US 11,858,517 B2
Dynamic groups and attribute-based access control for next-generation smart cars
Maanak Gupta, Cookeville, TN (US); James Benson, San Antonio, TX (US); Farhan Patwa, San Antonio, TX (US); and Ravinderpal Sandhu, Helotes, TX (US)
Assigned to The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, Austin, TX (US)
Filed by The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, Austin, TX (US)
Filed on Mar. 6, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/811,165.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/814,948, filed on Mar. 7, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0283002 A1, Sep. 10, 2020
Int. Cl. B60W 40/08 (2012.01); H04W 4/46 (2018.01); H04W 4/44 (2018.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01)
CPC B60W 40/08 (2013.01) [G05D 1/0297 (2013.01); H04W 4/44 (2018.02); H04W 4/46 (2018.02)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A cloud-implemented method for providing access control to a plurality of vehicles, implemented in a cloud computing system comprising a plurality of networked computer systems, each networked computer system comprising a processor, memory accessible by the processor, and computer program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the method comprising:
generating, at the cloud computing system, stored data representing a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles having a plurality of sensors, wherein each vehicle transmits notifications to and receives notifications from the cloud computing system via a communication network;
detecting, at the plurality of sensors associated with each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, a location and at least one direct attribute for each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;
receiving, at the cloud computing system, a driver preference for a selected vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;
assigning, at the cloud computing system, the selected vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to at least one group and to at least one sub-group based on the location, the driver preference, and the at least one direct attribute;
assigning, at the cloud computing system, a set of effective attributes for each vehicle of plurality of vehicles,
wherein the set of effective attributes comprises the location, the direct attribute, and the driver preference associated with the selected vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and further comprises additional attributes based on a selected group and on a selected sub-group, and
wherein values of selected additional attributes from the selected sub-group are inherited from values of selected additional attributes from the selected group only if the values of the selected additional attributes from the selected group have been updated more recently than the values of the selected additional attributes from the selected sub-group;
generating, at the cloud computing system, a policy related to the selected sub-group of the selected group;
receiving, at the cloud computing system, a selected notification to the selected sub-group of the selected group;
evaluating, at the cloud computing system, whether the selected notification is in compliance with the determined policy based on the set of effective attributes for the selected vehicle; and
if the selected notification is in compliance with the policy and with the driver preference, wirelessly transmitting the selected notification to the selected vehicle; and
if the selected notification is not in compliance with the policy and with the driver preference, not transmitting the selected notification;
evaluating, at the vehicle, whether the selected notification is in compliance with the determined policy based on the set of effective attributes for the selected vehicle; and
if the selected notification is in compliance with the policy, transmitting the selected notification to the user; and
if the selected notification is not in compliance with the policy, not transmitting the selected notification to the user.