Distributed, crowdsourced internet of things (iot) discovery and identification using block chain

A computing device to discover an Internet of Things (IoT) device type by:

• scanning a network and generating a signature based on IoT device traits discovered during the scan;
• determining whether the signature is already in a verified or an unverified Block Chain;
• when the signature exists in the verified Block Chain, providing a verified entry comprising at least the IoT device type;
• otherwise, when the signature exists in the unverified Block Chain, providing an unverified entry comprising at least the IoT device type, incrementing a verification count associated with the unverified entry, and promoting the unverified entry to the verified Block Chain when the verification count reaches a verification threshold;
• and
• otherwise, when the signature is not already in the verified or unverified Block Chains, using the traits to guess and attempt to confirm the IoT device type, generating a new entry comprising the signature of the IoT device type, the IoT device type, a device counter, a location of the IoT device, and a timestamp, and storing the new entry in the unverified Block Chain.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions to which a computing device is to respond by:

• scanning a network and generating a signature based on Internet of Things (IoT) device traits discovered during the scan;
• determining whether the signature is already in a verified or an unverified Block Chain;
• when the signature exists in the verified Block Chain, providing a verified entry comprising at least the IoT device type;
• otherwise, when the signature exists in the unverified Block Chain, providing an unverified entry comprising at least the IoT device type, incrementing a verification count associated with the unverified entry, and promoting the unverified entry to the verified Block Chain when the verification count reaches a verification threshold;
• and
• otherwise, when the signature is not already in the verified or unverified Block Chains, using the traits to guess and attempt to confirm the IoT device type, generating a new entry comprising the signature of the IoT device type, the IoT device type, a device counter, a location of the IoT device, and a timestamp, and storing the new entry in the unverified Block Chain.