Audio communication based electronic signature system and method thereof

• US 9,172,536 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Feitian Technologies Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Feitian Technologies Company Limited
• Inventors: Lu, Zhou, Yu, Huazhang
• Primary Examiner(s): Flanders, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US13/519,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,240 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0877 using additional device, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard, USB or hardware security module [HSM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3231 Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

An audio communication based electronic signature system and a method thereof are provided. The system includes: an audio smart key device including an interface module, a data processing module, a smart key module and a power module; and a terminal including an audio output interface, an audio input interface and an application unit. The interface module of the audio smart key device communicates with the terminal in the form of audio signal and it can perform operations of A/D conversion and modulation and demodulation on the audio signal. In the signing method, the terminal sends an audio signal including important data to the smart key device, the audio smart key device receives and decodes the audio signal, demodulates the decoded data and decrypts the demodulated data, signs the decrypted data, encodes, modulates and encrypts the signature result subsequently, sends the crypted result to the terminal, where the encrypted result is sent to the server for signature verification.

Claims

1. An audio communication based electronic signature system, comprising an audio smart key device and a terminal, the audio smart key device comprising an interface module, a data processing module, a smart key module, a key pair generating unit, and a power module, wherein:

the interface module is configured to establish a connection with an audio input interface and an audio output interface of the terminal, to receive an audio signal sent by the terminal, to convert the audio signal into a digital signal and send the digital signal to the data processing module, to convert the digital signal into an audio signal and send the audio signal to the terminal, and the interface module is further configured to modulate and demodulate the digital signal;

the data processing module is configured to parse the digital signal from the interface module and send the parsed data to the smart key module, and the data processing module is further configured to package the data from the smart key module to obtain a digital signal and send the digital signal to the interface module;

the smart key module is configured to perform an operation on the data received by the data processing module and send an operation result to the data processing module;

the power module is configured to supply power for the audio smart key device;

the terminal comprises the audio output interface, the audio input interface and an application unit,

the audio output interface is configured to output the audio signal generated by the terminal to the audio smart key device;

the audio input interface is configured to receive the audio signal sent to the terminal from the audio smart key device;

the application unit is configured to revoke a multi-media application interface to enable the terminal to access the audio interfaces, and to convert a digital signal to be sent into the audio signal or convert the received audio signal into a digital signal,

the smart key module includes;

a decryption unit, a signing unit, and an encryption unit

the decryption unit is configured to decrypt a message, the message being included in the parsed data received from the data processing module;

the signing unit is configured to sign the decrypted message to obtain a signature value and to send the signature value to the encryption unit;

the encryption unit is configured to encrypt the signature value and to send the encrypted signature value to the data processing module;

the key pair generating unit is configured to generate a public key and a private key, to send the private key to the encryption unit, and to send the public key to a server;

the decryption unit is further configured to receive the public key sent by the server to the audio smart key device and to decrypt a message with the received public key; and

the encryption unit is further configured to encrypt the signature value with the private key generated by the key pair generating unit and to send the encrypted signature value to the data processing module.

3. The electronic signature system of claim 1, wherein the smart key device further comprises:

an input module configured to receive operation information inputted by a user and transfer the operation information to the smart key module, and an output module configured to receive data from the smart key module and output the data to the user.

4. The electronic signature system of claim 3, wherein the smart key module comprises a message parsing unit configured to process the decrypted message, to extract critical information to be displayed and to send the critical information to the output module.

5. The electronic signature system of claim 1, wherein the smart key device further comprises a USB interface configured to:

recharge the power module, or, receive and send communication data between the smart key device and the terminal.

19. The electronic signature system of claim 3, wherein the smart key module performs the operation by:

signing important data transferred from the data processing module or signing data which needs to be confirmed before signature and has been confirmed by a user, extracting critical information from the important data received from the data processing module and sending the critical information to the output module, and verifying identity data transferred from the data processing module.

2. An audio communication based electronic signature system, comprising an audio smart key device and a terminal, the audio smart key device comprising an interface module, a data processing module, a smart key module and a power module, wherein:

the interface module is configured to establish a connection with an audio input interface and an audio output interface of the terminal, to receive an audio signal sent by the terminal, to convert the audio signal into a digital signal and send the digital signal to the data processing module, to convert the digital signal into an audio signal and send the audio signal to the terminal, and the interface module is further configured to modulate and demodulate the digital signal;

the data processing module is configured to parse the digital signal from the interface module and send the parsed data to the smart key module, and the data processing module is further configured to package the data from the smart key module to obtain a digital signal and send the digital signal to the interface module;

the smart key module is configured to perform an operation on the data received by the data processing module and send an operation result to the data processing module;

the power module is configured to supply power for the audio smart key device;

the terminal comprises the audio output interface, the audio input interface and an application unit,

the audio output interface is configured to output the audio signal generated by the terminal to the audio smart key device;

the audio input interface is configured to receive the audio signal sent to the terminal from the audio smart key device;

