System and method for decentralized data storage

A system and method for the decentralized storage of data is provided that pre-processes data files to generate multiple subsets of encrypted data that includes randomly selected portions of data from different data files. The subsets of encrypted data are then transmitted to multiple remote servers that are randomly chosen for each subset of encrypted data. The local encryption key that was used to encrypt the data is required to reconstruct the data file. The system and method is particularly suited for the decentralized storage of medical data.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to secure data storage and, more particularly, to a decentralized data storage system and method that is secure and reduces local data storage requirements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current medical data storage systems store medical files locally and require large amounts of storage space. Such medical data storage systems are susceptible to loss from power outages, disgruntled employees, hackers, and other network management risks. Current systems require providers to maintain and upgrade local network security for each new threat identified. Further, a single location loss incident can result in the loss of multiple files for multiple patients. Current systems lack the security and redundancy to safely store medical data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method for the decentralized storage of data that pre-processes data files to generate multiple subsets of encrypted data that includes randomly selected portions of data from different data files. The subsets of encrypted data are then transmitted to multiple remote servers that are randomly chosen for each subset of encrypted data. The local encryption key that was used to encrypt the data is required to reconstruct the data file. The system and method is particularly suited for the decentralized storage of medical data.

An embodiment of the invention is a system for the decentralized storage of data, comprising a processor; memory accessible by the processor; a set of processor readable instructions stored in the memory that are executable by the processor to: receive a plurality of data files, pre-process the plurality of data files to generate multiple subsets of encrypted data, wherein each subset of encrypted data comprises randomly selected portions of data from different data files, and transmit the multiple subsets of data to multiple remote servers, wherein each subset of data is sent to a randomly selected remote server.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method for the decentralized storage of data, comprising receiving a plurality of data files; pre-processing the plurality of data files to generate multiple subsets of encrypted data, wherein each subset of encrypted data comprises randomly selected portions of data from different data files; and transmitting the multiple subsets of data to multiple remote servers, wherein each subset of data is sent to a randomly selected remote server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description of various embodiments of the system and method of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of one or more embodiments. However, the one or more embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and/or components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of embodiments.

Articles “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or to more than one (i.e. at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, “an element” means at least one element and can include more than one element. Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features of the invention may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form in the interest of clarity and conciseness. In this description, relative terms such as “horizontal,” “vertical,” “up,” “down,” “top,” “bottom,” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly,” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing figure under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and normally are not intended to require a particular orientation.

Terms including “inwardly” versus “outwardly,” “longitudinal” versus “lateral” and the like are to be interpreted relative to one another or relative to an axis of elongation, or an axis or center of rotation, as appropriate. Terms concerning electrical attachments, coupling and the like, such as “electrically connected,” “electrically coupled,” or “in signal communication” refer to a relationship wherein elements are electrically coupled to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening elements and through any combination of wired or wireless communication channels.

The term “module” as used herein means a real-world device, component, or arrangement of components implemented using hardware, which may include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field-programmable gate array (FPGA), for example, or a processor system and a set of instructions to implement the module's functionality, which (while being executed) transform the processor system into a special-purpose device for carrying out the module's functions.

A module can also be implemented as a combination of hardware alone and software-controlled hardware, with certain functions facilitated by the hardware alone, and other functions facilitated by a combination of hardware and software. In certain implementations, at least a portion, and in some cases, all, of a module can be executed on the processor(s) of a computer or device that executes an operating system, system programs, and application programs, while also implementing the module using multitasking, multithreading, distributed (e.g., cloud) processing, or other such techniques. Examples of such a computer or device include, but are not limited to, a personal computer (e.g., a desktop computer or a notebook computer), a server, an automated teller machine (ATM), a point-of-sale terminal, an appliance, a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, a tablet, or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a medical digital video recorder, and a medical digital capture device.

While preferred embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the system and method of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments. As will be realized, the following disclosure is capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Also, the reference or non-reference to a particular embodiment of the invention shall not be interpreted to limit the scope of the present invention.

A system and method for the decentralized storage of data is disclosed. The system and method is particularly suited for the decentralized storage of medical data, and thus the invention will be described in the context of medical data. However, it should be appreciated that the system and method of the present invention can be used for the decentralized storage of any type of data. Thus, although the term “medical data” is used throughout as an illustrative use of the present invention, it should be understood that any type of data can be substituted for “medical data.”

