Communication system having plurality of nodes sharing a common cipher key, cipher key dispatching apparatus for use in the system, and anti-theft apparatus utilizing information derived from cipher key utilization
First Claim
1. A communication system comprising at least one LAN (Local Area Network), said communication system having at least three nodes connected thereto, wherein said nodes perform mutual encrypted communication by utilizing a common cipher key for encrypting and decrypting communication data.
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Abstract
A communication system has a plurality of nodes that perform encrypted communication via a LAN, each using an identical common cipher key. The common cipher key is replaced at fixed or irregular intervals, by being transmitted from a main node in a broadcast mode via the LAN to respective secondary nodes that are to share the key. When the key is successfully received by a secondary node, it returns a confirmation signal. The system can be configured such that a notification list of secondary nodes for which key acquisition has been confirmed is transmitted to all of the secondary nodes.
64 Citations
25 Claims
- 1. A communication system comprising at least one LAN (Local Area Network), said communication system having at least three nodes connected thereto, wherein said nodes perform mutual encrypted communication by utilizing a common cipher key for encrypting and decrypting communication data.
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12. In a communication system having a plurality of nodes and at least one LAN (Local Area Network) utilized for encrypted communication between said nodes, a cipher key dispatching apparatus that is constituted by one of said nodes, comprising
cipher key generating means for successively generating, at predetermined timings, respectively different versions of a common cipher key for use in encrypting and decrypting of communication data, key dispatching means provided beforehand with a class cipher key, for using said class cipher key to encrypt said common cipher key generated by said cipher key generating means, and transmitting a resultant encrypted common cipher key via said LAN by a broadcast communication mode, key confirmation list generating means for receiving confirmation signals transmitted via said LAN from other ones of said nodes upon receiving said encrypted common cipher key, and generating a key confirmation list having registered therein each of said nodes which have transmitted said confirmation signals, and list dispatching means for transmitting said key confirmation list to said other nodes via said LAN, using a broadcast communication mode.
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15. In a communication system having a plurality of nodes and at least one LAN (Local Area Network) utilized for encrypted communication between said nodes, a cipher key dispatching apparatus that is constituted by one of said nodes, comprising
cipher key generating means for generating, at predetermined timings, successively different versions of a common cipher key for use in encrypting and decrypting of communication data, notification list generating means for generating a notification list as a list of nodes which are permitted to share said common cipher key, and for transmitting said notification list via said LAN using a broadcast communication mode, and key dispatching means, for using a class cipher key to encrypt each said common cipher key generated by said cipher key generating means and transmitting said encrypted common cipher key via said LAN by a broadcast communication mode, said class cipher key being provided beforehand to each of said nodes which are permitted to share each said common cipher key.
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19. In a communication system having a plurality of nodes and at least one LAN (Local Area Network) utilized for encrypted communication between said nodes, respective code processing apparatuses constituted by respective ones of a plurality of said nodes, each said code processing apparatus comprising
cipher key receiving means, for receiving via said LAN a common cipher key that has been encrypted by using a predetermined class cipher key, and responsive to receiving said common cipher key for generating a confirmation signal and transmitting said confirmation signal via said LAN to a source of said received common cipher key, and encrypting processing means provided beforehand with said class cipher key, for decrypting said received common cipher key and utilizing said common cipher key to perform encrypting and decrypting of communication data that are transmitted and received via said LAN.
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25. An anti-theft apparatus installed in a vehicle having a communication system in which a plurality of electronic control units perform mutual encrypted communication via a vehicle LAN (Local Area Network) and in which key replacement operations are executed for updating a common cipher key that is used in common by said electronic control units for encrypting and decrypting transmitted and received communication data to perform said encrypted communication, wherein
said anti-theft apparatus comprises abnormality handling means responsive to an occurrence of abnormality of results obtained from a key replacement operation for executing at least one of a plurality of predetermined operations which include emitting warning indications in the vicinity of said vehicle, transmitting a report to a predetermined apparatus that is external to said vehicle, and inhibiting a predetermined specific form of control of said vehicle.
Specification