Patents by Inventor Tom Funk

Tom Funk has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11941120
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Century-Link Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20230291720
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2023
    Publication date: September 14, 2023
    Applicant: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 11658953
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20230090728
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Applicant: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20230052500
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Applicant: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20220129553
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2021
    Publication date: April 28, 2022
    Applicant: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 11232203
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20210352057
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Applicant: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 11153376
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques for an IoT shell are provided. A system includes a plurality of IoT resources including one or more sensors, a data lake comprising a collection of data streams from the one or more sensors, and an IoT device in communication with the plurality of IoT resources and coupled to the one or more sensors. The IoT device may configured to provide an IoT shell interfacing with a system kernel, the IoT shell configured to accept a set of one or more shell commands. The IoT device may further be configured to receive one or more shell commands, and determine at least one of an argument of the shell command, and an attribute of the argument. The IoT device may then perform a shell command of the one or more shell commands on one or more of the plurality of IoT resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 11075894
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 10919523
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventors: Tom Funk, Phil Carpenter, William R. Walker
  • Patent number: 10848487
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques for a bio-authentication for streaming service account management are provided. A system includes a user device configured to access a streaming service account associated with a subscriber, a database, a biometric sensor configured to obtain a biometric input from a user, and a bio-authentication engine. The bio-authentication engine may include a processor, and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor to determine whether an authentication event has occurred, obtain the biometric input of the user, determine whether the biometric input matches the biometric information associated with the subscriber, and allow access to a streaming service through the streaming service account.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventors: James D. Scheller, Tom Funk, Rick Calvert, Stephen Opferman
  • Patent number: 10838383
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventors: Tom Funk, Phil Carpenter, Robert J. Morrill, William R. Walker
  • Patent number: 10819501
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing scaling and distribution of blockchains without ledger limitations. In various embodiments, a computing system might access many instances of a blockchain from many distributed peers. The computing system might parse a first instance of the blockchain accessible from a first distributed peer, to produce a first sample segment of a hash value of one of many blocks of the blockchain. The computing system might compare the first sample segment with a corresponding hash value portion of a second instance of the blockchain accessible from a second distributed peer, without comparing hash values of the entire first instance with those of the entire second instance. Based on a determination that the first sample segment and the corresponding hash value portion do not match, the computing system might send a notification to a user indicating that the first instance and/or second instance is invalid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Patent number: 10637683
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventors: Tom Funk, Phil Carpenter, William R. Walker
  • Publication number: 20200007518
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20190281049
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques for a bio-authentication for streaming service account management are provided. A system includes a user device configured to access a streaming service account associated with a subscriber, a database, a biometric sensor configured to obtain a biometric input form a user, and a bio-authentication engine. The bio-authentication engine may include a processor, and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor to determine whether an authentication event has occurred, obtain the biometric input of the user, determine whether the biometric input matches the biometric information associated with the subscriber, and allow access to a streaming service through the streaming service account.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Inventors: James D. Scheller, Tom Funk, Rick Calvert, Stephen Opferman
  • Patent number: 10412064
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20190236858
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality, and, in particular embodiments, implementing added services for OBD2 connection for IoT-capable vehicles. In various embodiments, a portable device (when connected to an OBD2 DLC port of a vehicle) might monitor wireless communications between a vehicle computing system(s) and an external device(s), might monitor vehicle sensor data from vehicular sensors tracking operational conditions of the vehicle, and might monitor operator input sensor data from operator input sensors tracking input by a vehicle operator. The portable device (or a server) might analyze either the monitored wireless communications or a combination of the monitored vehicle sensor data and the monitored operator input sensor data, to determine whether vehicle operation has been compromised.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventor: Tom Funk
  • Publication number: 20190196428
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Tom Funk, Phil Carpenter, Robert J. Morrill, William R. Walker