Secure and convenient information storage and retrieval method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- accessing a machine-readable data structure stored on a smart card, said machine-readable data structure comprising a plurality of information units, each of said plurality of information units being associated with at least one of a plurality of information categories, said machine-readable data structure further comprising a directory of the plurality of information categories;
satisfying a first level of security associated with the directory;
retrieving the directory;
selecting at least one of the information categories from the directory;
satisfying a second level of security associated with selected information categories; and
downloading information units associated with the selected information categories.
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Abstract
A portable storage medium is used to store data and provide access to information from an information dissemination system (IDS). The storage medium can store one or more location/key pairs. Each of the location/key pairs designates a particular IDS location as well as an access key to the particular IDS location. The storage medium can also store a plurality of information units. The information units are categorized into levels of information categories with at least one information category per level and at least one information unit per information category. Levels of information categories can be individually accessed and categories of information units within levels can be selectively downloaded.
264 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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accessing a machine-readable data structure stored on a smart card, said machine-readable data structure comprising a plurality of information units, each of said plurality of information units being associated with at least one of a plurality of information categories, said machine-readable data structure further comprising a directory of the plurality of information categories; satisfying a first level of security associated with the directory; retrieving the directory; selecting at least one of the information categories from the directory; satisfying a second level of security associated with selected information categories; and downloading information units associated with the selected information categories. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A machine readable storage medium having stored thereon machine executable instructions, wherein execution of said machine-executable instructions is to implement a method comprising:
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accessing a machine-readable data structure stored on a smart card, said machine-readable data structure comprising a plurality of information units, each of said plurality of information units being associated with at least one of a plurality of information categories, said machine-readable data structure further comprising a directory of the plurality of information categories; satisfying a first level of security associated with the directory; retrieving the directory; selecting at least one of the information categories from the directory; satisfying a second level of security associated with selected information categories; and downloading information units associated with the selected information categories.
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12. An apparatus comprising:
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first logic to access a machine-readable data structure stored on a smart card, said machine-readable data structure comprising a plurality of information units, each of said plurality of information units being associated with at least one of a plurality of information categories, said machine-readable data structure further comprising a directory of the plurality of information categories; second logic to satisfy a first level of security associated with the directory; third logic to retrieve the directory; fourth logic to select at least one of the information categories from the directory; fifth logic to satisfy a second level of security associated with selected information categories; and sixth logic to download information units associated with the selected information categories.
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13. An apparatus comprising:
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a smart card to store a machine-readable data structure, said machine-readable data structure comprising a plurality of information units, each of said plurality of information units being associated with at least one of a plurality of information categories, said machine-readable data structure further comprising a directory of the plurality of information categories; and said smart card to store machine-executable instructions, wherein execution of said machine executable instructions is to implement a method comprising initiating a first level of security associated with the directory; providing the directory if the first level of security is satisfied; receiving a selection of at least one of the information categories from the directory; initiating a second level of security associated with selected information categories; and providing information units associated with the selected information categories if the second level of security is satisfied.
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Specification