FIG.1is a block diagram of a system for the decentralized storage of data, in accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The system2includes a processor4configured to receive data11from one or more data sources10a-10n, such as medical data from or more caregivers, providers, and/or other data generators. In various embodiments, the processor4is a processor in a computer, a medical digital video recorder, a medical digital image capture device, etc. If data11is medical data, the medical data11can include medical files12a-12ngenerated by medical providers (such as doctors, specialist, care givers, etc.), medical institutions (such as hospitals, doctor offices, hospice care, etc.), and/or any other suitable data source10a-10n. The data11can be provided from a single source (e.g., source10a) or can be provided from multiple sources (e.g., sources10a-10n).

The processor4receives the data11and pre-processes the data11. Pre-processing may include, for example, encrypting each of the individual files12a-12ncontained within the data11and separating each of the files12a-12ninto multiple, random data portions15a-15n. The processor4transmits one or more data portions15a-15nfor each of a plurality of files12a-12nto one or more randomly selected remote servers20a-20nfor storage. The remote servers20a-20nare located at randomly selected geographic locations. Reconstruction of each file within the data is possible only by an entity that possess a local encryption key used during pre-processing. The system2reduces local storage requirements by only requiring that local keys and/or other local security measures be stored on the local storage accessed by the processor4.

FIG.2is a block diagram of a system for the decentralized storage of data, in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment ofFIG.2, the device4includes an encryption module30, a partition module32and a subset generation module34.

FIG.3is a flowchart of a method for the decentralized storage of medical data, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The method can be implemented with the system ofFIG.2and will be discussed with reference toFIG.2.

The method starts at step102, in which the encryption module30receives digital medical files12a-12n. Then, at step104, the encryption module30generates a plurality of encrypted files14a-14n. Each of the encrypted files14a-14nmay be generated by applying an encryption key to each of the received digital medical files12a-12n. The encryption key may be a local encryption key stored in memory, a network encryption key received from a networked storage module (not shown), a generated encryption key generated according to one or more rules, and/or any other suitable encryption key.

In some embodiments, the same encryption key is applied to each of the digital medical files12a-12nreceived by the encryption module30. In other embodiments, two or more encryption keys may be applied to selected subsets of the digital medical files12a-12n. For example, in some embodiments, an encryption key may be selected from a plurality of encryption keys based on user identification data, client identification data, practice group identification data, coding data, location data, and/or any other suitable data associated with and/or stored within the received digital medical files12a-12n.

The plurality of encrypted files14a-14nmay be generated by the encryption module30using any suitable encryption algorithm. For example, in various embodiments, the plurality of encrypted files14a-14ncan be generated by one or more of a symmetric cryptographic algorithm, a asymmetric cryptographic algorithm (e.g., public/private key cryptography), hash algorithms, key exchange algorithms, and/or any other suitable encryption algorithms Examples of suitable known algorithms can include, but are not limited to, triple DES/3DES (data encryption standard), RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman), AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), Blowfish, Twofish, MD5, SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm), and/or HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code).

At step106, the partition module32partitions each encrypted file14a-14ninto a plurality of file portions18a-18n. Each of the file portions18a-18ncontain a portion of the encrypted file14a-14n. The file portions18a-18neach include a random size and contain a random portion of the digital medical file12. In some embodiments, the number of file portions18a-18ngenerated is randomized for each encrypted file14a-14n.

It should be appreciated that, althoughFIGS.2and3describe a process by which the digital medical files12a-12nare first encrypted by the encryption module30, then partitioned by the partition module32, the digital media files12a-12ncould be partitioned by the partition module32prior to encryption, and then the partitioned files could be encrypted by the encryption module30.

