Claims:WE CLAIM

1. A method for providing lawful interception information for an Internet of Things network (IoT Network), the method being performed by a topology of probes and comprising:
finalizing a specification based on privacy requirement settings, wherein the privacy requirement settings comprise rules that govern at least one of: content-based data exposure, prevention of access of information by predetermined users, and obfuscation of predetermined information;
generating a hierarchy of information elements based on the finalized specification, each of the information elements including information related to at least one of: dependency and reporting requirement;
determining, based on the privacy requirement settings, a set of data sources for providing the reporting information according to the hierarchy of information elements;
determining a hierarchy of probes based on the set of the data sources, and associated privacy compliance level;
configuring the topology of probes based on a set of configurations including privacy;
activating LI operation in the topology of probes;
performing LI operation by the topology of probes as per set of configurations including privacy;
verifying effectiveness of reporting conforming to reporting requirements and privacy compliance, and taking corrective action; and
updating learning data in the historical database at the end of LI operation.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein finalizing the specification based on the privacy requirement settings comprises:
receiving, iteratively from a law enforcement agent (LEA) through an interface, a request for information about a lawful-interception-target, the request including a specification for the information to be tracked and reported, the specification including information to be reported and reporting requirements;
determining a first value representing a feasibility of obtaining the information to be reported according to the - specification and satisfying the privacy requirement settings;
responsive to determining that the first value is below a threshold:
determining a set of alternative information to be reported and a set of alternative information sources based on the reporting requirement and the privacy requirement settings,
preparing a specification response containing information on the feasibility of information to be reported and the set of one or more alternative information to be reported, and
transmitting, to the LEA via an interface, the prepared specification response; and
responsive to determining that the first value is above or equal to a threshold: setting the specification as the finalized specification.
3. The method of claim 1, where determining a set of data sources for providing the hierarchy of information elements comprises:
determining a set of candidate data sources based on the determined feasibility, and at least one of: frequency of reporting, frequency of sampling, nature and type of available probes, capability and past performance of the available probes;
determining a set of suitability ranks for the set of candidate data sources, the set of suitability ranks being determined based on at least one of: a frequency of reporting, a frequency of collecting data, a criticality of the data collection, a priority of the data collection, and the mobility of the set of candidate data sources;
determining a set of privacy ranks based on a history of exceptions for violation of the privacy requirement settings; and
determining, from the set of candidate data sources, the set of data sources for providing the requested information based on a combination of the set of suitability ranks and the set of privacy ranks.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the topology of probes include:
determining the set of configurations including probe configurations at a super-probe within the topology of probes, wherein the set of configurations further comprises at least one of: data to collect, frequency of data sampling, LI activation condition, frequency of transmission, processing logic and the privacy requirement settings, criticality, priority and policy of storing and overwriting the collected data at a probe in the topology of probes;
determining conditions for activating LI operation at the super-probe;
selectively cascading the set of configurations including the probe configurations and conditions for activating LI operation through the topology of probes, wherein the set of configurations include the privacy requirement settings to enable reporting, by the topology of probes, of privacy violations, selectively cascading the set of configuration comprises:
extracting a portion of the received set of configurations, wherein the extracted portion is related to one or more LI operations at the downstream probes; and
cascading the extracted configurations to downstream probes.
