Systems and methods for secure communications in vehicle telematics systems

Abstract

A vehicle telematics system is provided having secure communication capabilities between a vehicle telematics device and external computing devices. In one embodiment, the vehicle telematics device includes a processor; a memory coupled to the processor and storing a vehicle telematics application; and a security chip coupled to the processor and the memory, wherein the security chip is configured to support a Transport Layer Security (TLS) stack.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vehicle telematics device, comprising:
 a processor;   a memory coupled to the processor and storing a vehicle telematics application; and   a security chip coupled to the processor and the memory, wherein the security chip is configured to support a Transport Layer Security (TLS) stack.   
     
     
         2 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the memory is sufficient to handle operations of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) stack.   
     
     
         3 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the memory includes at least 30 kilobytes of random access memory (RAM) and 100 kilobytes of flash memory.   
     
     
         4 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the security chip can generate and securely store a cryptographic key.   
     
     
         5 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a communications interface coupled to the processor and to a data bus of a vehicle.   
     
     
         6 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 one or more sensor devices coupled to the data bus, capable of measuring sensor data regarding the vehicle, and configured to store the sensor data in the memory.   
     
     
         7 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device can communicate with a customer server; and   the security chip can transmit encrypted data to the customer server via a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) security session.   
     
     
         8 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device can communicate with a mobile communications device; and   the security chip can apply Short Message Service (SMS) authentication via challenge-response authentication with the mobile communications device.   
     
     
         9 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device can communicate with a maintenance server; and   the security chip can transmit encrypted data to the maintenance server via a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) security session.   
     
     
         10 . The vehicle telematics device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device can communicate with a certificate authority; and   the security chip is configured to receive a signed certificate authority certificate authority certificate from the certificate authority.   
     
     
         11 . A vehicle telematics system, comprising:
 a vehicle telematics device, including
 a processor, 
 a memory coupled to the processor and storing a vehicle telematics application, and 
 a security chip coupled to the processor and the memory, wherein the security chip is configured to support a Transport Layer Security (TLS) stack. 
   
     
     
         12 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the memory is sufficient to handle operations of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) stack.   
     
     
         13 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the memory includes at least 30 kilobytes of random access memory (RAM) and 100 kilobytes of flash memory.   
     
     
         14 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the security chip can generate and securely store a cryptographic key.   
     
     
         15 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device further includes a communications interface coupled to the processor and to a data bus of a vehicle.   
     
     
         16 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the vehicle telematics device further includes one or more sensor devices coupled to the data bus, capable of measuring sensor data regarding the vehicle, and configured to store the sensor data in the memory.   
     
     
         17 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a customer server in communication with the vehicle telematics device, wherein the security chip can transmit encrypted data to the customer server via a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) security session.   
     
     
         18 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a mobile communications device in communication with the vehicle telematics device, wherein the security chip can apply Short Message Service (SMS) authentication via challenge-response authentication with the mobile communications device.   
     
     
         19 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a maintenance server in communication with the vehicle telematics device, wherein the security chip can transmit encrypted data to the maintenance server via a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) security session.   
     
     
         20 . The vehicle telematics system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a certificate authority in communication with the vehicle telematics device, wherein the security chip is configured to receive a signed certificate authority certificate authority certificate from the certificate authority.