Secure data transfer in a communication system including portable meters
AssigneeActerna LLC
InventorsGerald K. Rudolf, Muhammad Sajjad Abdullah, David Brian Alder, Pulin Rajesh Shah, Steven William Thomas, Stanley Edson Brown
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of performing measurements with a portable meter and reporting measurement data from the portable meter to a central office over a secure channel. The method includes synchronizing the portable meter and the central office though a trusted interface prior to taking measurements at a customer location.
Claims19
A method of performing measurements with a portable meter and reporting measurement data from the portable meter to a central office having a server security certificate and a meter management table stored in the central office, comprising the steps of:
- (a) synchronizing the portable meter at a first location with the central office over a trusted interface resulting in the portable meter having a meter copy of a meter certificate and the central office having a predefined portion of the meter certificate in the meter management table, wherein the predefined portion uniquely identifies the portable meter;
- (b) performing the measurements with the portable meter and generating the measurement data;
- (c) establishing a secure channel between the portable meter connected to an IP network at a second location and the central office, including
- transmitting the server security certificate from the central office to the portable meter;
- transmitting the meter copy of the meter certificate from the portable meter to the central office, thereby providing the central office with a received copy of the meter certificate;
- verifying the received copy of the meter certificate at the central office;
- determining if the meter management table contains the predefined portion of the received copy of the meter certificate;
- transmitting the measurement data to the central office from the portable meter over the IP network though the secure channel if the received certificate is successfully verified and if the meter management table contains the predefined portion of the received copy of the meter certificate;
- wherein the second location is different from the first location;
- (d) processing the measurement data received from the portable meter at the central office.
A portable meter for performing measurements at a first location and reporting measurement data through a secure channel over a network, comprising:
- measuring means for performing the measurements at the first location and generating the measurement data,
- a meter memory for storing a meter security certificate and having meter instructions stored therein including:
- a synchronization instruction set
- for synchronizing the portable meter at a second location with another end of the secure channel, resulting in the portable meter having the meter certificate and the another end having a predefined portion of the meter certificate, wherein the predefined portion uniquely identifies the portable meter;
- and
- a meter networking instruction set
- for sending the meter security certificate over the network to the another end, thereby establishing the secure channel between the portable meter at the first location and the another end, and
- for sending the measurement data though the secure channel;
- wherein the another end has secure channel means
- for synchronizing with the portable meter resulting in the portable meter having the meter certificate stored therein and the another end having the predefined portion of the meter certificate stored therein,
- for comparing the predefined portion of a received security certificate received over the network to the predefined portion of the meter certificate stored at the another end to determine if there is a match, and
- for closing the secure channel if no match has been determined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.