receiving set of configurations by a probe from an associated upstream probe in the topology of probes; and
performing probe configuration including: determination of probe level LI activation condition based on the received set of configurations, and configuration of each probe of the topology of probes based on the received set of configurations to perform probe operation.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein activating LI operation include:
receiving, by the super-probe from one or more downstream probes of the super-probe in the topology of probes, a notification of fulfillment of the conditions for activating LI operation in the topology of probes;
receiving, by the super-probe from one or more downstream probes of the super-probe in the topology of probes including the super-probe, an indication of whether there is a violation of the privacy requirement settings caused by notification of the fulfillment of the LI activation conditions;
transmitting, by the super-probe to the one or more downstream probes of the super-probe in the topology of probes, activation signals to activate LI operation in the topology of probes, upon receiving the notification of fulfillment of the conditions for activating LI operation;
responsive to receiving, at a first probe of the one or more downstream probes of the super-probe, the signal to activate LI operation:
initiating LI operation at the first probe, and
cascading the activation signals to a second probe that is a downstream probe of the first probe in the topology of probes to initiate LI operation at the second probe; and
responsive to receiving the indication that there is a violation of the privacy requirement settings caused by the fulfillment of the conditions, performing at least one of: updating diagnostics data that includes a type and a severity of the privacy violation, and updating the information to be reported based on the privacy requirement settings;
wherein the diagnostics data are used for verification of effectiveness and for updating the learning data.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing LI operation include:
performing probe operations by at least one probe in the topology of probes;
collecting data at super-probe from the topology of probes as per set of configurations, wherein the data collected include lawful interception data, supporting lawful interception data and diagnostics data, wherein the diagnostics data include one or more exceptions caused by privacy violations;
responsive to determining that the collection of the data violates the privacy requirement settings, updating diagnostic data to reflect the violation, wherein the diagnostics data are used for verification of effectiveness and for updating the learning data;
preparing data to be reported at the super-probe as per rules of reporting and privacy requirement settings, wherein the data prepared include lawful interception data, probe operation diagnostics data and probe-performance data.;
transporting through at least one interface selectively, at least a part of the prepared data by the super-probe to a lawful interception gateway according to the reporting requirements; and
receiving reporting status confirmation of transported data from the law enforcement agency (LEA) at the super-probe.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the performing the probe operation include:
collecting data at one or more probes in the topology of probes based on the set of configurations;
preparing data at one or more probes in the topology of probes based on the set of configurations in compliance with privacy requirement settings;
controlling a transmission of at least a part of the prepared data within the topology of probes according to a hierarchy of the probes within the topology based on the set of configurations.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the preparation of data at the super-probe include:
determining inadequacy of available data by analyzing the prepared data at the super-probe as per rules of reporting;
compensating for data inadequacy by adding at least one marker to influence the transporting through an interface, at least a part of the prepared data to a law enforcement agency via a lawful interception gateway according to the reporting requirements; and
updating data to be reported based on a status of compliance with the privacy requirement settings, wherein the updating includes at least one of: obfuscating predetermined portion of collected information, and replacing the predetermined portion of collected information with generic information.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein transporting through at least one interface further comprising:
determining at least one of: a schedule, a primary channel, and a secondary channel for transmission of the prepared data to be reported;
transmitting at least part of prepared data to be reported through the determined primary channel as per determined schedule;
determining at least one of: a schedule, a primary channel, and a secondary channel for transmission of the prepared data to be reported;
determining a status of the transmission of the report through the hardware interface using the primary channel, the status being determined based on at least one of: a priority and a criticality associated with the transmission of the collected data; and
responsive to determining that the status indicates that the transmission is not successful, performing at least one of: triggering a transmission of the report using the secondary channel, updating the schedule for transmission of the report in the second set of configurations, and skipping transmission of the report.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the verification of reporting conforming to reporting requirements and privacy compliance and taking corrective action include:
verifying data collection effectiveness by analyzing the cumulative inadequacy of available data and cumulative reporting status confirmation from the law enforcement agency at the super-probe;