At step108, the subset generation module34generates subsets22a-22nof file portions18a-18nfor transmission to remote servers20a-20n. The subset22a-22nof file portions18a-18nprovided to each of the remote servers20a-20nis generated randomly by the subset generation module34by selecting file portions18a-18nassociated with two or more encrypted files14a-14nand transmitting the selected subset of file portions18a-18nin a randomly selected order to the remote server20a-20n. For example, at step110, a first number of file portions18a-18nassociated with a first encrypted file14aand a first number of file portions18a-18nassociated with a second encrypted file14bcan be selected and randomly transmitted to a first remote server20aas subset22a. At step112, a second number of file portions18a-18nassociated with the first encrypted file14aand a second number of file portions18a-18nassociated with the second encrypted file14bcan then be selected and randomly transmitted to a second remote server20bas subset22b. The number of remote servers20a-20nand/or subsets22a-22nof file portions18a-18nmay be selected randomly and/or may be predetermined.

The remote storage servers20a-20nare configured to receive and store subsets22a-22nof the plurality of file portions18a-18ngenerated for two or more of the encrypted files14a-14n. In some embodiments, the remote servers20a-20nmay be associated with a cloud storage provider, may be maintained by an entity associated with the device4, and/or may be provided by a centralized organization.

In some embodiments, each of the subsets22a-22nof file portions18a-18nmay include overlapping file portions18a-18n. For example, a first subset22amay include file portions18a,18n, a second subset22bmay include file portions18b,18n, and a third subset22nmay include file portions18a,18b. By generating overlapping subsets22a-22n, the system2provides redundancy and ensures medical data files12a-12ncan be recovered even when one or more of the remote servers20a-20nare unavailable. In some embodiments, a minimum level of redundancy is required for each subset22a-22cof file portions18-18n.

In some embodiments, the remote servers20a-20nare associated with multiple entities (such as multiple cloud storage providers) and/or are located in geographically distinct locations. The exact geographic location of each of the remote servers20a-20nmay be selected by the device4when transmitting each subset22a-22nof file portions18a-18nand/or may be selected by a remote system (such as a cloud storage system) upon receiving a subset22a-22nof file portions18a-18n. The systems2and3may be configured to use a minimum number of remote servers20a-20nlocated in a minimum number of geographically diverse locations. In some embodiments, the geographically diverse locations may be selected according to one or more rules, such as, for example, rules indicating one or more preferred geographic locations, one or more excluded geographic locations, minimum number of geographically distinct locations, and/or any other suitable criteria.

In some embodiments, a local storage module (not shown) associated with the device4is configured to store the encryption key and/or any other security measures applied to the encrypted files14a-14n, a record of which file portions were transmitted to which remote servers20a-20n, and/or any other information necessary to retrieve and/or reconstruct the digital medical files12a-12n. The amount of local storage required is reduced using the systems2and3by eliminating the need to provide storage of medical data files12a-12nlocally.

The systems2and3can be characterized as comprising a “local” side and a “remote” side. With regards to the local side, prior to transferring digital medical data to cloud storage, local system2or3pre-processes the digital medical data. Pre-processing may include encryption of each individual file and separation of each individual file into multiple random chunks of data (e.g., random size, random portion of the file, etc.). Chunks of data from different files and different patients are transferred to the cloud storage provider in a random order (e.g., random chunks from multiple files belonging to multiple patients are mixed and transferred).

With regards to the remote side, each chunk of data is stored at a random server at a random location (e.g., location selected from multiple geographic locations) with the required redundancy selected by the remote storage provider. Reconstruction of each file is possible only by an entity possessing the local encryption key that was used during pre-processing. Local storage requirements are reduced to only maintaining local keys and/or other security measures needed to access the remote servers and remote file chunks.

In some embodiments, the remote (or cloud) side may contain servers20a-20nthat are further connected via the Internet or other network to one or more peer-to-peer networks of independent Cloud Storage Providers (ICSP)40for storing the subsets22a-22nof file portions18a-18n. Networks of ICSPs40are spread around different countries and different continents. These networks40can be of the different types.

The remote servers20a-20nact as a bridge between systems2,3and networks of ICSPs40. Remote servers20a-20nmay be configured to provide sufficient redundancy to store client files and provide an average spread of the client files between individual providers and across countries of continents. In some embodiments, the remote servers20a-20nare configured as a payment bridge by invoicing clients in local fiat currency while paying bills of the ICSP networks40in different fiat currencies or cryptographic tokens.

The remote servers20a-20nmay monitor ICSPs40for the availability of the stored content. In the case that an ICSP is offline for a certain period of time or stored files are not available, the remote servers20a-20nmay cancel a digital contract with that ICSP and locate files at others ICSPs by obtaining copies of the files from the redundant sources.

