Opinion registering application for a universal pervasive transaction framework

• US 20050203966A1
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PCMS Holdings Incorporated (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Ji, Lusheng, Labrou, Yannis, Terriza, Jesus Molina, Agre, Jonathan Russell
• Granted Patent: US 7,877,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computer-based system securely transmitting and authenticating a transaction input by a user while retaining the anonymity of the user with respect to content of the transaction, including a device encoding the content of the transaction input by the user with a key known only to another device, encoding other portions of the transaction with another key known only to a secure transaction server, and sending the encoded content of the transaction and the encoded other portions of the transaction to the secure transaction server to authenticate an identity of the user of the device, wherein the secure transaction server decodes the other portions of the transaction and sends the encoded content of the transaction to the another device to be finally decoded.

Claims

1. A computer-based system securely transmitting and authenticating a transaction input by a user while retaining the anonymity of the user with respect to content of the transaction, comprising:

a first device, where the content of the transaction is input and submitted to a second device;

the second device encoding the content of the transaction that is input at the first device with a code key K_Vsi, sending the content of the transaction that is encoded with the code key K_VSi to the first device, the first device generating a first message by further encoding the content of the transaction that is encoded with the code key K_VSi with a respective UPTF-SAS key, and the second device generating a second device encoded message by further encoding the content of the transaction that is encoded with the code key K_VSi with a respective UPTF-SAS key;

a third device receiving the encoded messages of the first and the second device, decoding the received encoded messages to authenticate an identity of the user of the first device, matching the decoded messages to authenticate an occurrence of the transaction, and forwarding the encoded content of the transaction that is encoded with the code key K_VS to a fourth device; and

the fourth device receiving the encoded content of the transaction encoded with the code key K_VSi and using the code key K_VSi to determine content of the transaction input by the user of the first device.

2. The computer-based system of claim 1, wherein the second device and the fourth device agree on the code key K_Vsi, or a public key cryptographic key pair, prior the transaction being transmitted in the computer-based system, and

wherein the third device sends identifying information of the corresponding second device to the fourth device so that the fourth device can retrieve the code key K_VSi of the second device to decode the content of the transaction that is encoded with the code key K_Vsi.

3. The computer-based system of claim 1, wherein the second device cannot determine the identity of the user that input the content of the transaction because when the content of the transaction is input at the first device and submitted to the second device, the first device does not transmit user identifying information to the second device, and because in the first message generated by the first device, the identity of the user is encoded by the first device according to a coding technique that can only be decoded by the third device.

4. The computer-based system of claim 1, wherein the third device cannot determine the content of the transaction input by the user but can determine whether a particular user input the content of the transaction at a particular second device, and

wherein the fourth device cannot determine the identity of the user that input the content of the transaction since the fourth device cannot determine the first device in which the content of the transaction was input by the user.

5. The computer-based system of claim 4, wherein the third device authenticates the identity of the user of the first device after successfully decoding the encoded messages of the first and second device by reconstructing the UPTF-SAS keys of each of the first and second devices since the third device knows the parameters of the coding algorithms used to produce the respective UPTF-SAS coding keys, and

wherein the occurrence of the transaction is authenticated by matching content of the successfully decoded messages of the first and second device according to a UPTF-SAS protocol.

6. The computer-based system of claim 5, wherein the user is authenticated to operate the first device according at least one biometric feature of the user or a personal identification number.

7. The computer-based system of claim 5, wherein the transaction of the computer system is performed between the first and the second device, the transaction is an opinion registering application, and the content of the transaction is a ballot.

8. The computer-based system of claim 1, wherein there is one or more first device and one or more second device.

9. The computer-based system of claim 1, further comprising a virtual private network located between the second device and the fourth device and another virtual private network located between the third device and the fourth device.

10. A computer-based system securely transmitting and authenticating a transaction input by a user while retaining the anonymity of the user with respect to the content of the transaction, comprising:

a first device generating an encoded message, including a user input content portion, according to UPTF;

a second device further encoding the user input content portion of the encoded message with a coding key K_VSi and generating a second device encoded message corresponding to the transaction according to UPTF;

a third device receiving, decoding, and comparing the encoded messages of the first and second device to authenticate an identity of the user of the first device and to authenticate an occurrence of the transaction, and forwarding the encoded content of the transaction encoded with the code key K_Vsi; and

a fourth device receiving the encoded content of the transaction encoded with the code key K_VSi and using the code key K_VSi to determine the content of the transaction input by the user of the first device.