verifying privacy compliance effectiveness by analyzing privacy exceptions reported by the topology of probes;
determining need for configuring the topology of probes based on cumulative inadequacy of available data and cumulative reporting status confirmation from the law enforcement agency via the lawful interception gateway, and based on the privacy compliance effectiveness; and
altering the topology of probes and configuring the altered topology of probes based on the determined need for configuring the topology of probes as corrective action.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the learning data comprises:
determining LI performance parameters and LI effectiveness parameters from the cumulative verified effectiveness, cumulative probe operation diagnostics data and cumulative probe-performance data and historical data;
determining privacy compliance effectiveness parameters based on one or more privacy exceptions reported from the topology of probes;
determining a historical trend of the probe performance parameters and the probe effectiveness parameters;
identifying a portion of a set of configurations requiring alteration based on LI performance parameters, LI effectiveness parameters, and the privacy compliance effectiveness parameters; and
altering identified portion of set of configurations requiring adjustments, and updating learning in historical data, based on LI performance parameters, LI effectiveness parameters, the privacy compliance effectiveness parameters, the determined historical trend of the probe performance parameters, the probe effectiveness parameters, and the historical data.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the reporting requirements include frequency of reporting, priority of reporting, criticality of reporting of each information to be reported to the law enforcement agency via the lawful interception gateway.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining need for configuring the topology of probes based on the privacy compliance effectiveness comprises:
determining, for each probe of the topology of probes, a first value representing a number of exceptions due to non-compliance with the privacy requirement settings and a second value representing a severity level for each of the number of exceptions; and
determining that one or more probes of the topology of probes are to be reconfigured based on a weighted product of the first value and the second value of the one or more probes exceeding a pre-configured threshold.
14. The method of claim 5, wherein the privacy requirement settings are received from an interconnect gateway (ICG) and comprises at least one of: one or more privacy settings of a network coupled with the ICG, one or more privacy settings of an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) network, one or more privacy settings of an IoT device, and one or more privacy settings of an IoT user.
15. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
determining at least one of alternative information or alternate data sources;
determining whether the alternative information comply with the privacy requirement settings;
responsive to determining that at least a portion of the alternative information does not comply with the privacy requirement settings, removing the portion of the alternative information from the set of alternative information to be reported.
16. A topology of probes system for providing lawful interception information for an Internet of Things network (IoT Network), comprising:
a super-probe connected to the lawful interception gateway by a set of LI-interfaces; and
a hierarchy of probes connected to the super-probe;
wherein the super-probe and the hierarchy-of-probes are configured to perform LI operation according to one or more privacy requirement settings and to provide lawful interception information collected by the LI operation, wherein the privacy requirement settings comprise rules that govern at least one of: content-based data exposure, prevention of access of information by predetermined users, and obfuscation of predetermined information.
17. The topology of probes system of claim 16, wherein the hierarchy of probes further comprises one or more probes connected to at least one upstream probe including super-probe by one or more probe interfaces, and to one or more downstream probes by one or more probe interfaces;
wherein the one or more downstream probes comprise one or more lowest level probes that are not connected with other downstream probes.
18. The topology of probes system as claimed in claim 16, wherein each probe in the hierarchy of probes comprises:
one or more hardware processors configured to execute a set of instructions for providing:
a host plug-in module for collecting LI data from the host, wherein the host comprises at least one of:
an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) device, an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) gateway, an interconnect gateway, and an IoT management application.;
a probe configuration module for: performing probe configuration for LI operation including determination of LI activation condition, wherein the probe configuration includes privacy requirement settings for privacy-related processing of the LI data;
a probe data collection module for collecting LI data from the host including monitoring LI activation condition fulfillment;
a probe data processing module for
comparing the collected data against the privacy requirement settings for privacy-related processing;
performing the privacy-related processing on the collected data by at least one of: obfuscating at least a part of the collected information, and replacing at least at a part of the collected information with default information, based on a result of the comparison;
preparing the processed data to be reported to at least one up-stream probe based on a specification and at a predetermined processing frequency;
a probe communication module for communication of the processed data with up-stream and down-stream probes; and
at least one memory that stores a set of instructions and Probe LI Context data.