In some embodiments, the system2,3is coupled to one or more additional systems (not shown) that do not support decentralized storage. The system2,3may be configured to receive one or more files, such as video files, from the one or more additional systems and apply the disclose method of decentralized data storage described herein.

FIG.4is a schematic diagram of components for implementing systems2and3, and the functionality described above such as, for example, the encryption module30, the partition module32and the subset generation module34ofFIG.2, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The components may comprise a processor subsystem204, an input/output subsystem206, a memory subsystem208, a communications interface210, and a system bus212. In some embodiments, one or more of the components may be combined or omitted such as, for example, omitting the communications interface210. In some embodiments of systems2and3, additional components other than those shown inFIG.4may be included. For example, systems2and3may also comprise a power subsystem. In other embodiments, systems2and3may comprise several instances of the components shown inFIG.4. For example, systems2and3may comprise multiple memory subsystems208. For the sake of conciseness and clarity, and not limitation, one of each of the components is shown inFIG.4.

The processor subsystem204may comprise any processing circuitry operative to control the operations and performance of systems2and3. In various aspects, the processor subsystem204may be implemented as a general purpose processor, a chip multiprocessor (CMP), a dedicated processor, an embedded processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, an input/output (I/O) processor, a media access control (MAC) processor, a radio baseband processor, a co-processor, a microprocessor such as a complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, and/or a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or other processing device. The processor subsystem204also may be implemented by a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), and so forth.

In various aspects, the processor subsystem204may be arranged to run an operating system (OS) and various applications. Examples of an OS comprise, for example, operating systems generally known under the trade name of Apple OS, Microsoft Windows OS, Android OS, and any other proprietary or open source OS. Examples of applications comprise, for example, a telephone application, a camera (e.g., digital camera, video camera) application, a browser application, a multimedia player application, a gaming application, a messaging application (e.g., email, short message, multimedia), a viewer application, and so forth.

In some embodiments, systems2and3may comprise a system bus212that couples various system components including the processing subsystem204, the input/output subsystem206, the memory subsystem208, and/or the communications subsystem210. The system bus212can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, 9-bit bus, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect Card International Association Bus (PCMCIA), Small Computers Interface (SCSI) or other proprietary bus, or any custom bus suitable for computing device applications.

FIG.5shows one illustrative embodiment of the communication interface210. The communications interface210may comprise any suitable hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software that is capable of coupling the system2ato one or more networks and/or devices. The communications interface210may be arranged to operate with any suitable technique for controlling information signals using a desired set of communications protocols, services or operating procedures. The communications interface210may comprise the appropriate physical connectors to connect with a corresponding communications medium, whether wired or wireless.

Vehicles of communication comprise a network. In various aspects, the network may comprise local area networks (LAN) as well as wide area networks (WAN) including without limitation Internet, wired channels, wireless channels, communication devices including telephones, computers, wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic channels, and combinations thereof, including other devices and/or components capable of/associated with communicating data. For example, the communication environments comprise in-body communications, various devices, and various modes of communications such as wireless communications, wired communications, and combinations of the same.

Wireless communication modes comprise any mode of communication between points (e.g., nodes) that utilize, at least in part, wireless technology including various protocols and combinations of protocols associated with wireless transmission, data, and devices. The points comprise, for example, wireless devices such as wireless headsets, audio and multimedia devices and equipment, such as audio players and multimedia players, telephones, including mobile telephones and cordless telephones, and computers and computer-related devices and components, such as printers.

Wired communication modes comprise any mode of communication between points that utilize wired technology including various protocols and combinations of protocols associated with wired transmission, data, and devices. The points comprise, for example, devices such as audio and multimedia devices and equipment, such as audio players and multimedia players, telephones, including mobile telephones and cordless telephones, and computers and computer-related devices and components, such as printers. In various implementations, the wired communication modules may communicate in accordance with a number of wired protocols. Examples of wired protocols may comprise Universal Serial Bus (USB) communication, RS-232, RS-422, RS-423, RS-485 serial protocols, FireWire, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, MIDI, ATA, Serial ATA, PCI Express, T-1 (and variants), Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) parallel communication, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) communication, or Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) communication, to name only a few examples.

