Call signs

• US 20060005013A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Benaloh, Josh D., Cameron, Kim, Huitema, Christian Francois
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/46 by designing passwords or checking the strength of passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD

Abstract

A method of generating a call sign. A method of generating a call sign comprising determining a distinguished qualifier, finding a distinguished salt, and hashing the distinguished salt with the distinguished qualifier.

Claims

1. A method of generating a call sign comprising:

determining a distinguished qualifier;

finding a distinguished salt; and

hashing the distinguished salt with the distinguished qualifier.

2. The method of generating a call sign of claim 1, further comprising finding a distinguished salt that causes the hash result to contain a predetermined output pattern.

3. The method of generating a call sign of claim 2, further comprising finding a number of leading zeroes from the hash.

4. The method of generating a call sign of claim 3, further comprising retaining a number of bits following the leading zeroes.

5. The method of generating a call sign of claim 4, further comprising encoding the number of leading zeroes into an alphanumeric call sign zeroes digit.

6. The method of generating a call sign of claim 5, further comprising encoding the number of bits following the leading zeroes into a plurality of alphanumeric call sign digits.

7. The method of generating a call sign of claim 6, further comprising forming a call sign from the call sign zeroes digit and the plurality of alpha numeric call sign digits.

8. A method of encoding a call sign comprising:

creating a binary number from a plurality of digits that follow the leading zeroes produced by the cryptographically secure hashing function;

dividing the binary number into a plurality of five bit segments; and

encoding each of the five bit segments into corresponding alphanumeric characters.

9. The method of encoding a call sign of claim 8, in which the binary number is forty five bits long.

10. The method of encoding a call sign of claim 8, in which the alphanumeric zero character is the MSB.

11. A method of producing a cryptographic hash comprising:

forming a personalization information string; and

finding a salt value that when hashed with the personalization string produces a predetermined number of leading zeroes in the hashed result.

12. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 11, further comprising hashing the personalization information string with the salt value to produce a distinguished hash.

13. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 12 in which the salt value is a distinguished salt value.

14. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 11, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s name.

15. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 11, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s e-mail address.

16. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 11, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s company name.

17. A method of producing a cryptographic hash comprising:

forming a personalization information string;

finding a salt value that when hashed with the personalization string, and a public key produces a predetermined output pattern in the hashed result.

18. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 17, further comprising hashing the personalization information string with the salt value to produce a distinguished hash.

19. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 18 in which the salt value is a distinguished salt value.

20. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 17, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s name.

21. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 17, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s e-mail address.

22. The method of producing a cryptographic hash of claim 17, in which the personalization information string includes a person'"'"'s company name.

23. A method of producing a call sign comprising:

configure a distinguished qualifier for a user;

find a distinguished salt

hash the distinguished qualifier, distinguished salt, and a public key into an M bit hash;

determine the number of leading zeroes in the hash;

remove a predetermined number of bits from the hash;

encode the number of zeroes into one digit of an alphanumeric call sign by using table lookup.