Cryptographic prescription system
View Patent ↗A method, computer program product, and data processing system for secure automated dispensing of prescription medications are disclosed. A preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes broadcast encryption to encrypt a prescription for storage on a machine-readable medium that is pre-written with a key management block (KMB). The KMB encodes a session key needed to read from or write to the medium. Each prescription-writing device and medication dispensing device is assigned a unique set of device keys, which are used to recover the session key from the medium. Only authorized devices are able to recover the session key from a medium's KMB. Thus, only authorized devices may read or validly write prescriptions from/to the machine-readable medium. Hence, only authorized providers can write fillable prescriptions and only authorized dispensers can dispense medications to fill those prescriptions.
1. A computer-performed method to authorize dispensing of prescription medications, the method comprising:
reading, by a computer, a portable prescription storage medium including a key management block, an encrypted prescription key, and an encrypted prescription for medication;
obtaining, by the computer, respective session numbers from the key management block using device keys associated with the computer and XOR-ing the session numbers to obtain a session key;
decrypting, by the computer, the encrypted prescription key with the session key to obtain a decrypted prescription key;
decrypting, by the computer, the encrypted prescription using the decrypted prescription key;
authorizing, by the computer, dispensing of medication according to the decrypted prescription;
collecting, by the computer, payment for the medication based on the authorization; and
dispensing, by the computer, at least one medication according to the decrypted prescription.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prescription storage medium is rewriteable.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a memory card.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a recordable optical medium.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reading a refill count from the decrypted prescription;
decrementing the refill count; and
re-encrypting the decrypted prescription for storage on the prescription storage medium such that the refill count, as re-encrypted, reflects said decrementing.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing prescription information from the decrypted prescription into storage of the computer; and
dispensing a prescription refill using the stored prescription information.
7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising stored instructions, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:
reading a portable prescription storage medium including a key management block, an encrypted prescription key, and an encrypted prescription for medication;
obtaining respective session numbers from the key management block using device keys associated with the computer and XOR-ing the session numbers to obtain a session key;
decrypting the encrypted prescription key with the session key to obtain a decrypted prescription key;
decrypting the encrypted prescription using the decrypted prescription key;
authorizing dispensing of medication according to the decrypted prescription;
collecting payment for the medication based on the authorization; and
dispensing at least one medication according to the decrypted prescription.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the prescription storage medium is rewriteable.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a memory card.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a recordable optical medium.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the additional actions of:
reading a refill count from the decrypted prescription;
decrementing the refill count; and
re-encrypting the decrypted prescription for storage on the prescription storage medium such that the refill count, as re-encrypted, reflects said decrementing.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the additional actions of:
storing prescription information from the decrypted prescription into storage of the computer; and
dispensing a prescription refill using the stored prescription information.
13. A data processing system for automatically dispensing prescription medications, comprising:
at least one processor;
data storage accessible to the at least one processor;
a media reader adapted to read data storage media;
medication dispensing authorization hardware;
a set of device keys in the data storage; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising stored instructions, when executed by the computer causes the computer to perform the steps of:
reading, with the media reader, a portable prescription storage medium including a key management block, an encrypted prescription key, and an encrypted prescription for medication;
obtaining respective session numbers from the key management block using the device keys and XOR-ing the session numbers to obtain a session key;
decrypting the encrypted prescription key with the session key to obtain a decrypted prescription key;
decrypting the encrypted prescription using the decrypted prescription key;
authorizing dispensing of medication using the medication dispensing hardware according to the decrypted prescription;
collecting payment for the medication based on the authorization; and
dispensing at least one medication according to the decrypted prescription.
14. The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the prescription storage medium is rewriteable.
15. The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a memory card.
16. The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the prescription storage medium is a recordable optical medium.
17. The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor executes the set of instructions to perform additional actions of:
reading a refill count from the decrypted prescription;
decrementing the refill count; and
re-encrypting the decrypted prescription for storage on the prescription storage medium such that the refill count, as re-encrypted, reflects said decrementing.