Secure communication apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A communication apparatus for receiving a sender'"'"'s message over a facility comprisingmeans for receiving and storing the message including an unrestricted portion and a restricted encrypted portion,first output means for outputting the unrestricted portion of the received message to a user, the unrestricted portion including information identifying an encryption key used to encrypt the restricted portion,second output means, responsive to predetermined information received from the user, for outputting the restricted portion of the message to the user,a smart card interface means and whereinsaid predetermined information includes a user-entered person identification number (PIN) entered after the user'"'"'s smart card is inserted into said interface,means responsive to said received PIN for enabling said interface means to output said encryption key identification information and said restricted encrypted portion to said smart card for use in decrypting said restricted encrypted portion by said smart card and whereinsaid interface means receives a decrypted restricted portion from said smart card, via said interface, for output via said second output means.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communication apparatus (e.g., a fax apparatus) provides secure message transmission by sending messages having an unrestricted portion (e.g., a header) and a restricted portion (e.g., the body of the message). The unrestricted portion is always outputted at the receiving apparatus; however, access to the restricted portion is provided only in response to receiving predetermined information from a user (e.g., a message recipient). This information may include either the use of a password or the use of a PIN code following the insertion of a user'"'"'s smart card into the receiving apparatus. If the restricted portion is encrypted, the user must either provide the decryption key to enable the receiving apparatus to decrypt the restricted message or his/her smart card must perform the actual decryption of the restricted message.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A communication apparatus for receiving a sender'"'"'s message over a facility comprising
means for receiving and storing the message including an unrestricted portion and a restricted encrypted portion, first output means for outputting the unrestricted portion of the received message to a user, the unrestricted portion including information identifying an encryption key used to encrypt the restricted portion, second output means, responsive to predetermined information received from the user, for outputting the restricted portion of the message to the user, a smart card interface means and wherein said predetermined information includes a user-entered person identification number (PIN) entered after the user'"'"'s smart card is inserted into said interface, means responsive to said received PIN for enabling said interface means to output said encryption key identification information and said restricted encrypted portion to said smart card for use in decrypting said restricted encrypted portion by said smart card and wherein said interface means receives a decrypted restricted portion from said smart card, via said interface, for output via said second output means.
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7. A communication apparatus for transmitting a message over a facility, comprising
first input means for receiving a first user input to be transmitted as a message, second input means for receiving a second user input requesting that the message delivery be restricted to an intended recipient, and requesting that the message be encrypted using a user-selected encryption key selected from a plurality of predetermined encryption keys, means, responsive to said second user input, for sending a message including an unrestricted portion and a restricted portion, the unrestricted portion being arranged to be outputted to a recipient at a receiving location for identifying an intended recipient and one or more encryption flags indicating said user-selected encryption key used to encrypt the restricted portion.
Specification