The present invention generally relates to radio receivers and, more particularly, to the communication and selection of secure data in a digital receiver, such as a digital radio frequency (RF) receiver in a vehicle.
Automotive vehicles are commonly equipped with audio radios for receiving broadcast radio frequency (RF) signals and broadcasting audio information to passengers in the vehicle. More recently, satellite based digital audio radio (SDAR) services have become available that offer digital radio service covering a large geographic area, such as North America. Currently, a couple of satellite based digital audio radio services are available in North America, both of which generally employ either geo-stationary orbit satellites or highly elliptical orbit satellites that receive uplinked programming which, in turn, is rebroadcast directly to digital radios in vehicles on the ground that subscribe to the service. Additionally, a number of terrestrial (ground based) transmission repeaters are currently employed in certain areas susceptible to satellite signal blockage to provide a clean and uninterrupted radio signal broadcast. Each vehicle subscribing to the digital service generally includes a digital radio having a receiver and antennas for receiving the satellite and terrestrial signal broadcasts.
The radio receivers are programmed to receive and unscramble the digital data signals, which typically include many channels of digital audio. In addition to broadcasting the encoded digital quality audio signals, the satellite based digital audio radio service may also transmit data within a data bandwidth that may be used for various applications. The additional information may include information about the broadcast, such as song title, artist, and genre of music for display on the radio. The signal may also include further information for other reasons, such as advertising, informing the driver of warranty issues, providing information about the broadcast audio information, and providing news, sports, and entertainment broadcasting, in addition to other information. In addition to providing a general signal transmission to subscribing members, the satellite based digital audio radio service may also make available data bandwidth to certain groups, such as vehicle manufacturers, to provide the ability for the vehicle manufacturer to transmit data to select vehicles. In order to do so, it is generally desirable to be able to target the data communication to specific types of vehicles and/or receivers. Some data may be very sensitive to the vehicle and related systems, thus requiring various levels of security.
There are many secure data communication techniques currently available to encrypt broadcast data, including secure keys, public keys, and public/private key methods. While data encryption techniques are generally employed in various data communication applications, it is desirable to provide for a receiver and method for securely communicating data to selected groups of vehicles and/or receivers in a vehicle.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a digital radio receiver and method are provided for receiving a signal including a data stream having a key selector and encrypted data including a message and deciphering information relevant to the receiver environment. According to one aspect of the present invention, the receiver includes an input for receiving a signal having a data stream including a key selector and encrypted data including a message. The receiver further includes a data decryption circuit including memory for storing one or more groups of decryption keys based on a characteristic of the receiver environment. The data decryption circuit selects a group key based on the key selector and decrypts the message based on the selected group key.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for decrypting an encoded data stream including a key selector and encrypted data including a message in a signal broadcast is provided. The method includes the steps of receiving a signal including a data stream having a key selector and encrypted data including a message, and providing one or more groups of decryption keys based on a characteristic of the receiving environment. The method also includes a step of selecting a group key based on the key selector. The method further includes the step of decrypting the message based on the selected group key. Accordingly, the receiver and method of the present invention advantageously allow for the deciphering of secure information intended for a targeted group of receivers, such as a group of vehicles each equipped with a receiver.
These and other features, advantages and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
The digital radio receiver 12 is programmed to receive and unscramble primary and secondary service digital data signals. The primary service data typically includes the audio service, while the secondary service data typically includes other information. The digital radio receiver 12 include an RF tuner 18 receiving RF signals received by each of satellite antenna 14 and terrestrial antenna 16. The RF tuner 18 selects a frequency bandwidth (channel) of digital audio to pass each of the RF signals (SAT1, SAT2, and TERR) within a tuned frequency bandwidth received by the antennas 14 and 16. The digital radio receiver 12 also includes a digital demodulator circuit 20 which receives analog signals output from tuner 18 and creates a digital time division multiplexed (TDM) data stream 22. The digital radio receiver 12 includes a source decoder circuit 24 that receives the time division multiplexed data stream 22 and selects the information contained in designated signal channels for both audio and data information contained within the data stream. The time division multiplexed data stream selection may occur prior to the source decoder circuit 24. The selected time division multiplexed digital channels containing the digital primary service audio information 26 are decompressed and passed on to an audio digital-to-analog converter 28 for outputting an analog audio output 29 for audio broadcast to passengers within the vehicle. The digital radio receiver 12 has a microcontroller 30 communicating with the RF tuner 18, digital modulator circuit 20, source decoder circuit 24, and audio digital-to-analog converter 28 by way of a communication bus.
