Efficient distribution of processes between a vehicle control computing device and a cryptographic module, and method for operation thereof

A method of a computing device for control of a motor vehicle, the method comprising:

• receiving, by at least one processor of the computing device and from at least one external unit, (a) first messages for processing for the motor vehicle control and (b) subsequent to the receipt of the first messages, second messages for processing for the motor vehicle control;
• while the at least one processor performs the processing of the first messages after the cryptographic module has provided a result an authentication procedure executed for the first messages that had been provided to the cryptographic module, storing, by the computing device, individual respective ones of the received second messages at least temporarily into a memory, message by message, as the individual respective ones of the second messages are received by the at least one processor without providing any of the individual respective ones of the received second messages to the cryptographic module;
• and
• after the storing of all of the received second messages and responsive to (a) expiration of a predefined time period during which the receipt of the second messages occurred or (b) a number of the received second messages reaching a predefined threshold number, providing, by the at least one processor, all of the stored second messages to the cryptographic module, which is configured to execute the authentication procedure respectively for each of the second messages individually, the respective authentication procedure including (a) a respective check of whether the respective individual one of the second messages provided to the cryptographic module is authentic or (b) a respective assignment of a respective cryptographic signature to the respective individual one of the second messages.

A cryptographic module for a computing device for control of a motor vehicle, the cryptographic module configured to:

• while at least one processor of the computing device performs processing of a plurality of first messages received by the at least one processor from at least one external unit for the motor vehicle control, receive, as a single message block, a plurality of second messages from the computing device that were previously received individually by the computing device from at least one external unit, wherein the receipt as the single message block is due to a delay by the at least one processor to provide the second messages until (a) expiration of a predefined time period during which the receipt of the second messages by the computing device occurred or (b) a number of the second messages received by the computing device reaches a predefined threshold number;
• execute an authentication procedure respectively for each of the second messages individually, the respective authentication procedure including (a) a respective check of whether the respective individual one of the second messages received by the cryptographic module is authentic or (b) a respective assignment of a respective cryptographic signature to the respective individual one of the second messages;
• and
• provide results of the authentication procedure to the computing device, the at least one processor of which is configured to delay the processing of any respective one of the second messages for the motor vehicle control until after a respective one of the results of the authentication procedure corresponding to the respective one of the second messages is received by the computing device from the cryptographic module.