System, method and article of manufacture for determining a price of cryptograph IC services based on a computational burden thereof

• US 7,421,583 B1
• Filed: 06/19/2000
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Berson, Thomas A, Dean, R Drews, Franklin, Matthew K, Lunt, Teresa F, Smetters, Diana K
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Moorthy, Aravind K
• Application Number:
  US09/596,924
• Time in Patent Office: 2,997 Days
• Field of Search: 713/170, 705/51, 705/52
• US Class Current: 713/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1016 Devices or methods for securing the PIN and other transaction-data, e.g. by encryption arrangements for secret communication, see H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/12 Details relating to cryptographic hardware or logic circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/30 Compression, e.g. Merkle-Damgard construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/302 involving the integer factorization problem, e.g. RSA or quadratic sieve [QS] schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3249 using RSA or related signature schemes, e.g. Rabin scheme

Abstract

A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for pricing a cryptographic service. A request for a cryptographic service is received. An identification is made of one or more of a computational burden required to perform the cryptographic service, a privacy level of the cryptographic service, and/or a speed of performing the cryptographic service. A price of the cryptographic service is determined based on the computational burden, privacy level, and/or speed. A method is also provided for pricing a cryptographic service based on a compactness of a cryptographic message. A request for encrypting a message is received. The message is encrypted and is also compressed during the encryption. An amount of compression of the message is determined. A price of the encryption is determined based on the amount of compression.

Claims

1. A method for pricing a cryptographic service, comprising:

(a) receiving a request for a cryptographic service;

(b) identifying a computational burden required to perform the cryptographic service, including one or more of a privacy level of the cryptographic service or a speed of performing the cryptographic service; and

(c) determining a price of the cryptographic service based on the at least one of computational burden, privacy level, and speed.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the privacy level.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the speed of performing the cryptographic service.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising requesting payment for the cryptographic service from a user requesting the cryptographic service.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing private information retrieval.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing group authentication.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing mix networks.

8. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for pricing a cryptographic service, comprising:

(a) a code segment that receives a request for a cryptographic service;

(b) a code segment that identifies a computational burden required to perform the cryptographic service, including one or more of privacy level of the cryptographic service or speed of performing the cryptographic service; and

(c) a code segment that determines a price of the cryptographic service based on at least one of computational burden, privacy level, and speed.

9. The computer program as recited in claim 8, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the privacy level.

10. The computer program as recited in claim 8, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the speed of performing the cryptographic service.

11. The computer program as recited in claim 8, further comprising a code segment that requests payment for the cryptographic service from a user requesting the cryptographic service.

12. The computer program as recited in claim 8, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing private information retrieval.

13. The computer program as recited in claim 8, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing group authentication.

14. The computer program as recited in claim 8, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing mix networks.

15. A system for pricing a cryptographic service, comprising;

(a) logic that receives a request for a cryptographic service;

(b) logic that identifies a computational burden required to perform the cryptographic service, including one or more of a privacy level of the cryptographic service or a speed of performing the cryptographic service; and

(c) logic that determines a price of the cryptographic service based on the at least one of the computational burden, privacy level, and speed.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the privacy level.

17. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein a user requesting the cryptographic service specifies the speed of performing the cryptographic service.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising logic that requests payment for the cryptographic service from a user requesting the cryptographic service.

19. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing private information retrieval.

20. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing group authentication.

21. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the cryptographic service includes utilizing mix networks.