Accordingly, in various aspects, the communications interface210may comprise one or more interfaces such as, for example, a wireless communications interface222, a wired communications interface224, a network interface, a transmit interface, a receive interface, a media interface, a system interface226, a component interface, a switching interface, a chip interface, a controller, and so forth. When implemented by a wireless device or within wireless system, for example, the communications interface210may comprise a wireless interface222comprising one or more antennas228, transmitters, receivers, transceivers, amplifiers, filters, control logic, and so forth.

In various aspects, the communications interface210may provide voice and/or data communications functionality in accordance with different types of cellular radiotelephone systems. In various implementations, the described aspects may communicate over wireless shared media in accordance with a number of wireless protocols. Examples of wireless protocols may comprise various wireless local area network (WLAN) protocols, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.xx series of protocols, such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, and so forth. Other examples of wireless protocols may comprise various wireless wide area network (WWAN) protocols, such as GSM cellular radiotelephone system protocols with GPRS, CDMA cellular radiotelephone communication systems with 1×RTT, EDGE systems, EV-DO systems, EV-DV systems, HSDPA systems, and so forth. Further examples of wireless protocols may comprise wireless personal area network (PAN) protocols, such as an Infrared protocol, a protocol from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) series of protocols, including Bluetooth Specification versions v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v2.0, v2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), as well as one or more Bluetooth Profiles, and so forth. Yet another example of wireless protocols may comprise near-field communication techniques and protocols, such as electro-magnetic induction (EMI) techniques. An example of EMI techniques may comprise passive or active radio-frequency identification (RFID) protocols and devices. Other suitable protocols may comprise Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Digital Office (DO), Digital Home, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), ZigBee, and so forth.

In various implementations, the described aspects may comprise part of a cellular communication system. Examples of cellular communication systems may comprise CDMA cellular radiotelephone communication systems, GSM cellular radiotelephone systems, North American Digital Cellular (NADC) cellular radiotelephone systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) cellular radiotelephone systems, Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA) cellular radiotelephone systems, Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service (NAMPS) cellular radiotelephone systems, third generation (3G) wireless standards systems such as WCDMA, CDMA-2000, UMTS cellular radiotelephone systems compliant with the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), fourth generation (4G) wireless standards, and so forth.

FIG.6shows an illustrative embodiment of the memory subsystem208. The memory subsystem208may comprise any machine-readable or computer-readable media capable of storing data, including both volatile/non-volatile memory and removable/non-removable memory. The memory subsystem208may comprise at least one non-volatile memory unit230and a local bus234. The non-volatile memory unit230is capable of storing one or more software programs232_1-232_n. The software programs232_1-232_nmay contain, for example, applications, user data, device data, and/or configuration data, or combinations therefore, to name only a few. The software programs232_1-232_nmay contain instructions executable by the various components of systems2and3.

In various aspects, the memory subsystem208may comprise any machine-readable or computer-readable media capable of storing data, including both volatile/non-volatile memory and removable/non-removable memory. For example, memory may comprise read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDR-RAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory (e.g., NOR or NAND flash memory), content addressable memory (CAM), polymer memory (e.g., ferroelectric polymer memory), phase-change memory (e.g., ovonic memory), ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, disk memory (e.g., floppy disk, hard drive, optical disk, magnetic disk), or card (e.g., magnetic card, optical card), or any other type of media suitable for storing information.

In some embodiments, the memory subsystem208may contain a software program for encrypting received medical data files, portioning medical and/or encrypted data files, and transmitting subsets of the partitioned encrypted data files using the capabilities of systems2and3, as discussed in connection withFIGS.1and2. In one embodiment, the memory subsystem208may contain an instruction set, in the form of a file232_nfor executing a method of generating and distributing a plurality of encrypted file portions for distributed storage. The instruction set may be stored in any acceptable form of machine readable instructions, including source code or various appropriate programming languages. Some examples of programming languages that may be used to store the instruction set comprise, but are not limited to: Java, C, C++, C#, Python, Objective-C, Visual Basic, or .NET programming In some embodiments a compiler or interpreter is comprised to convert the instruction set into machine executable code for execution by the processing subsystem204.

The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.