COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION DEVICE, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20150208210A1
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: HANATANI, Yoshikazu, KAMBAYASHI, Toru, ZHAO, Fangming, OBA, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 10,440,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0833 involving conference or group key network architectures or network communication protocols for key management in group communication in a packet data network H04L63/065
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0836 using tree structure or hierarchical structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

A communication control device includes an extracting and an output unit. One or more communication devices belong to a first-type group, and one or more communication devices belong to a second-type group. From a media key block containing a plurality of elements, the extracting unit extracts partial information containing an element which is processible by each communication device belonging to a subset of the second-type group. To the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by identification information corresponding to the partial information; the output unit outputs a group ID that indicates the first-type group, the identification information, and the partial information.

Claims

1. A communication control device that is connected to a plurality of communication devices, one or more of the communication devices belonging to a first-type group and one or more of the communication devices belonging to a second-type group, the communication control device comprising:

a first storing unit configured to store therein identification information, which indicates a single second-type group from among a plurality of the second-type groups, in a corresponding manner to device IDs of the communication devices belonging to the second-type group;

an extracting unit configured to, from a media key block containing a plurality of elements, extract partial information containing an element which is processible by each communication device belonging to a subset of the second-type group; and

an output unit configured to, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information, output a group ID that indicates the first-type group, the identification information, and the partial information.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising an MKB generating unit configured to make use of device keys of the communication devices belong to the first-type group and generate a media key block from which the communication devices belonging only to the first-type group can derive a group key.

3. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a second storing unit configured to store therein group information which contains a group ID that indicates the first-type group and which contains device IDs that indicates the communication devices belonging to the first-type group.

4. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a third storing unit configured to store therein device keys of the communication devices in a corresponding manner to nodes included in a graph structure, wherein

when the group information is updated, the MKB generating unit generates the media key block based on the device keys corresponding to the nodes that correspond to the communication devices belonging to the first-type group which has been updated, and

for each piece of the identification information, the extracting unit extracts, from the media key block, the partial information that is processible using the device keys corresponding to the nodes that correspond to the communication devices belonging to the subset of the second-type group which is identified by the identification information.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein

the graph structure is a tree structure, and

leaf nodes of the tree structure correspond to the device IDs on a one-to-one basis.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein

the second-type group is a multicast group, and

identification information that indicates the second-type group is information that indicates a multicast address corresponding to the multicast group.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein

with respect to one or more pieces of the partial information that are output to the second-type group, the extracting unit generates, from the one or more pieces of the partial information, second-type of partial information that contains elements equal in number to or smaller in number than a predetermined number, and

the output unit outputs the group ID of the first-type group which has been updated, the second-type of partial information, and the identification information, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information.

8. A communication control device that is connected to a plurality of communication devices, one or more of the communication devices belonging to a first-type group and one or more of the communication devices belonging to a second-type group, the communication control device comprising:

a first storing unit configured to store therein identification information, which indicates a single second-type group from among a plurality of the second-type groups, in a corresponding manner to device IDs of the communication devices belonging to the second-type group;

an extracting unit configured to, from a media key block containing a plurality of elements, extract partial information containing an element which is processible by each communication device belonging to a subset of the first-type group, and derive identification information of the second-type group to which belong the communication devices capable of processing the partial information; and

an output unit configured to, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information, output a group ID that indicates the first-type group, the identification information, and the partial information.

9. The device according to claim 8, further comprising an MKB generating unit configured to make use of device keys of the communication devices belong to the first-type group and generate a media key block from which the communication devices belonging only to the first-type group can derive a group key.

10. The device according to claim 8, further comprising a second storing unit configured to store therein group information which contains a group ID that indicates the first-type group and which contains device IDs that indicates the communication devices belonging to the first-type group.

11. The device according to claim 8, further comprising a third storing unit configured to store therein device keys of the communication devices in a corresponding manner to nodes included in a graph structure, wherein

when the group information is updated, the MKB generating unit generates the media key block based on the device keys corresponding to the nodes that correspond to the communication devices belonging to the first-type group which has been updated, and

for each node ID that indicates one or more communication devices belonging to the first-type group which has been updated, the extracting unit extracts, from the media key block, the partial information that is processible using the device key corresponding to the node that corresponds to the communication devices identified by the node ID.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein

the graph structure is a tree structure, and

leaf nodes of the tree structure correspond to the device IDs on a one-to-one basis.

13. The device according to claim 8, wherein

the second-type group is a multicast group, and

identification information that indicates the second-type group is information that indicates a multicast address corresponding to the multicast group.

14. The device according to claim 8, wherein

with respect to one or more pieces of the partial information that are output to the second-type group, the extracting unit generates, from the one or more pieces of the partial information, second-type of partial information that contains elements equal in number to or smaller in number than a predetermined number, and

the output unit outputs the group ID of the first-type group which has been updated, the second-type of partial information, and the identification information, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing a program that is implemented in a communication control device which is connected to a plurality of communication devices, one or more of the communication devices belonging to a first-type group and one or more of the communication devices belonging to a second-type group, the communication control device including a first storing unit configured to store therein identification information, which indicates a single second-type group from among a plurality of the second-type groups, in a corresponding manner to device IDs of the communication devices belonging to the second-type group, the program causing the communication control device to function as:

an extracting unit configured to, from a media key block containing a plurality of elements, extract partial information containing an element which is processible by each communication device belonging to a subset of the second-type group; and

an output unit configured to, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information, output a group ID that indicates the first-type group, the identification information, and the partial information.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing a program that is implemented in a communication control device that is connected to a plurality of communication devices, one or more of the communication devices belonging to a first-type group and one or more of the communication devices belonging to a second-type group, the communication control device including a first storing unit configured to store therein identification information, which indicates a single second-type group from among a plurality of the second-type groups, in a corresponding manner to device IDs of the communication devices belonging to the second-type group, the program causing the communication control device to function as:

an extracting unit configured to, from a media key block containing a plurality of elements, extract partial information containing an element which is processible by each communication device belonging to a subset of the first-type group, and derive identification information of the second-type group to which belong the communication devices capable of processing the partial information; and

an output unit configured to, to the communication devices belonging to the second-type group that is identified by the identification information corresponding to the partial information, output a group ID that indicates the first-type group, the identification information, and the partial information.

17. A communication device that is connected to a communication control device, the communication device comprising:

a first storing unit configured to store therein a first-type group ID which indicates a first-type group;

a second storing unit configured to store therein first-type identification information which indicates a second-type group;

a receiving unit configured to, from the communication control device, receive second-type identification information and partial information that is extracted from a media key block from which a group key can be derived;

a determining unit configured to determine whether or not the second-type identification information matches with the first-type identification information; and

an MKB processor configured to, when the second-type identification information matches with the first-type identification information, perform MKB processing to generate the group key from the partial information and from a device key of the communication device.

18. The device according to claim 17, further comprising a group controller configured to, when the MKB processing is performed in a correct manner, update the first-type group ID with a group ID that indicates the group corresponding to the generated group key.

19. The device according to claim 17, wherein

from the communication control device, the receiving unit receives a second-type group ID, the second-type identification information, and the partial information,

the determining unit further determines whether or not the second-type group ID matches with the first-type group ID, and

the communication device further comprises a group controller that, when the MKB processing is not performed in a correct manner and when the second-type group ID matches with the first-type group ID, deletes the first-type group ID from the first storing unit.