Network system, terminal, and method for encryption and decryption

• US 7,346,171 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2002
• Issued: 03/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Numao, Masayuki, Watanabe, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Moazzami; Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): REZA, MOHAMMAD W
• Application Number:
  US10/271,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20030081789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,981 Days
• Field of Search: 380/286, 713/163, 713/169
• US Class Current: 380/286
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/085 Secret sharing or secret splitting, e.g. threshold schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3013 involving the discrete logarithm problem, e.g. ElGamal or Diffie-Hellman systems

Abstract

Provides encryption methods, and systems and apparatus corresponding decryption method systems and apparatus in which terminals belonging to a subset selected as a recipient group can collaborate to decrypt encrypted information. In an example embodiment, a sender and recipients communicate information over a network. The sender sends information encrypted by using a group key that can be decrypted by collaboration among a given number of recipients to the recipients in a predetermined recipient group. On the other hand, the recipients receive encrypted data from the sender, exchange partial information concerning the encrypted data among a plurality of recipients in the recipient group to obtain decryption information used for decrypting the encrypted data, and decrypt the sent information by using the decryption information.

Claims

1. A conference system comprising a subject provider terminal for providing a subject to be discussed and participant terminals for obtaining said subject provided from said subject provider over a network, for providing secure multicasting data delivery, and for making a decision about said subject, wherein;

said subject provider terminal encrypts said subject to produce encrypted subject that can be decrypted by collaboration among a number of participant terminals in said participant terminals that is equal to a predetermined threshold, and delivers said encrypted subject to said participant terminals over said network;

said participant terminals being in a subset selected as a participant group for collaboration to decrypt encrypted data, and to receive said encrypted data sent from said subject provider terminal and exchange partial information unique to each of the participant terminals among a number of participant terminals equal to said threshold to produce decryption information required for decrypting said encrypted data, said partial information being one of;

a secret key of each recipient terminal, and decryption information produced by processing encrypted data with the secret key when a public key cryptosystem is used, wherein;

a sender terminal sets the predetermined threshold indicating a number of recipient terminals required to collaborate for decrypting said encrypted subject and sends said threshold to said recipient terminals along with said encrypted subject;

said number of recipient terminals being equal to said threshold, exchange said partial information, and

an encryption module of said sender terminal constructs a polynomial passing through points having values of said public keys of said recipient terminals and uses a group key as a constant term of said polynomial.

2. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing the conferencing system functions of claim 1.