19. The topology of probes system of claim 17, wherein the super-probe is communicatively coupled with a lawful interception gateway (LIG) via a first interface, a second interface and a third interface, and further comprises:
one or more hardware processors configured to execute a set of instructions for providing:
an LI specification handler module for:
receiving, from a law enforcement agent (LEA) through an interface, a specification for the information to be tracked and reported, the specification including information to be reported and reporting requirements, and
finalizing the specification based on privacy requirement settings to generate a finalized specification;
LI planning and configuration module for negotiating with a law enforcement authority (LEA) about the information to be tracked, determining a scope of the tracked information to be reported based on the finalized specification, forming LI Probe topology and configuration thereof, and for storing data related to a privacy requirement settings in one or more memory devices, wherein the LI planning and configuration module is for preparing probe configuration details (probe-CD) that include the privacy requirement settings and transmitting the probe-CD to other probes of the hierarchy of probes, and for preparing probe delegation information (probe-DI) that stores data representing a hierarchy structure associated with the hierarchy of probes, and for transmitting the probe-DI to other probes of the hierarchy of probes;
an LI activation and control module for activating LI operation in the topology of probes;
an LI data collection module for collecting LI information and diagnostics information from at least one probe in the hierarchy of probes, the diagnostics information including history data related to past privacy exceptions;
an LI information preparation module for processing the collected LI information for reporting to LEA according to the privacy requirement settings;
a super-probe communication module for communicating with the LEA at least one probe in the hierarchy of probes; and
at least one memory element that stores a set of instructions, super-probe configuration data store (IoTSPCS) and super-probe LI context.
20. The topology of probes system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the set of LI-interfaces further comprise:
a first interface for receiving specification for the information to be tracked and reported, and sending the specification response containing information about the feasibility of tracking and alternative information that can be reported;
a second interface for transmitting by the at least a part of the prepared data to be reported;
a third interface for transmitting bulk lawful interception data, wherein the third interface is typically slower than the second interface.
21. The topology of probes system as claimed in claim 16, wherein one or more hardware processors in each probe in the hierarchy of probes is configured to execute the set of instructions to:
acquire the lawful interception information from the host at a frequency and priority specified in the configuration information;
store the reporting data in a data reporting queue based on the priority and criticality of information represented in the reporting data; and
retrieve the reporting data from the data reporting queue for transmission to at least one of the one or more upstream probes and super-probes.
22. The topology of probes system of claim 19, wherein the LI planning and configuration module is for determining one or more alternate probes based on a feasibility of obtaining the of the information to be reported according to the initial specification and satisfying the privacy requirement settings.
23. The topology of probes system of claim 22, wherein the one or more alternate probes are determined based on finalized specification received from the LEA, after transmitting a specification response to the LEA containing information on the feasibility of obtaining the information to be reported and a set of one or more alternative information to be reported.
24. The topology of probes system of claim 19, further comprising a plug-in interface for connecting to the host; wherein the plug-in interface comprises at least one of: an Application Programming Interface (API), a hardware communication interface and an inter-process communication interface.
25. The topology of probes system of claim 16, wherein the hierarchy of probes is configured to acquire the lawful interception (LI) information from the host at a frequency and priority specified in the configuration information.
26. The topology of probes system of claim 16, wherein a probe of the hierarchy of probes is configured to:
store the reporting data in a data reporting queue based on the priority and criticality of information represented in the reporting data; and
retrieve the reporting data from the data reporting queue for transmission to at least one of the one or more upstream probes and super-probes.
27. The topology of probes system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the super-probe further interfaces with the lawful interception gateway via a third interface; wherein the hardware processor is configured to execute the set of instructions to transmit, via the third interface, bulk lawful interception data collected by the topology of probes, wherein the bulk lawful interception data comprises at least one of: communication content of a suspect, and sensor data related to at least one of a location, a temperature, and a speed of a suspect.

Dated this 31st day of March, 2017

R Ramya Rao
Of K&S Partners
Agent for the Applicant
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
This disclosure relates generally to network technologies, and more particularly, to methods and systems for minimizing privacy intrusion during lawful interception for Internet of Things (IoT).