Granted Patent B2

US 9,491,146 · App. 13/830,343 · Granted Nov 8, 2016

Inventors: Marc E. Davis (San Francisco, CA); Matthew G. Dyor (Bellevue, WA); William Gates (Medina, WA); Xuedong Huang (Bellevue, WA); Roderick A. Hyde (Redmond, WA); Edward K. Y. Jung (Bellevue, WA); Jordin T. Kare (Seattle, WA); Royce A. Levien (Lexington, MA); Richard T. Lord (Tacoma, WA); Robert W. Lord (Seattle, WA); Qi Lu (Bellevue, WA); Mark A. Malamud (Seattle, WA); Nathan P. Myhrvold (Medina, WA); Satya Nadella (Clyde Hill, WA); Danny Allen Reed (Iowa City, IA); Harry Shum (Medina, WA); Clarence T. Tegreene (Mercer Island, WA); Lowell L. Wood, Jr. (Bellevue, WA)

Assignee: Elwha LLC

H04L63/0428G06Q10/10G06Q50/01H04L9/088H04L9/0825H04L9/0866H04L9/0894H04L9/3236

Abstract

Claims (61)

1. A system comprising:

circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption;

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the circuitry for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key;

circuitry for associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key; and

circuitry for transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption comprises:

circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity an encrypted version of at least one of a device identifier, a username, a real name, an alias, a unique identifier, a date, a date and time, or biometric data as at least a portion of the at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a human user.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity an encrypted version of at least one of a device identifier, a username, a real name, an alias, a unique identifier, a date, a date and time, or biometric data as at least a portion of the at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a human user comprises:

circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one hash corresponding to at least one of a device identifier, a username, a real name, an alias, a unique identifier, a date, a date and time, or biometric data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption comprises:

circuitry for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted persona corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the circuitry for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key comprises:

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data via public key cryptography.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data via public key cryptography comprises:

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data using a certificated public key.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data using a certificated public key comprises:

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data using an RSA key.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the circuitry for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key comprises:

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data using a public key that is not held by a certificating authority.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the circuitry for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key comprises:

circuitry for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, wherein the circuitry for encrypting is further configured to delete the at least one instance of data subsequent to producing the level-one-encrypted data.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key comprises:

circuitry for associating as metadata the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, and wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key comprises:

circuitry for associating as descriptive metadata the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and further wherein the encrypted identifier functions as a key-pair designator for a level-one-encryption entity.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the circuitry for associating as descriptive metadata the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and further wherein the encrypted identifier functions as a key-pair designator for a level-one-encryption entity comprises:

circuitry for associating as descriptive metadata the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the encrypted identifier functions as a key-pair designator for a level-one-encryption entity, and further wherein a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted identifier is inaccessible to the level-one-encryption entity.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the circuitry for transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier comprises:

circuitry for transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier to a level-two-encryption entity.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption;

encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the encrypting being performed on the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key;

associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key; and

transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier; and

wherein at least one of the accepting, the encrypting, the associating, or the transmitting is performed at least partly with one or more processing devices.

15. A computer program product comprising:

an article of manufacture including a non-transitory signal-bearing medium bearing:

(1) one or more instructions for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption;

(2) one or more instructions for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the one or more instructions for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key;

(3) one or more instructions for associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key; and

(4) one or more instructions for transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory signal-bearing medium comprises:

a computer-readable medium;

a recordable medium; or

a communications medium.

17. A system comprising:

a computing device; and instructions that when executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

(1) accept from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption;

(2) encrypt the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the encrypting of the at least one instance of data being at least partly performed with a level-one asymmetric encryption key;

(3) associate the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key; and

(4) transmit the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the computing device comprises:

at least one of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal entertainment device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer, a networked computer, a computing system comprised of a cluster of processors, a computing system comprised of a cluster of servers, a workstation computer, or a desktop computer.

19. A system comprising:

means for accepting from a user identifier encryption entity at least one encrypted identifier corresponding to a user having at least one instance of data for encryption;

means for encrypting the at least one instance of data to produce level-one-encrypted data, the means for encrypting configured to perform the encrypting of the at least one instance of data at least partly with a level-one asymmetric encryption key;

means for associating the at least one encrypted identifier with the level-one-encrypted data, wherein a level-one decryption key for the level-one-encrypted data is inaccessible to the user identifier encryption entity, and wherein the level-one decryption key is an asymmetric decryption key that is not the same key as the level-one asymmetric encryption key; and

means for transmitting the level-one-encrypted data and associated encrypted identifier.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the asymmetric encryption key is a public key associated with asymmetric key cryptography.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the asymmetric decryption key is a private key associated with asymmetric key cryptography.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the asymmetric encryption key and the asymmetric decryption key together form a public-private key pair.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (21)