The secondary service data including encrypted data 32 is separated from the primary service audio information at or before source decoder circuit 24. The digital radio receiver 12 of the present invention employs a data decryption circuit 36 for decrypting the encrypted data 32 as described herein. The data decryption circuit 36 receives the digital data including the encrypted data 32 from decoder circuit 24 and a key selection control signal 34 from microcontroller 30. By decrypting the encrypted data 32 with the use of decryption keys as described herein, selected secure data that is relevant to the receiver environment may be obtained and presented in data output 38 to the user of the digital radio receiver 12, such as a passenger in the vehicle 10.
Referring to
Referring to
The method 100 uses the vehicle identification number to obtain group keys from a database stored in non-volatile memory in step 108. According to one embodiment, the database is a lookup table as illustrated in
It should be appreciated that each of the groups of keys labeled key I through key M includes selectable decryption keys based on a characteristic of the receiving environment, such as a characteristic of the vehicle and having different values based on predetermined variations of that characteristic. In one embodiment, one group of keys (e.g., the group labeled key 1) may be based on the vehicle manufacturer (e.g., key 11=Chevy, key 12=Pontiac, key 13=Saturn, key 14=Lincoln, key 15=Dodge, . . . , and key 1N=Ford). Another group of keys (e.g., the group labeled key 2) may be based on the model type of vehicle (e.g., key 21=Chevy Tahoe, key 22=Chevy Monte Carlo, . . . , and key 2N=Chevy Malibu). A further group of keys (e.g., the group labeled key M) may be based on the model year of the vehicle (e.g., key M1=1998, key M2=1999, key M3=2000, key M4=2001, key M5=2002, . . . , and key MN=2030). Other groups could include service providers who would target certain receivers based on any number of factors, such as home area, gender, or coupled service interface including telematics, navigation, local FM, etc. It should be apparent that (1) each key described above denotes a variation of a receiver environmental characteristic, (2) each receiver environmental characteristic divides the plurality of receivers into sets of receivers based on its own predetermined variations and (3) the sets of any one of these different environmental characteristics will generally overlap those of another. For example, the set of receivers installed in a Pontiac (key 12) overlaps the set of receivers having a Navigation system since, in addition to those receivers in both sets (those in a Pontiac also having a Navigation system), there may be receivers in each set that are not in the other, such as those in a Pontiac not having a Navigation system or those in a Dodge having a Navigation system. Thus, a powerful and efficient way is provided to target encrypted messages to predetermined overlapping sets of receivers based on shared variations of multiple receiver environmental characteristics.
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The use of a master key is shown in
Accordingly, the receiver and method of the present invention advantageously decrypts data based on a selected group or groups of decryption keys that are relevant to a characteristic of the receiver environment. The receiver and method are particularly useful for use on a vehicle 10 for communicating secure messages with passengers in the vehicle.
In the vehicle application, a vehicle manufacturer is able to communicate secure data to passengers in the vehicle which pertain to a selected vehicle manufacturer, vehicle model, vehicle model year, and other designated group classifications, so as to target certain vehicles, while the broadcast message is ignored by vehicles which do not have the characteristics specified in the selected group. This allows for multiple levels of message control by content suppliers and does not require that hardware manufacturers have a predetermined decryption key in advance.
It will be understood by those who practice the invention and those skilled in the art, that various modifications and improvements may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the disclosed concept. The scope of protection afforded is to be determined by the claims and by the breadth of interpretation allowed by law.
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