Anonymous transactions based on distributed processing
First Claim
1. A method for an entity to support anonymous transactions, the method comprising:
- generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity;
splitting an entity identification uniquely associated with the entity into a plurality of secret shares; and
sending the transaction identification and the plurality of secret shares to a plurality of shareholderswherein an encryption scheme in which the encryption key is used has a property that encrypted data resulting from encryption of data based on the encryption key is equivalent to a product of encrypted data portions based on the plurality of entity encryption key shares, wherein each encrypted data portion results from encryption of the data based on one of the plurality of entity encryption key shares.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An entity that desires to engage in anonymous transactions first generates a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity. Additionally, the entity splits an entity identification uniquely associated with the entity into a plurality of secret shares and thereafter sends the transaction identification and the plurality of secret shares to a plurality of shareholders. Subsequently, anonymous transactions on behalf of the entity may be directly conducted by the shareholders based in part upon the plurality of secret shares. In one embodiment of the present invention, the entity identification comprises a public key uniquely assigned to the entity.
29 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method for an entity to support anonymous transactions, the method comprising:
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generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity; splitting an entity identification uniquely associated with the entity into a plurality of secret shares; and sending the transaction identification and the plurality of secret shares to a plurality of shareholders wherein an encryption scheme in which the encryption key is used has a property that encrypted data resulting from encryption of data based on the encryption key is equivalent to a product of encrypted data portions based on the plurality of entity encryption key shares, wherein each encrypted data portion results from encryption of the data based on one of the plurality of entity encryption key shares. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for an entity to support anonymous acquisitions, the method comprising:
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generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity;
distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders;sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; and decrypting the encrypted information based on the public key, wherein receiving the encrypted information further comprises receiving, from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, encrypted information portions, wherein each encrypted information portion results from encryption of the information regarding the goods based on at least one of the secret shares, the method further comprising;
calculating the product of the encrypted information portions to provide the encrypted information. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for an entity to support anonymous acquisitions, comprising:
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generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity;
distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders;sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; and prior to receiving the encrypted information; receiving a challenge request from a shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, the challenge request comprising encrypted challenge data; decrypting the encrypted challenge data based on the public key to provide decrypted challenge data; and sending the decrypted challenge data to the shareholder.
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17. A method for an entity to support anonymous acquisitions, comprising:
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generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity;
distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders;sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; sending, to the plurality of shareholders, a voucher verification request regarding at least one usage right and the secret shares, wherein each shareholder of the plurality of shareholders has previously associated at least one usage right corresponding to the entity with the secret share maintained by the shareholder; and receiving, from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, a message indicating that at least some of the at least one usage right is available to the entity.
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18. A method for a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders, in communication with an entity, to support anonymous transactions, the method comprising:
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receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; receiving the transaction identification and an acquisition request regarding goods from the entity; receiving, based on the acquisition request and the transaction identification, information regarding the goods; and encrypting the information regarding the goods based on the secret share to provide an encrypted information portion receiving information based on at least one other encrypted information portion from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; and
combining the encrypted information portion with the information based on the at least one other encrypted information portion to provide an updated encrypted information portion. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders, in communication with an entity, to support anonymous transactions, comprising:
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receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; receiving a recommendation request and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one activity corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and
determining, based on the recommendation request, the at least one activity;receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional activity; determining common activities between the at least one activity and the at least one additional activity; and when the shareholder is not a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, sending the common activities to yet another shareholder.
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32. A method for a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders, in communication with an entity, to support anonymous transactions, comprising:
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receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; receiving a recommendation request and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one activity corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and
determining, based on the recommendation request, the at least one activity;receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional activity; determining common activities between the at least one activity and the at least one additional activity; when the shareholder is a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, generating a set of recommendations based on the common activities; and
providing the set of recommendations to the entity.
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33. A method for a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders, in communication with an entity, to support anonymous transactions, comprising:
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receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; receiving a voucher verification request regarding at least one requested usage right and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one usage right corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and determining, based on the voucher verification request, the at least one usage right; receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional usage right; determining common usage rights between the at least one usage right and the at least one additional usage right; and when the shareholder is not a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, sending the common usage rights to yet another shareholder.
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34. A method for a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders, in communication with an entity, to support anonymous transactions, comprising:
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receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; receiving a voucher verification request regarding at least one requested usage right and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one usage right corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and determining, based on the voucher verification request, the at least one usage right; receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional usage right; determining common usage rights between the at least one usage right and the at least one additional usage right; when the shareholder is a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, determining whether the at least one requested usage right matches the common usage rights; and sending a message indicating the availability of the at least one requested usage right to the entity when the at least one requested usage right matches the common usage rights.
