Encoding and decoding data system and method

• US 8,078,860 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Softex LLC (FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC))
• Original Assignee: Softex Incorporated
• Inventors: Bhansali, Apurva Mahendrakumar, Jain, Manoj Kumar, Dube, Shradha, Rangarajan, Gayathri, Patel, Mehul Ramjibhai, Raikar, Rayesh Kashinath, Dhanani, Kamal Mansukhlal, Kapila, Ranjit, Varghese, Elza Abraham, Tucker, Thomas David
• Primary Examiner(s): LaForgia, Christian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tolentino, Roderick
• Application Number:
  US12/031,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20080228707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,398 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 713/187, 711/100, 711/164, 714/36, 726/26, 726/34
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/572 Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning

Abstract

A system and method for encoding and decoding data. A method includes selecting a subgroup of bits from one or more bytes of binary encrypted information, wherein the binary encrypted information is for tracking, locating, and disabling an electronic device; passing the subgroup of bits to an encoding function that performs binary mapping operations on the subgroup of bits to generate an encoded byte; and encoding the next one or more bytes of binary encrypted information if the end of the binary encrypted information has not been reached.

Claims

1. A method of encoding data, comprising:

selecting a subgroup of bits from one or more bytes of binary encrypted information, wherein the binary encrypted information is for tracking, locating, and disabling an electronic device;

passing the subgroup of bits to an encoding function that performs binary mapping operations on the subgroup of bits to generate an encoded byte; and

encoding the next one or more bytes of binary encrypted information if the end of the binary encrypted information has not been reached,

wherein the encoding function maps the subgroup of bits from a binary format into an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format,

wherein the operation of mapping the subgroup of bits from the binary format into the ASCII text format comprises mapping a first number of bytes of binary data to a second number of bytes of ASCII data, and

wherein the first number is different from the second number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the binary mapping operations further comprise mapping of the subgroup of bits to a character that may be printed and displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein every three bytes of binary encrypted information is mapped to four bytes of encoded data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subgroup of bits is six bits.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the one or more bytes of binary encrypted information in a first variable, wherein each byte of data is made up of bits;

storing the subgroup of bits from the one or more bytes of data in a second variable; and

storing the encoded byte into a data structure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data structure is an array of bytes.

7. A method of decoding data, comprising:

selecting a byte of American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format information, wherein the ASCII text format information byte is for tracking, locating, and disabling an electronic device;

passing the byte to a decoding function that returns a decoded byte; and

decoding the next one or more bytes of data from the ASCII text format information if the end of the ASCII text format information has not been reached,

wherein the decoding function comprises mapping a second number of bytes of ASCII text format information to a first number of bytes of binary format information, and

wherein the second number is different from the first number.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing the consecutive bytes into a data structure.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data structure is an array of bytes.

19. The method of claim 7, wherein every four bytes of encoded data is mapped to three bytes of binary encrypted information.

20. The method of claim 7, further comprising extracting the lower six bits of the decoded byte and discarding the upper two bits, wherein the lower six bits are appended to a stream of bits that form consecutive bytes.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause said machine to perform operations comprising:

selecting a subgroup of bits from one or more bytes of binary encrypted information, wherein the binary encrypted information is for tracking, locating, and disabling an electronic device;

passing the subgroup of bits to an encoding function that performs binary mapping operations on the subgroup of bits to generate an encoded byte; and

encoding the next one or more bytes of binary encrypted information if the end of the binary encrypted information has not been reached,

wherein the encoding function maps the subgroup of bits from a binary format into an American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format,

wherein the operation of mapping the subgroup of bits from the binary format into the ASCII text format comprises mapping a first number of bytes of binary data to a second number of bytes of ASCII data, and

wherein the first number is different from the second number.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the binary mapping operations further comprise mapping of the subgroup of bits to a character that may be printed and displayed.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein every three bytes of binary encrypted information is mapped to four bytes of encoded data.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the subgroup of bits is six bits.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

storing the one or more bytes of binary encrypted information in a first variable, wherein each byte of data is made up of bits;

storing the subgroup of bits from the one or more bytes of data in a second variable; and

storing the encoded byte into a data structure.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the data structure is an array of bytes.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause said machine to perform operations comprising:

selecting a byte of American Standard Code of Information Interchange (ASCII) text format information, wherein the ASCII text format information byte is for tracking, locating, and disabling an electronic device;

passing the byte to a decoding function that returns a decoded byte; and

decoding the next one or more bytes of data from the ASCII text format information if the end of the ASCII text format information has not been reached,

wherein the decoding function comprises mapping a second number of bytes of ASCII text format information to a first number of bytes of binary format information, and

wherein the second number is different from the first number.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising storing the consecutive bytes into a data structure.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the data structure is an array of bytes.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein every four bytes of encoded data is mapped to three bytes of binary encrypted information.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising extracting the lower six bits of the decoded byte and discarding the upper two bits, wherein the lower six bits are appended to a stream of bits that form consecutive bytes.