Method of using a hand-held device to protect information stored in a computer system

• US 5,940,506 A
• Filed: 12/11/1997
• Issued: 08/17/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Jie, Hong, Gang, Chang, Jackson, Ho, Dai-Shui
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): Darrow, Justin T.
• Application Number:
  US08/999,055
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 380/25, 380/4
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2153 Using hardware token as a secondary aspect

Abstract

A method of using a hand-held device to produce an encryption/decryption application program for protecting information stored in a computer system by transmitting the produced encryption/decryption application program to the computer system through a communication measure subject to a corresponding communication protocol, permitting the encryption/decryption application program to be cleared from the computer system after the communication between the hand-held device and the computer system has been terminated.

Claims

1. A method of using a hand-held device to protect information stored in a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

i) inputting a code into a hand-held device so as obtain an encryption/decryption procedure, then storing the encryption/decryption procedure thus obtained in the hand-held device;

ii) using a communication interface on the hand-held device and a communication interface on a computer system to set up a connection between the hand-held device and the computer system subject to a corresponding communication protocol and communication application procedure;

iii) operating the hand-held device to transmit the encryption/decryption procedure from the hand-held device to the computer system, and to judge if there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, so as to run the decryption procedure at the computer system when there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, or to temporarily store the encryption/decryption procedure in the computer system when there is no information in the computer system to be decrypted;

iv) reading in the encryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system and then encrypting the information when required, and simultaneously fetching the feature value of the encrypted information, permitting the fetched feature value to be temporarily stored in the computer system;

v) enabling the computer system to send the feature value of the encrypted information temporarily stored therein back to the hand-held device, and then to clear the encryption/decryption procedure from the computer system when communication termination is selected; and

vi) terminating the connection between the hand-held device and the computer system, and

further comprising the step of encoding the hand-held device with a serial number, permitting the serial number to be used as a prime code for inputting into the hand-held device to fetch the set code stored in the hand-held device through a predetermined procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of reading in the decryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system for matching with the feature value to decrypt the encrypted information when needed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device produces a code value and an encryption/decryption procedure subject to an encryption operation set in a memory unit in the hand-held device when the code is inputted into the hand-held device.

4. A method of using a hand-held device to protect information stored in a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

i) inputting a code into a hand-held device so as obtain an encryption/decryption procedure, then storing the encryption/decryption procedure thus obtained in the hand-held device;

ii) using a communication interface on the hand-held device and a communication interface on a computer system to set up a connection between the hand-held device and the computer system subject to a corresponding communication protocol and communication application procedure;

iii) operating the hand-held device to transmit the encryption/decryption procedure from the hand-held device to the computer system, and to judge if there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, so as to run the decryption procedure at the computer system when there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, or to temporarily store the encryption/decryption procedure in the computer system when there is no information in the computer system to be decrypted;

iv) reading in the encryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system and then encrypting the information when required, and simultaneously fetching the feature value of the encrypted information, permitting the fetched feature value to be temporarily stored in the computer system;

v) enabling the computer system to send the feature value of the encrypted information temporarily stored therein back to the hand-held device, and then to clear the encryption/decryption procedure from the computer system when communication termination is selected; and

vi) terminating the connection between the hand-held device and the computer system,

wherein the hand-held device produces a code value and an encryption/decryption procedure subject to an encryption operation set in a memory unit in the hand-held device when the code is inputted into the hand-held device, and

wherein said encryption operation has a variable quantity that can be a code value, or a value calculated subject to the code value.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of reading in the decryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system for matching with the feature value to decrypt the encrypted information when needed.

5. A method of using a hand-held device to protect information stored in a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

i) inputting a code into a hand-held device so as obtain an encryption/decryption procedure, then storing the encryption/decryption procedure thus obtained in the hand-held device;

ii) using a communication interface on the hand-held device and a communication interface on a computer system to set up a connection between the hand-held device and the computer system subject to a corresponding communication protocol and communication application procedure;

iii) operating the hand-held device to transmit the encryption/decryption procedure from the hand-held device to the computer system, and to judge if there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, so as to run the decryption procedure at the computer system when there is information in the computer system to be decrypted, or to temporarily store the encryption/decryption procedure in the computer system when there is no information in the computer system to be decrypted;

iv) reading in the encryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system and then encrypting the information when required, and simultaneously fetching the feature value of the encrypted information, permitting the fetched feature value to be temporarily stored in the computer system;

v) enabling the computer system to send the feature value of the encrypted information temporarily stored therein back to the hand-held device, and then to clear the encryption/decryption procedure from the computer system when communication termination is selected; and

vi) terminating the connection between the hand-held device and the computer system,

wherein the feature value required during encryption/decryption can be expressed by the content of the first or last few words of the encrypted information.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of reading in the decryption procedure temporarily stored in the computer system for matching with the feature value to decrypt the encrypted information when needed.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the hand-held device produces a code value and an encryption/decryption procedure subject to an encryption operation set in a memory unit in the hand-held device when the code is inputted into the hand-held device.