Secure method for providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display

• US 7,191,338 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Issued: 03/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stern, Edith H., Willner, Barry E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moazzami; Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Parthasarathy; Pramila
• Application Number:
  US10/335,019
• Publication Number:
  US 20030133569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,533 Days
• Field of Search: 380/206, 713/161
• US Class Current: 713/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/275 from 3D object models, e.g. computer-generated stereoscopic image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/286 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/341 using temporal multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/403 the images being monoscopic
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2213/008 Aspects relating to glasses for viewing stereoscopic images

Abstract

A method for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display can include interspersing private data frames among public data frames according to a sequencing pattern. A syncstream can be encoded based upon a syncstream mask. More particularly, the syncstream can specify when to activate shutters in a set of active glasses in synchronization with the sequencing pattern. Notably, an encryption key pair can be generated having a public key and a private key. Using the public key, the syncstream mask can be encrypted and forwarded to a pair of active glasses. Once received in the active glasses, the encrypted syncstream mask can be decrypted with the private key. Finally, the decrypted syncstream mask can be applied to the encoded syncstream to determine when to activate the shutters in the active glasses.

Claims

1. A method for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display comprising the steps of:

generating an encryption key pair comprising a public key and a private key;

encrypting a syncstream mask using said public key;

forwarding said encrypted syncstream mask to a pair of active glasses;

decrypting said encrypted syncstream mask with said private key;

displaying private data frames interspersed among public data frames according to a sequencing pattern;

encoding a syncstream based upon said syncstream mask, said syncstream specifying when to activate shutters in said active glasses in synchronization with said sequencing pattern; and

,

applying said decrypted syncstream mask to said encoded syncstream to determine when to activate said shutters in said active glasses,

wherein said sequencing pattern is encoded through a use of the syncstream mask to preserve a confidentiality of the sequencing pattern.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said applying step comprises the step of applying said decrypted syncstream mask to said encoded syncstream to compute a sequence specifying when to open and close said shutters in said active glasses in concert with said displaying of said private data frames.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said applying step comprises the step of applying each bit in said syncstream mask to a corresponding bit in said encoded syncstream to determine whether to activate said shutters in said active glasses for said corresponding bit.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of repeating said generating, encrypting, forwarding and decrypting steps periodically.

5. A system for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display through a plurality of proximately positioned active glasses, the system comprising:

a transmitter/receiver coupled to the publicly viewable display configured to transmit syncstream data to the proximately positioned active glasses, and to receive commands and data from said proximately positioned active glasses;

a syncstream generator configured to produce a syncstream based upon a sequencing pattern defining when to display private data frames among a series of public data frames in the publicly viewable display;

a syncstream mask encoder coupled to said syncstream generator and configured to encode said syncstream based upon a syncstream mask; and

,

an encryption processor coupled to said syncstream mask encoder and configured to encrypt said syncstream mask for transmission to individual ones of the proximately positioned active glasses according to encryption key data provided by the individual ones of the proximately positioned active glasses through said transmitter/receiver,

wherein said sequencing pattern is encoded through a use of the syncstream mask to preserve a confidentiality of the sequencing pattern.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said encryption processor comprises an asymmetrical encryption processor configured to encrypt said syncstream mask according to public keys provided by said individual ones of said active glasses, wherein said encrypted syncstream mask can be decrypted according to private keys corresponding to said public keys.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein each of said transmitter/receiver, syncstream generator, syncstream mask encoder, and encryption processor are disposed in a pluggable display card.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein each of said transmitter/receiver, syncstream generator, syncstream mask encoder, and encryption processor are disposed within an operating system.

9. A method for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display comprising the steps of:

generating an encryption key pair comprising a public key and a private key;

forwarding said private key to the publicly viewable display;

receiving an encrypted syncstream mask from the publicly viewable display and decrypting said received syncstream mask using said private key;

decoding subsequently received syncstream data with said decrypted syncstream mask; and

,

activating shutters based upon said decoded syncstream data,

wherein the syncstream mask is configured to preserve a confidentiality of a sequencing pattern for activating said shutters.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said decoding step comprises the step of applying said decrypted syncstream mask to said encoded syncstream to compute a sequence specifying when to open and close said shutters in said active glasses in concert with said displaying of said private data frames.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said decoding step comprises the step of applying each bit in said decrypted syncstream mask to a corresponding bit in said received syncstream data to determine whether to activate said shutters for said corresponding bit.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of repeating said generating, forwarding and receiving steps periodically.

13. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display, the computer program comprising a routine set of instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

generating an encryption key pair comprising a public key and a private key;

forwarding said private key to the publicly viewable display;

receiving an encrypting syncstream mask from the publicly viewable display and decrypting said received syncstream mask using said private key;

decoding subsequently received syncstream data with said decrypted syncstream mask; and

,

activating shutters based upon said decoded syncstream data,

wherein the syncstream mask is configured to preserve a confidentiality of a sequencing pattern for activating said shutters.

14. The machine readable storage of claim 13, wherein said decoding step comprises the step of applying said decrypted syncstream mask to said encoded syncstream to compute a sequence specifying when to open and close said shutters in said active glasses in concert with said displaying of said private data frames.

15. The machine readable storage of claim 13, wherein said decoding step comprises the step of applying each bit in said decrypted syncstream mask to a corresponding bit in said received syncstream data to determine whether to activate said shutters for said corresponding bit.

16. The machine readable storage of claim 13, further comprising the step of repeating said generating, forwarding and receiving steps periodically.

17. A method for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display comprising the steps of:

receiving from a pair of active glasses a private key associated with an encryption key pair comprising a public key and a private key;

encrypting a syncstream mask with said private key and transmitting the encrypted syncstream mask to said active glasses;

interspersing private data frames among a set of public data frames according to a sequencing pattern;

computing a syncstream based upon said sequencing pattern and encoding said syncstream based upon said syncstream mask;

transmitting said encoded syncstream to said active glasses; and

,

displaying said data frames in the publicly viewable display,

wherein said sequencing pattern is encoded through a use of the syncstream mask to preserve a confidentiality of the sequencing pattern.

18. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for securely providing privately viewable data in a publicly viewable display, the computer program comprising a routine set of instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving from a pair of active glasses a private key associated with an encryption key pair comprising a public key and a private key;

encrypting a syncstream mask with said private key and transmitting the encrypted syncstream mask to said active glasses;

interspersing private data frames among a set of public data frames according to a sequencing pattern;

computing a syncstream based upon said sequencing pattern and encoding said syncstream based upon said syncstream mask;

transmitting said encoded syncstream to said active glasses; and

,

displaying said data frames in the publicly viewable display,

wherein said sequencing pattern is encoded through a use of the syncstream mask to preserve a confidentiality of the sequencing pattern.