Patent ID: 8051489

Claim:
A method for secure configuration of a sensor system comprising: identifying a new sensor not activated within the sensor system, the new sensor comprising a new sensor identifier; establishing a first transmission link between the new sensor and a sensor controller; transmitting the new sensor identifier between the sensor and the sensor controller; generating a key pair for the sensor controller, the key pair comprising a controller public key and a controller private key; generating a key pair for the new sensor, the key pair comprising a sensor public key and a sensor private key; transmitting the controller public key to the new sensor and the sensor public key to the sensor controller; generating a pairwise key between the sensor controller and the new sensor; generating a group key to encrypt data that is shared by the new sensor and an existing sensor activated within the sensor system, wherein the group key is generated by the sensor controller using the pairwise key; transmitting the group key to the new sensor and the existing sensor; activating the new sensor after transmitting the group key to the new sensor; identifying an old sensor activated within the sensor system to be removed from the sensor system; generating a new group key; transmitting the new group key to the existing sensor and the new sensor, wherein the existing sensor and the new sensor are activated within the sensor system, and wherein the old sensor is not provided with the group key; and deactivating the old sensor from the sensor system after transmitting the new group key to the existing sensor and the new sensor.