Methods for authenticating potential members invited to join a group
First Claim
1. In a computing environment with an ad hoc group, an inviter computing device and an authenticator computing device being members of the group, an invitee computing device not being a member of the group, in which the inviter shares a secret password with the invitee, a method for the inviter to issue an invitation for the invitee to join the group, the method comprising:
- generating a first private encryption key based upon the secret shared password;
generating a first public encryption key associated with the first private encryption key;
creating an invitation containing the first public encryption key;
signing the invitation using a private encryption key of the inviter; and
making the invitation accessible to the invitee and to the authenticator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are methods for an invitee to gain admittance to a group. An inviter already in the group and the invitee share a secret password. The inviter uses the password to create an invitation and then issues the invitation to the invitee and to an authenticator. The authenticator creates a challenge key and challenge value and sends the challenge value to the invitee. Using the password and information from the invitation, the invitee recreates the challenge key, uses the challenge key to derive a response value from the challenge value, and sends the response value to the authenticator. The authenticator compares the response value with an expected value and, if they match, knows that the invitee must have been able to recreate the challenge key. The authenticator trusts that this invitee must be the one for which the inviter issued the invitation and admits the invitee to the group.
122 Citations
48 Claims
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1. In a computing environment with an ad hoc group, an inviter computing device and an authenticator computing device being members of the group, an invitee computing device not being a member of the group, in which the inviter shares a secret password with the invitee, a method for the inviter to issue an invitation for the invitee to join the group, the method comprising:
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generating a first private encryption key based upon the secret shared password;
generating a first public encryption key associated with the first private encryption key;
creating an invitation containing the first public encryption key;
signing the invitation using a private encryption key of the inviter; and
making the invitation accessible to the invitee and to the authenticator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for an inviter computing device to issue an invitation for an invitee computing device to join an ad hoc group, the inviter and an authenticator computing device being members of the group, the invitee not being a member of the group, in which the inviter shares a secret password with the invitee, the method comprising:
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generating a first private encryption key based upon the secret shared password;
generating a first public encryption key associated with the first private encryption key;
creating an invitation containing the first public encryption key;
signing the invitation using a private encryption key of the inviter; and
making the invitation accessible to the invitee and to the authenticator.
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13. In a computing environment with an ad hoc group, an inviter computing device and an authenticator computing device being members of the group, an invitee computing device not being a member of the group, the inviter having issued an invitation to the invitee to join the group, a method for the authenticator to issue an authentication challenge to the invitee, the method comprising:
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accessing the invitation;
checking the invitation for validity; and
if the invitation is valid, then generating a second private encryption key;
generating a second public encryption key associated with the second private encryption key;
generating a shared challenge encryption key from a first public encryption key contained in the invitation and the second private encryption key;
generating a challenge value;
creating an authentication challenge containing the challenge value and the second public encryption key; and
making the authentication challenge accessible to the invitee. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for an authenticator computing device to issue an authentication challenge to an invitee computing device, an inviter computing device and the authenticator being members of an ad hoc group, the invitee not being a member of the group, the inviter having issued an invitation to the invitee to join the group, the method comprising:
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accessing the invitation;
checking the invitation for validity; and
if the invitation is valid, then generating a second private encryption key;
generating a second public encryption key associated with the second private encryption key;
generating a shared challenge encryption key from a first public encryption key contained in the invitation and the second private encryption key;
generating a challenge value;
creating an authentication challenge containing the challenge value and the second public encryption key; and
making the authentication challenge accessible to the invitee.
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27. In a computing environment with an ad hoc group, an inviter computing device and an authenticator computing device being members of the group, an invitee computing device not being a member of the group, in which the inviter shares a secret password with the invitee, the inviter having issued an invitation to the invitee to join the group, the authenticator having issued an authentication challenge to the invitee, a method for the invitee to issue a response to the authentication challenge, the method comprising:
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accessing the authentication challenge;
generating a first private encryption key based upon the secret shared password;
generating a shared challenge encryption key based upon the generated first private encryption key and upon a second public encryption key contained in the authentication challenge;
generating a challenge response value based upon a challenge value contained in the authentication challenge;
creating an authentication challenge response containing the challenge response value; and
making the authentication challenge response accessible to the authenticator. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for an invitee computing device to issue a response to an authentication challenge, an inviter computing device and an authenticator computing device being members of an ad hoc group, the invitee not being a member of the group, in which the inviter shares a secret password with the invitee, the inviter having issued an invitation to the invitee to join the group, the authenticator having issued the authentication challenge to the invitee, the method comprising:
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accessing the authentication challenge;
generating a first private encryption key based upon the secret shared password;
generating a shared challenge encryption key based upon the generated first private encryption key and upon a second public encryption key contained in the authentication challenge;
generating a challenge response value based upon a challenge value contained in the authentication challenge;
creating an authentication challenge response containing the challenge response value; and
making the authentication challenge response accessible to the authenticator.
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45. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an invitation data structure, the invitation data structure comprising:
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a first data field containing data representing a first public encryption key;
a second data field containing data representing a determinative function; and
a third data field containing data representing a cryptographic signature of the invitation data structure.
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46. The invitation data structure of claim 46 further comprising:
a fourth data field containing data representing specificity information, the specificity information selected from the group consisting of;
identifier of an ad hoc group, identifier of an inviter computing device, identifier of an invitee computing device, timestamp, and invitation validity period.
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47. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an authentication challenge data structure, the authentication data structure comprising:
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a first data field containing data representing an encrypted challenge value;
a second data field containing data representing a second public encryption key; and
a third data field containing data representing a cryptographic cipher. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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Specification