System and method for enabling bulk retrieval of certificates

• US 20060036848A1
• Filed: 08/09/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Adams, Neil P., Brown, Michael S., Little, Herbert A., Tapuska, David F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,430,663 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/156
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0433 Key management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system and method for searching and retrieving certificates, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, a certificate synchronization application is programmed to perform certificate searches by querying one or more certificate servers for all of the certificates on those certificate servers. If all of the certificates on a certificate server cannot be successfully retrieved using a single search query, due to a search quota on the certificate server being exceeded for example, the search is re-performed through multiple queries, each corresponding to a narrower subsearch. The invention enables users to large amounts of certificates to be automatically searched for and retrieved from certificate servers, thereby minimizing the need for users to manually search for individual certificates.

Claims

1. A method for searching and retrieving certificates comprising the steps of:

a) performing a search on each of one or more certificate servers for a plurality of certificates, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server to request retrieval of the respective plurality of certificates;

b) for each certificate server that returns all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, downloading the respective plurality of certificates to the computing device;

c) for each certificate server that does not return all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, performing the substeps of

i) dividing the respective search into a plurality of subsearches,

ii) performing the subsearches recursively, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server for each subsearch, wherein the respective certificate server returns at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates as a collective result of the subsearches of the respective search, and

iii) downloading the at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates to the computing device; and

d) storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computing device in one or more certificate stores.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps are performed by a certificate synchronization application executing and residing on the computing device upon initiation of the search by a user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the substeps of step d) are performed for each certificate server that does not return all of the respective plurality of certificates due to a search quota on the respective certificate server being exceeded.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step comprises storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computing device in a certificate store on the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step comprises storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computing device in a certificate store on a mobile device, wherein the at least a subset of certificates is transmitted from the computing device to the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a list of certificates identifying one or more certificates downloaded to the computing device;

displaying the list to a user; and

receiving user selections of selected certificates identified in the list;

wherein the at least a subset of certificates stored at step e) comprises the selected certificates.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of filtering out duplicate downloaded certificates prior to step e).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more certificate servers comprises one or more LDAP servers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the dividing substep comprises dividing the respective search into subsearches, each subsearch for searching certificates issued to names beginning with one of a plurality of prefixes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of prefixes includes only alphabetic characters.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein each subsearch of the respective search corresponds to a letter of the alphabet.

12. A software application for execution on a computing device, the application comprising a plurality of instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the instructions for a method of searching and retrieving certificates, the method comprising the steps of:

a) performing a search on each of one or more certificate servers for a plurality of certificates, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server to request retrieval of the respective plurality of certificates;

b) for each certificate server that returns all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, downloading the respective plurality of certificates to the computing device;

c) for each certificate server that does not return all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, performing the substeps of

i) dividing the respective search into a plurality of subsearches,

ii) performing the subsearches recursively, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server for each subsearch, wherein the respective certificate server returns at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates as a collective result of the subsearches of the respective search, and

iii) downloading the at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates to the computing device; and

d) storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded to the computing device in one or more certificate stores.

13. A system for searching and retrieving certificates comprising at least one computing device, wherein a certificate synchronization application executes and resides on a computing device of the at least one computing device, the certificate synchronization application programmed to:

a) perform a search on each of one or more certificate servers for a plurality of certificates, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server to request retrieval of the respective plurality of certificates;

b) for each certificate server that returns all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, download the respective plurality of certificates to a computing device of the at least one computing device;

c) for each certificate server that does not return all of the respective plurality of certificates as a result of the search performed thereon, perform the substeps of

i) dividing the respective search into a plurality of subsearches,

ii) performing the subsearches recursively, wherein at least one query is submitted to the respective certificate server for each subsearch, wherein the respective certificate server returns at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates as a collective result of the subsearches of the respective search, and

iii) downloading the at least a subset of the respective plurality of certificates to a computing device of the at least one computing device; and

d) store at least a subset of the downloaded certificates in one or more certificate stores.