11. The computer-based system of claim 10, wherein coding algorithm used for further encoding the user input content portion of the encoded message with the coding key K_Vsi is commutative with the algorithm used by the first device to generate the encoded message.

12. The computer-based system of claim of claim 10, wherein the second device message does not include the user input content portion.

13. The computer-based system of claim of claim 10, wherein the second device and the fourth device agree on the code key K_Vsi, or a public key cryptographic key pair, prior the transaction being transmitted in the computer-based system, and

wherein the third device sends identifying information of the corresponding second device to the fourth device so that the fourth device can retrieve the code key K_VSi of the second device to decode the user input content portion of the encoded message encoded with the coding key K_Vsi.

14. The computer-based system of claim 10, wherein the third device cannot determine the user input content portion of the transaction the user input content portion of the encoded message is encoded with the coding key K_VSi, and the fourth device cannot determine the identity of the user that input the user input content portion of the transaction because the fourth device only receives the user input content portion of the transaction.

15. The computer-based system of claim 10, wherein the third device authenticates the identity of the user of the first device after successfully decoding the encoded messages of the first and second device by reconstructing the UPTF keys of each of the first and second devices since the third device knows the parameters of the coding algorithms used to produce the respective UPTF coding keys, and

wherein the occurrence of the transaction is authenticated by matching content of the successfully decoded messages of the first and second device according to a UPTF-SAS protocol.

16. The computer-based system of claim 10, wherein the transaction of the computer system is performed between the first and the second device, the transaction is an opinion registering application, and the user input content portion of the transaction is a ballot.

17. The computer-based system of claim 10, wherein there is more than one first device and more than one second device.

18. The computer-based system of claim 10, further comprising a virtual private network located between the second device and the fourth device and another virtual private network located between the third device and the fourth device.

19. A computer-based system securely transmitting and authenticating a transaction input by a user while retaining the anonymity of the user with respect to the content of the transaction, comprising:

a first device receiving from a second device a reference number, which relates to a not yet input transaction, the first device generating a first encoded message after the transaction, which is a user input content portion, is input by the user at the first device, such that the first encoded message includes the user input content portion that is encoded with a random code key K_V, the first device generating a second encoded message including, which includes the random code key K_V and the reference number, and sending the first and second encoded messages to the second device;

the second device storing the first encoded message, forwarding the second encoded message to a third device, and generating a third encoded message including the random code key K_V and the reference number and not containing the user input content portion;

the third device receiving the second and third encoded messages, which do not have the user input content portion, decoding the messages to authenticate an identity of the user and matching content of the second and third decoded messages to authenticate an occurrence of the transaction, and forwarding the code key K_V and the reference number to a fourth device; and

the fourth device receiving from the second device the first encoded message and the reference number, receiving from the third device the random code key K_V and the reference number, and determining from the received information the user input content portion of the transaction input by the user.

20. The computer-based system of claim 19, wherein the first encoded message is stored in a database of the second device and is not sent to the fourth device to be decoded until the third device has verified the identity of the user and the occurrence of the transaction.

21. The computer-based system of claim 19, wherein the third device never receives the user input content portion of the transaction input by the user, and the fourth device cannot determine the identity of the user that input the user input content portion of the transaction because the fourth device does not receive identifying information of the user.

22. The computer-based system of claim 19, wherein the computer system performs a transaction between the first and the second device, the transaction is an opinion registering application, and the user input content portion of the transaction is a ballot.

23. The computer-based system of claim 19, wherein there is more than one first device and more than one second device.

24. The computer-based system of claim 19, further comprising a virtual private network located between the second device and the fourth device and another virtual private network located between the third device and the fourth device.

25. The computer-based system of claim 19, wherein the user input content portion of the transaction is encoded whenever sent from the first device to any other device in the computer-based system, wherein the third device never receives the user input content portion of the transaction, and wherein there is an accounting for the transaction input by the user so that errors may be located.

26. A computer-based system securely transmitting and authenticating a transaction input by a user while retaining the anonymity of the user with respect to content of the transaction, comprising:

a device encoding the content of the transaction input by the user with a key known only to another device, encoding other portions of the transaction with another key known only to a secure transaction server, and sending the encoded content of the transaction and the encoded other portions of the transaction to the secure transaction server to authenticate an identity of the user of the device,

wherein the secure transaction server decodes the other portions of the transaction and sends the encoded content of the transaction to the another device to be finally decoded.

27. The computer-based system of claim 26, wherein the another device decodes the contents of the transaction without knowledge of the identity of the device, and wherein neither the secure transaction server nor the another device know both the contents of the transaction and the identity of the device.