, scales, blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors, oximeters and other medical appliances are being used to track different aspects of a person's health. Within the medical community, support vehicle devices (e.g. ambulances equipment), ECG monitors, ventilators, suction units, HGT blood glucose monitors can be enabled with short-range communication technology such as Bluetooth.

The use of short-range communication technologies can result in security issues. For example, a person can use electronic assets with no control over the types of electronic assets involved, their quality, permitted users of the devices, who has access to the information they produce, and so on. Getting the information from a short-range communication to a central location, like a central server, can also raise security issues. Systems can lack of control over what electronic assets are being used and the quality of each electronic asset. Some use cases or applications require secure systems. For example, medical devices with incorrect readings and inaccurate readings could be misleading and even fatal. The data may also not relate to a confirmed user.

In other situations, when collecting other electronic assets for a specific purpose, for example for use in an ambulance or an emergency medical service (EMS), there is no way to securely connect and verify the presence of these devices. There is no central method for permitting their connection into the purpose of the system. In some cases, there is a need to have an authenticated user onboard these electronic assets to ensure the quality of the overall system. Once connected there is also no central location to indicate if a device is missing when absent. In this example, such a problem leads to the possibility that emergency vehicles might drive away without all their essential equipment on board.

There exists a need for securely connecting multiple electronic assets, and using the data from the electronic assets (e.g. wellness devices, medical devices and other electronic assets). Incorporating wide-area communication technology, such as IoT (Internet of Things) communication protocols, into all electronic assets leads to both tracking issues and security vulnerabilities. Managing multiple IoT devices can be complex and expensive as each device represents a wide-area connection, with subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards, activation problems and data charges. Medical and wellness devices that support IoT network connections can be compromised using various hacking techniques. For example, a group of 19 vulnerabilities known as Ripple20 has created security issues. A complete operating system change can be result in great cost and expense. There exists a need to protect against such security vulnerabilities while minimizing device requirements or changes.

SUMMARY

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for securely associating and communicating with locally connected electronic assets using an authenticated computer hub and a central server. In particular, embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods that use an authenticated computer hub and a central server to allow the identification, connection and tracking of locally connected electronic assets for the purposes of electronic asset verification, tracking and information gathering. Systems and methods further relate to authenticating the user of the authenticated computer hub to allow for the connecting of electronic assets. Systems and methods further related to the ability to track which user has accessed electronic asset data.

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for verifying that all of the components that are to be connected to an authenticated computer hub are actually present (e.g. asset tracking) regardless of whether there is a specific authenticated users. For example, if an ambulance should have 10 IoT connected devices then the fact that one has gone missing within specified intervals will be noted. Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for alerting an individual patient who the authenticated computer hub has been allocated for. Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for aggregating data from multiple assets connected in a temporary setting and linking the data to a particular patient (e.g. a temporary assignment of identity to aggregated data from multiple devices).

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods that provides the ability to limit which electronic assets are allowed to connect and what information is collected is essential. Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods that can track electronic assets and determine if they are missing or absent to the purpose they are intended to fulfill. Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods that confirm the identity of the user whose information is being collected and the person or device(s) accessing and/or collecting of that information.

In accordance with an aspect, there is provided a method of securely communicating with one or more electronic assets using an authenticated computer hub and a central server. The method involves, at a central server, establishing a secure communication channel between the central server and a computer hub to receive a hub identity uniquely identifying the computer hub; creating an authenticated computer hub by matching the received hub identity against a database of authenticated computer hubs and transmitting an identity confirmation message; providing a hub manager interface to the authenticated computer hub, the computer hub manager interface for selecting and assigning one or more electronic assets and control directives defining operational usage parameters for selected and assigned electronic assets within an asset database, and securely transmitting identities of the selected and assigned electronic assets and control directives to the authenticated computer hub; receiving connection results and communication results from the authenticated computer hub when received from the selected and assigned electronic assets following the control directives provided by the hub manager interface. The method involves, at the authenticated computer hub, communicating over the secure communication channel the hub identity for verification at the central server in order to receive the identity confirmation from the central server; receiving instructions providing identifiers for the selected and assigned electronic asset that are to be granted access to the authenticated computer hub from the central server; providing a user interface indicating that the selected and assigned electronic assets have been granted access; connecting to the selected and assigned electronic assets through a short-range network and communication method providing two-way communication between the selected and assigned electronic assets and the authenticated computer hub; transmitting results of the connection attempt to the central server; executing the control directives to periodically attempt to communicate with the selected and assigned electronic assets to exchange data, and communicating over the network connection the communication results from the one or more authorized electronic assets using guidelines provided within the control directives.

In some embodiments, the short-range communication method is a Bluetooth short-range communication method.

In some embodiments, the secure communication channel uses a long-range communication method comprising an IoT long-range cellular communication method.

In some embodiments, the communication results comprise failure to communicate with one or more of the selected and assigned electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the method involves verifying a user operating the user interface in order to couple with one or more authorized electronic assets through a biometric authentication process.

In some embodiments, the method involves, at the authenticated computer hub, continuously monitoring the status of the connection to the one or more electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the method involves, prior to providing the user interface, receiving a biometric confirmation for the authenticated computer hub.

In some embodiments, the method involves using the biometric confirmation to identify who collected data from an electronic asset associated with the authenticated computer hub after receiving the biometric confirmation.

In some embodiments, the method involves associating an electronic asset to another physical object to generate an authorized electronic asset.

In some embodiments, the method involves displaying, using the control directives, visualizations of data corresponding to readings received from one or more assets.

In some embodiments, the method involves, at the authenticated computer hub, receiving a message from a first electronic asset and sending a control message to a second electronic asset based on a value extracted from the first message.

