Authentication device and method using electronic certificate files having hierarchical relationship

• US 8,473,737 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2008
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kikuchi, Yusaku
• Primary Examiner(s): KOSOWSKI, CAROLYN M
• Application Number:
  US12/016,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20090019519A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,985 Days
• Field of Search: 713/157
• US Class Current: 713/157
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

This authentication device includes: a volatile memory; a non-volatile memory which stores a plurality of electronic certificate files; a unit which refers to the non-volatile memory upon start-up, and which stores a hierarchical relationship between the plurality of electronic certificate files in the volatile memory; a unit for searching for a desired electronic certificate file based upon the hierarchical relationship between the plurality of electronic certificate files in the volatile memory; and an authentication unit which performs authentication using the electronic certificate file which has been found by the search unit.

Claims

1. An authentication device, comprising:

a volatile memory;

a non-volatile memory which stores a plurality of electronic certificate files;

a list structured entity creation unit which creates, upon start-up, a hierarchical relationship information between the plurality of electronic certificate files that is structured by a bidirectional list having a plurality of nodes linked bidirectionally, each of which stores certificate information for the electronic certificate files and has a backward pointer which specifies the previous node, a forward pointer which specifies the next node, and a parent pointer which specifies the parent node of the node, in the volatile memory, based upon the plurality of electronic certificate files in the non-volatile memory;

an authentication processing unit which searches for a desired electronic certificate file from the plurality of electronic certificate files in the non-volatile memory, based upon the hierarchical relationship information between the plurality of electronic certificate files, the hierarchical relationship information being structured by the bidirectional list comprising the parent pointer and being present in the volatile memory, and which performs authentication using the electronic certificate file which has been found by the search,

wherein the list structured entity creation unit is implemented by a computer.

2. An authentication device according to claim 1, wherein, if a certificate authority (CA) which issued the electronic certificate file is an intermediate CA which has been authenticated by a root CA, the hierarchical relationship between the plurality of electronic certificate files is a hierarchical relationship from the intermediate CA to the root CA.

3. An authentication device according to claim 2, further comprising:

an installation processing unit which, when predetermined data has been downloaded from a server which is authenticated by the intermediate CA, stores in the non-volatile memory an electronic certificate file issued by the intermediate CA which has been downloaded along with the downloaded data,

wherein the list structured entity creation unit appends, to a list structured entity in the volatile memory, an information item which corresponds to the electronic certificate file which has been acquired by the installation processing unit.

4. An authentication device according to claim 3, wherein identification information is appended to the electronic certificate file which has been installed by the installation processing unit, and

the identification information identifies an electronic certificate file which has been explicitly installed by the user.

5. An authentication method performed by an authentication device which comprises a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory which stores a plurality of electronic certificate files, the method comprising:

creating, upon start-up of the authentication device, a hierarchical relationship information between the plurality of electronic certificate files that is structured by a bidirectional list having a plurality of nodes linked bidirectionally, each of which stores certificate information for the electronic certificate files and has a backward pointer which specifies the previous node, a forward pointer which specifies the next node, and a parent pointer which specifies the parent node for the node, in the volatile memory, based upon the plurality of electronic certificate files in the non-volatile memory;

searching for a desired electronic certificate file from the plurality of electronic certificate files in the non-volatile memory, by referring to the hierarchical relationship information between the plurality of electronic certificate files, the hierarchical relationship information being structured by the bidirectional list comprising the parent pointer and being present in the volatile memory; and

performing authentication using the electronic certificate file which has been found.