Delivery point validation system

• US 8,117,462 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2005
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Snapp, Robert F., Wilson, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chai, Longbit
• Application Number:
  US11/231,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20060143434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,336 Days
• Field of Search: 713/189
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00435 Details specific to central, non-customer apparatus, e.g. servers at post office or vendor
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00725 Reading symbols, e.g. OCR

Abstract

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention encode a list so users of the list may make inquiries to the coded list without the entire content of the list being revealed to the users. Once each item in the list has been encoded by an encoder, a bit array with high and low values may be used to represent the items in the list. The bit array may be embodied in a validation system for allowing users to query the list to determine whether an inquiry item is on the list. The validation system determines which bits to check by executing the same coding process executed by the encoder. If all the bits are high, then the inquiry item is determined to be part of the list, if at least one of the bits is low, then the inquiry item is determined not to be part of the original list.

Claims

1. A method for processing data using a computer, comprising:

receiving, by the computer, a data element including at least a name or an address;

forming, by the computer utilizing a cryptographic procedure, a cryptographic value from the data element;

extracting a plurality of samples from a binary representation of the cryptographic value, each of the plurality of samples comprising one or more bits of said binary representation of the cryptographic value, the samples identifying one or more bits of previously stored data, the previously stored data representing a list of valid data elements and being formed by the cryptographic procedure from the list;

querying whether the received data element is included in the list of the valid data elements;

checking bit values of the bits of the previously stored data based on each of the plurality of bit samples; and

determining, using the computer, whether the data element is included in the list based on a result of the checking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cryptographic procedure comprises a hash function.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the samples includes a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion and the second portion identify a bit of the previously stored data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first portion identifies a block of the previously stored data, and the second portion identifies the bit with respect to the block.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining that the data element is included in the list if the bit values of the bits identified by the extracted samples match a predetermined value.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the block includes one or more bytes.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the samples includes a plurality of bytes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the samples include a first sample and a second sample, and at least a portion of the first sample overlaps the second sample.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

normalizing the data element.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

standardizing the data element; and

padding the standardized data element to a predetermined length.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the previously stored data include 2^x bits, x being an integer number; and

each sample includes at least x bits.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

triggering a process utilizing the data element, if a result of the checking indicates that the bit values of the bits of the previously stored data match a predetermined value.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the samples include a first sample and a second sample, and at least a portion of the first sample overlaps the second sample.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the previously stored data include 2^x bits, x being an integer number; and

each sample includes at least x bits.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including program code, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method for processing data, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computer, a data element including at least a name or an address;

forming, by the computer utilizing a cryptographic procedure, a cryptographic value from the data element;

extracting a plurality of samples from a binary representation of the cryptographic value, each of the each of the plurality of samples comprising one or more bits of said binary representation of the cryptographic value, the samples identifying one or more bits of previously stored data, the previously stored data representing a list of valid data elements and being formed by the cryptographic procedure from the list;

querying whether the received data element is included in the list of the valid data elements;

checking bit values of the bits of the previously stored data based on each of the plurality of bit samples; and

determining, using the computer, whether the data element is included in the list based on a result of the checking.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the cryptographic procedure comprises a hash function.

17. the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each of the samples includes a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion and the second portion identify a bit of the previously stored data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first portion identifies a block of the previously stored data, and the second portion identifies the bit with respect to the block.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that the data element is included in the list if the bit values of the bits identified by the extracted samples match a predetermined value.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the block includes one or more bytes.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein each of the samples includes a plurality of bytes.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the samples include a first sample and a second sample, and at least a portion of the first sample overlaps the second sample.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the previously stored data include 2^x bits, x being an integer number; and

each sample includes at least x bits.

24. A system for processing data comprising:

a receiver that receives a data item comprising at least a name or an address;

an encoder that forms, by utilizing a cryptographic procedure, a cryptographic value from the data element;

an extraction circuit that extracts a plurality of samples from a binary representation of the cryptographic value, each of the plurality of samples comprising one or more bits of said binary representation of the cryptographic value, the samples identifying one or more bits within previously stored data, the previously stored data representing a list of valid data elements and being formed by the cryptographic procedure from the list; and

a validation component that query whether the received data element is included in the list of the valid data elements, checks bit values of the bits of the previously stored data based on each of the plurality of bit samples, and determines whether the data element is included in the list based on a checking result.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein each of the samples includes a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion and the second portion identify a bit of the previously stored data.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first portion identifies a block of the previously stored data, and the second portion identifies the bit with respect to the block.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the validation component further determines that the data element is included in the list if the bit values of the bits identified by the extracted samples match a predetermined value.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the block includes one or more bytes.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein each of the samples includes a plurality of bytes.