Verifying the ownership of an owner's authority in terms of product and service

• US 7,657,740 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2005
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Numao, Masayuki, Ishigaki, Yoshinobu, Watanabe, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cervetti; David Garcia
• Application Number:
  US11/319,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20060143452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,497 Days
• Field of Search: 713/155, 713/156, 713/159, 713/171, 713/182, 713/189
• US Class Current: 713/159
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus for verifying the authority of an owner, in terms of an identifier of a product, the first verification information for verifying the authority held at a terminal for an owner with the authority involving the product, and the second verification information for verifying the authority concerning the identifier of the product stored in a product database. The apparatus comprises means for receiving the identifier and the first verification information, means for acquiring the second verification information from the product DB, and means for determining whether or not there is the authority from the first verification information and the second verification information. A hash value acquired from a one-way hash function is employed as a verification key of the verification information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for verifying access authority to information by a radio frequency identifier provided by a product having the radio frequency identifier;

a first one-time verification key provided by a product database (DB) where the radio frequency identifier, the information relating to the product and the first one-time verification key for verifying the access authority to the information are stored, respectively; and

a second one-time verification key provided by a terminal that creates and maintains the second one-time verification key for verifying the access authority to the information, comprising;

a step of receiving said radio frequency identifier provided by the product and said one-time verification key provided by the terminal, according to an interface means, and reading a tag added to a product and a tag added to the terminal with a multi-tag reader;

a step of acquiring said first one-time verification key provided by said product DB, by searching the product DB with the received radio frequency identifier, by a central processing unit (CPU);

a step of determining whether or not there is access authority to the information according to whether or not it is matched by comparing the second one-time verification key provided by the received terminal with the acquired first one-time verification key provided by the product DB, by the CPU;

a step of creating a third verification key for use by a second user by using a random number and a hash function just prior to transferring access authority to the information relating to the product from a first user to a second user;

a step of transferring the access authority to the information relating to the product from a first user to a second user; and

a step of displaying the first one-time verification key and the second one-time verification key on a display device.

2. A computer-implemented method for verifying access authority to information by an identifier provided by a product having the identifier, a first one-time verification key provided by a product database (DB) where the identifier, the information relating to the product and the one-time verification key for verifying the access authority to the information are stored, respectively;

and another second one-time verification key provided by a terminal that creates and maintains the one-time verification key for verifying the access authority to the information, comprising;

a step of verifying encryption of the first one-time verification key and the second one-time verification key using an exclusive OR;

a step of receiving said identifier provided by the product and said second one-time verification key provided by the terminal, by an interface means;

a step of acquiring said second verification information from said product DB, by searching the product DB with the received identifier;

a step of determining whether or not there is access authority to the information whether or not it is matched by comparing the received second one-time verification key provided by the terminal with the acquired first one-time verification key provided by the product DB, by a central processing unit (CPU); and

a step storing the second one-time verification key provided by the received terminal in the product DB, instead of the first one-time verification key stored in the product DB, by the CPU, on condition that it has been determined that there is the access authority to the information;

a step of creating a list of owners who have access authority to the information;

a step of transferring the access authority to the information relating to the product from a first user to a second user; and

a step of displaying the second one-time verification key on a display device.

3. A computer-implemented method for managing verification information regarding access authority to information relating to a product, comprising:

a step of entering and storing a number obtained by a predetermined method and t (an integer or 1 or greater), which are separately managed from an identifier of the product in a memory means by an interface means;

a step of creating a one-time verification key used for verification in an apparatus for verifying the access authority to the information relating to the product stored in a product DB with a hash value acquired by applying a one-way hash function to the number by t times, and creating an encryption key with a hash value acquired by applying the one-way hash function to the number by t−

1 times, by a central processing unit (CPU);

a step of applying the one-way hash function by a number of times reduced by one for each subsequent verification of the access authority to the information relating to the product stored in the product DB;

a step of encrypting the created one-time verification key by the created encryption key, by the CPU;

a step of transferring the access authority to the information relating to the product from a first user to a second user; and

a step of displaying the one-time verification key on a display device.