In some embodiments, the communication results from a computer hub and one or more authorized electronic assets is used to build statistic analysis charts;

In some embodiments, the method involves anonymizing the communication results from the authenticated computer hub and one or more authorized electronic assets using with an artificial intelligence process to produce statistically useful patterns within the data set.

In another aspect, embodiments described herein provide a system for securely communicating with one or more electronic assets to using an authenticated computer hub and a central server. The system has an authenticated computer hub having: a communication device for transmitting a hub identity uniquely identifying the computer hub and communication results received from one or more authenticated electronic assets to a central server, and for receiving an identity confirmation message and electronic asset identities to be authorized with control directives defining operational usage parameters; a user interface to display that one or more electronic assets have been granted access and to connect to one or more authorized electronic assets; a short-range communication device to enable a user to connect to one or more electronic assets and to communicate with the one or more authorized electronic assets to exchange information based on control directives. The system has a central server having: a non-transitory memory storing a list of authenticated hub identities, one or more identifiers for electronic assets, control directives, and a received communication results from the one or more authorized electronic assets; a hub manager interface for selecting the authenticated computer hub and defining electronic assets and control directives for connecting to the authenticated computer hub; a communication interface for: receiving hub identity requests, connection results from attempts to connect authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with authorized electronic assets; transmitting a hub identity confirmation message, one or more authorized electronic asset identities and control directives defining operational usage parameters of those devices; a hardware processor for: computing matching results of received hub identities against known hub identities to create authorized hub identities; determining additional actions based on connection results from connection attempts made with one or more authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with the one or more electronic assets, and building communication charts based on information received from the one or more devices via the authorized computer showing the time each communication attempt was performed and the results.

In some embodiments, the authenticated computer hub is a medical device that generates patient medical data while supporting the authorizing electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the authenticated computer hub is dedicated to watching the status of the connection to one or more electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the user interface requires a biometric confirmation before the computer hub can be used.

In some embodiments, the biometric confirmation is used to identify who collected data from an electronic asset associated with the computer hub after biometric confirmation.

In some embodiments, the electronic asset is associated to another physical object enabling it to become an authorized electronic asset.

In some embodiments, the control directives can display a chart of information corresponding to readings received from one or more assets.

In some embodiments, the computer hub can receive a message from one electronic asset and send a control message to a second electronic asset based on the value found within the first message.

In some embodiments, the short-range communication method is a Bluetooth short-range communication method.

In some embodiments, the long-range communication method is an IoT long-range cellular communication method.

In some embodiments, the communication results can include the failure to communicate with one or more of the authorized electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the authenticated computer hub is dedicated to watching the status of the connection to one or more electronic assets.

In some embodiments, the communication results from a computer hub and one or more authorized electronic assets is used to build statistic analysis charts.

In some embodiments, the communication results from a computer hub and one or more authorized electronic assets is anonymized and used with an artificial intelligence process to produce statistically useful patterns within the data set.

In another aspect, there is provided a system for securely communicating with one or more electronic assets. The system has an authenticated computer hub and a central server. The authenticated computer hub has a communication device for transmitting a hub identity uniquely identifying the computer hub and communication results received from one or more authenticated electronic assets to a central server, and for receiving an identity confirmation message and electronic asset identities to be authorized with control directives defining operational usage parameters. The authenticated computer hub a user interface to display that one or more electronic assets have been granted access and to connect to one or more authorized electronic assets. The authenticated computer hub has a short-range communication device to enable a user to connect to one or more electronic assets and to communicate with the one or more authorized electronic assets to exchange information based on control directives.

The central server has a non-transitory memory storing a list of authenticated hub identities, one or more identifiers for electronic assets, control directives, and a received communication results from the one or more authorized electronic assets. The central server has a hub manager interface for selecting the authenticated computer hub and defining electronic assets and control directives for connecting to the authenticated computer hub. The central server has a communication interface for: receiving hub identity requests, connection results from attempts to connect authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with authorized electronic assets; and transmitting a hub identity confirmation message, one or more authorized electronic asset identities and control directives defining operational usage parameters of those devices.

The central server has a hardware processor for: computing authorized hub identities; computing additional actions based on connection results from connection attempts made with one or more authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with the one or more electronic assets, and transmitting output data computed based on information received from the one or more devices via the authorized computer indicating communication results.

In another aspect, there is provided an authenticated computer hub for securely communicating with one or more electronic assets. The authenticated computer hub has a communication device for transmitting a hub identity uniquely identifying the computer hub and communication results received from one or more authenticated electronic assets to a central server, and for receiving an identity confirmation message and electronic asset identities to be authorized with control directives defining operational usage parameters. The authenticated computer hub a user interface to display that one or more electronic assets have been granted access and to connect to one or more authorized electronic assets. The authenticated computer hub has a short-range communication device to enable a user to connect to one or more electronic assets and to communicate with the one or more authorized electronic assets to exchange information based on control directives.

In another aspect, there is provided a central server for securely communicating with one or more electronic assets. The central server has a non-transitory memory storing a list of authenticated hub identities, one or more identifiers for electronic assets, control directives, and a received communication results from the one or more authorized electronic assets. The central server has a hub manager interface for selecting the authenticated computer hub and defining electronic assets and control directives for connecting to the authenticated computer hub. The central server has a communication interface for: receiving hub identity requests, connection results from attempts to connect authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with authorized electronic assets; and transmitting a hub identity confirmation message, one or more authorized electronic asset identities and control directives defining operational usage parameters of those devices. The central server has a hardware processor for: computing authorized hub identities; computing additional actions based on connection results from connection attempts made with one or more authorized electronic assets and communication results from attempts to communicate with the one or more electronic assets, and transmitting output data computed based on information received from the one or more devices via the authorized computer indicating communication results.

Other aspects of various embodiments are described herein.

