Methods and systems for providing data objects on a token

• US 20070282881A1
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Relyea, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,741 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction

Abstract

A computer system, method and/or computer-readable medium provide independent data objects to a token in compressed form. The independent data objects are representative of security information associated with the token. The system includes an interface operable to communicate with a token, and a processor cooperatively operable with the interface. The processor is configured to determine a set of independent data objects that are associated with the token, and to aggregate the set of independent data objects associated with the token into a group. Also, the processor is configured for compressing the group into a unit of contiguous data, and writing the unit of contiguous data to the token via the interface.

Claims

1. A computer system that provides independent data objects to a token in compressed form, wherein the independent data objects are representative of security information associated with the token, said system comprising:

an interface operable to communicate with a token; and

a processor cooperatively operable with the interface and configured to determine a set of independent data objects that are associated with the token, aggregating the set of independent data objects associated with the token into a group, compressing the group into a unit of contiguous data, and writing the unit of contiguous data to the token via the interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the writing is performed by writing the contiguous data in blocks.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the writing is performed via a secure connection over the interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the writing of the unit to the token is performed at least one of:

when the token is enrolled, when data corresponding to the token is recovered to the token, and when the token is loaded with executable instructions.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising associating a version number with the unit to be written to the token, writing the version number to the token in association with the unit, updating the unit when at least one of the independent data objects is changed, and changing the version number when the unit for the token is updated.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the independent data objects from non-contiguous memory before the aggregating.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the independent data objects in the set are aggregated in the group according to a predetermined format.

8. A method of providing independent data objects to a token, wherein the independent data objects are representative of security information associated with the token, said method comprising:

determining a set of independent data objects that are associated with a token;

aggregating the set of independent data objects into a group;

compressing the group into a unit of contiguous data; and

writing the unit of contiguous data to the token.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising

connecting to the token;

and

verifying that the token is the token corresponding to the unit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the connecting is performed via a secure connection.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising connecting to the token via a secure connection.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the writing of the unit to the token is performed at least one of:

when the token is enrolled, when data corresponding to the token is recovered to the token, and when the token is loaded with executable instructions.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising associating a version number with the unit written to the token, and writing the version number to the token in association with the unit, wherein the version number is changed when the unit for the token is changed.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising retrieving the at least a portion of the set of independent data objects from non-contiguous locations in memory before the aggregating.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the independent data objects in the set are aggregated in the group according to a predetermined format.

16. An apparatus configured to perform the method of claim 8.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 8.

18. A method for reading individual data objects that are representative of security information associated with the token and stored on a token together in compressed form, said method comprising:

reading a contiguous unit of compressed data from the token;

decompressing the contiguous unit of compressed data to form decompressed data; and

extracting independent data objects from the decompressed data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the independent data objects in the decompressed data are parsed according to a predetermined format.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising checking whether the compressed data on the token is changed, and performing the reading, decompressing and extracting only if the compressed data on the token is changed.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the checking includes comparing at least one block of the compressed data to a previously stored block from the same token.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the checking includes comparing a version associated with the compressed data to a previous version.

23. An apparatus configured to perform the method of claim 18.

24. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions for execution by a computer, the instructions for implementing the method of claim 18.