Granted Patent B1

US 8,295,480 · App. 11/860,035 · Granted Oct 23, 2012

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. A key generation system comprising:

at least two communications system endpoints, each endpoint including a controller, each endpoint:

agreeing upon an authentication code;

agreeing upon a vocabulary;

agreeing upon a keypad, the keypad being an abstraction that represents a set of buttons, the buttons used for translation, with each keypad button having more than one possible value, the number of values being an uncertainty level; and

comprising a create cipher module and control that utilize the keypad to translate a local working key such that coincidences with a generated remote translated key can be evaluated, wherein the endpoints agree upon a keysize, wherein a key generation technique is repeated until an agreed upon keysize is reached, wherein the translated local working key results in a local translated key, wherein a cipher module is adapted to cipher the local translated key with the local working key and authentication code to produce a ciphered translated key, further comprising an I/O interface that allows each endpoint to exchange its respectively generated ciphered translated key, further comprising a deciphering module at each endpoint adapted to decipher the received ciphered translated key using the local working key and authentication code to generate respective remote translated keys.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication code is updated.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the keypad has a plurality of buttons, with each button having more than one possible value, the number of values inside the button is proportional to an uncertainty level.

4. A uncertainty-based key generation method comprising:

i. inputting an authentication code at a plurality of endpoints in a communication system, wherein each endpoint in the plurality of endpoints is a device that includes a controller;

ii. each endpoint, using a controller, creating a blank session key and agreeing on a session key size;

iii. each endpoint sharing a common alphabet;

iv. each endpoint sharing a common keypad, the keypad being an abstraction that represents a set of buttons, the buttons used for translation, with each keypad button having more than one possible value, the number of values being an uncertainty level;

v. each endpoint generating a local working key;

vi. each endpoint translating its respective local working key by using the common keypad and generating a local translated key;

vii. each endpoint ciphering its respective local translated key with its respective local working key and the authentication code, and generating respective ciphered translated keys;

viii. exchanging the ciphered translated keys between the endpoints;

ix. deciphering the exchanged ciphered translated keys with the local working keys and authentication code generating remote translated keys at each endpoint;

x. each endpoint finding a drop string by comparing the local translated key and the remote translated key;

xi. dropping the incorrect entries using the drop string;

xii. appending remaining digits of the working key to a session key; and

xiii. if the session key size is large enough, the process ends, or

xiv. if the session key size needs to be larger, the process continues back to step (v).

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising updating the authentication code.

Assignments (21)