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35. An apparatus for supporting anonymous transactions by an entity comprising:
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means for generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity; means for splitting an entity identification uniquely associated with the entity into a plurality of secret shares; and means, coupled to the means for generating and the means for splitting, for sending the transaction identification and the plurality of secret shares to a plurality of shareholders, wherein the entity identification and the encryption key are the same, and wherein the means for splitting the entity identification comprise the means for spitting the encryption key. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. An apparatus for supporting anonymous acquisitions by an entity comprising:
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means for generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity; means, coupled to the means for generating, for distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders; means, coupled to the means for generating, for sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; and means for receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; and
means, coupled to the means for receiving, for decrypting the encrypted information based on the public key,wherein the means for receiving further function to receive, from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, encrypted information portions, wherein each encrypted information portion results from encryption of the information regarding the goods based on at least one of the secret shares, and wherein the apparatus further comprises;
means, coupled to the means for receiving, for calculating the product of the encrypted information portions to provide the encrypted information. - View Dependent Claims (43)
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44. An apparatus for supporting anonymous acquisitions by an entity comprising:
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means for generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity; means, coupled to the means for generating, for distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders; means, coupled to the means for generating, for sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; and means for receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; and
means, coupled to the means for receiving, for decrypting the encrypted information based on the public key,means for receiving, prior to receiving the encrypted information, a challenge request from a shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, the challenge request comprising encrypted challenge data;
means, coupled to the means for receiving the challenge request, for decrypting the encrypted challenge data based on the public key to provide decrypted challenge data; and
means, coupled to the means for decrypting, for sending the decrypted challenge data to the shareholder.
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45. An apparatus for supporting anonymous acquisitions by an entity, comprising:
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means for generating a transaction identification that does not uniquely identify the entity; means, coupled to the means for generating, for distributing a public key, in the form of secret shares, and the transaction identification to a plurality of shareholders; means, coupled to the means for generating, for sending an acquisition request regarding goods to be acquired and the transaction identification to at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; means for receiving, based on the transaction identification, encrypted information from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, wherein the encrypted information comprises information regarding the goods and is encrypted, at least in part, by the plurality of shareholders based on each of the secret shares; and
means, coupled to the means for receiving, for decrypting the encrypted information based on the public key; andmeans for sending a voucher verification request regarding at least one usage right and the secret shares to the plurality of shareholders, wherein each shareholder of the plurality of shareholders has previously associated at least one usage right corresponding to the entity with the secret share maintained by the shareholder; and
means for receiving, from at least one shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, a message indicating that at least some of the at least one usage right is available to the entity.
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46. An apparatus by which a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders can supporting anonymous transactions by an entity, wherein the shareholder is in communication with the entity, comprising:
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means for receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; means, coupled to the means for receiving, for associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identifications; means for receiving the transaction identification and an acquisition request regarding goods from the entity; means for receiving information regarding the goods, wherein the information regarding the goods is provided based on the acquisition request and the transaction identification; means for encrypting the information regarding the goods based on the secret share to provide an encrypted information portion; means for receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, information based on at least one other encrypted information portion; and
means for combining the encrypted information portion with the information based on the at least one other encrypted information portion to provide an updated encrypted information portion; andmeans for sending the updated encrypted information portion to yet another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders when the shareholder is not a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. An apparatus by which a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders can supporting anonymous transactions by an entity, wherein the shareholder is in communication with the entity, comprising:
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means for receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; and means, coupled to the means for receiving, for associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; means for receiving a recommendation request and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one activity corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and
means for determining, based on the recommendation request, the at least one activity;means for receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional activity; means for determining common activities between the at least one activity and the at least one additional activity; and means for sending the common activities to yet another shareholder when the shareholder is not a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders.
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60. An apparatus by which a shareholder of a plurality of shareholders can supporting anonymous transactions by an entity, wherein the shareholder is in communication with the entity, comprising:
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means for receiving a secret share and a transaction identification from the entity, wherein the secret share is one of a plurality of secret shares representative of an entity identification corresponding to the entity, and wherein the transaction identification does not uniquely identify the entity; means, coupled to the means for receiving, for associatively storing the secret share and the transaction identification; means for receiving a voucher verification request regarding at least one requested usage right and the secret share from the entity, wherein the shareholder has previously associated at least one usage right corresponding to the entity with the secret share; and
means for determining, based on the voucher verification request, the at least one usage right;means for receiving, from another shareholder of the plurality of shareholders, at least one additional usage right;
means for determining common usage rights between the at least one usage right and the at least one additional usage right;means for determining whether the at least one requested usage right matches the common usage rights when the shareholder is a last shareholder of the plurality of shareholders; and means for sending a message indicating the availability of the at least one requested usage right to the entity when the at least one requested usage right matches the common usage rights.
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Specification