Automatic transfer and identification of monitored data with hierarchical key management infrastructure

Abstract

A measurement device () includes a measuring unit () for obtaining health related parameters of a patient (), and a body-coupled communication unit () for sending at least measurement results. An identification device (), associated with the patient, includes a body-coupled communication unit () for receiving and sending out the measurement results. A gateway device () includes a body-coupled communication unit () for receiving patient's measurement results. Additionally, a hierarchical relational deployment model () facilitates grouping wireless devices in a healthcare environment into subgroups based on relationships between the devices, and a hierarchical key pre-distribution scheme () permits distribution of unique keying material for security domains of respective groups of devices, prior to deploying the devices in a healthcare network. Devices can then execute a handshake protocol by which they identify their deepest common node in the deployment model (), and employ keying material assigned to that nodes group in the pre-distribution scheme () to facilitate granular communication security.