the application unit is configured to revoke a multi-media application interface to enable the terminal to access the audio interfaces, and to convert a digital signal to be sent into the audio signal or convert the received audio signal into a digital signal,

the smart key module includes;

a decryption unit, a signing unit, and an encryption unit

the decryption unit is configured to decrypt a message, the message being included in the parsed data received from the data processing module;

the signing unit is configured to sign the decrypted message to obtain a signature value and to send the signature value to the encryption unit;

the encryption unit is configured to encrypt the signature value and to send the encrypted signature value to the data processing module; and

the interface module is further configured to;

process the received audio signal with methods of transformation, rectification and filtering and send the processed audio signal to the power module;

or

process the received audio signal sequentially with methods of transformation with a voltage doubling circuit, rectification and filtering;

or

process the received audio signal with methods of rectification, filtering, DC-DC voltage boosting and filtering and send the processed audio signal to the power module.

6. An audio communication based electronic signing method, comprising:

step A;

Encoding a first data package to be sent to obtain a first waveform data and accessing an audio interface via an application unit, by a terminal;

step B;

Converting the first waveform data into a first audio signal and sending the first audio signal to an audio smart key device, by the terminal;

step C;

Receiving the first audio signal and decoding the first audio signal to obtain the first data package, by the audio smart key device;

step D;

Unpackaging the first data package to obtain a signature obtaining instruction and extracting important data message from the signature obtaining instruction, by the audio smart key device;

step E;

Signing, by the audio smart key device, the important data message;

step F;

Packaging, by the audio smart key device, a signature result to form a second data package;

step G;

Encoding the second data package to obtain a second waveform data, converting the second waveform data into a second audio signal and sending the second audio signal to the terminal, by the audio smart key device; and

step H;

Receiving the second audio signal, sampling the second audio signal to obtain the second waveform data and decoding the second waveform data to obtain the signature result, by the terminal;

wherein the audio smart key device generates a public key and a private key, sends the public key to a server, receives the public key sent by the server and the audio smart key device decrypts the first data package with the received public key, and the audio smart key device encrypts the signature result with the private key.

7. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step A comprises:

encoding, by the terminal, the first data package to be sent to obtain the first waveform data with a predetermined encoding method via the application unit;

transferring, by the terminal, the first waveform data to a multi-media application interface in the application unit on a terminal operation system; and

revoking, by the multi-media application interface, a low-layer hardware driver to access the audio interface.

8. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein a predetermined low level or high level is present at a beginning of the first waveform data in the step A.

9. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein:

the first data package to be sent in the step A is a base-band digital signal including instruction and message packaged with a private protocol;

the instruction comprises a signature obtaining instruction and a personal identification number verifying instruction; and

the first waveform data is obtained by encoding the base-band digital signal with a predetermined encoding method, or by modulating and encoding the base-band digital signal with a predetermined encoding method.

10. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the first data package and the second data package are encrypted data packages, or, data in the first data package and the second data package are encrypted data.

11. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the first data package and the second data package comprise verification values of the data.

12. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step A comprises:

encoding the first data package to obtain a base-band signal waveform applicable to channel transfer and encoding the base-band signal waveform to obtain the first waveform data with a predetermined encoding method; and

before the process of encoding the base-band signal waveform to obtain the first waveform data with the predetermined encoding method, the electronic signing method further comprises;

modulating the base-band signal waveform.

13. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the first audio signal in the step B is an audio signal with a low-to-high transition or a high-to-low transition.

14. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step C comprises:

receiving the first audio signal, recovering the first waveform data from the first audio signal, decoding the first waveform data to obtain the first data package and sending the first data package to a data processing module, by an interface module of the audio smart key device.

15. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step C comprises:

receiving the first audio signal, recovering the first waveform data from the first audio signal, demodulating the first waveform data, decoding the demodulated first waveform data to obtain the first data package and sending the first data package to a data processing module, by an interface module of the audio smart key device.

16. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step D comprises:

receiving and unpackaging the first data package to obtain a signature obtaining instruction and a verification value, and extracting an important data message from the signature obtaining instruction, by a data processing module of the audio smart key device;

computing a verification value from data in the received first data package with a predetermined algorithm and comparing the computed verification value with the verification value from unpackaging, by the data processing module;

if a match is found, determining that the received data is correct and sending the important data message to the smart key module, by the data processing module;

or if a match is not found, determining that the received data is incorrect and returning an error to the terminal, by the audio smart key device.

17. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the step D comprises:

unpackaging the first data package by a data processing module of the audio smart key device to obtain a personal identification number verifying instruction, sending by the data processing module the personal identification number verifying instruction to the smart key module, verifying by the smart key module whether the personal identification number is correct and sending a verification result to the data processing module.

18. The electronic signing method of claim 6, wherein the signing process in the step E comprises:

signing the important data message as a whole, or, extracting and signing a part of the important data message.