Other

Frederick Electronics Corporation

Trans-cryption, Inc.

The United States of America As Represented by the United States

The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator

Marvin K Perlman

Milton Goldfine

Richard I Perlman

John W Spaniol

John J Bowerman

Martin G Buehler

Jack L Woodell

Larry C Bieber

John F Wilson

William A Moshier

Philip K Hammond

Robert A Montgomery

Edward D Hoover

Richard F Perlman

Richard S Perlman

A process for realizing mappings between codewords of two distinct (N,K) Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2.sup.J) having selected two independent parameters: J, specifying the number of bits per symbol; and E, the symbol error correction capability of the code, wherein said independent parameters J and E yield the following: N=2.sup.J -1, total number of symbols per codeword; 2E, the number of symbols assigned a role of check symbols; and K=N-2E, the number of code symbols representing information, all within a codeword of an (N,K) RS code over GF(2.sup.J), and having selected said parameters for encoding, the implementation of a decoder are governed by: 2.sup.J field elements defined by a degree J primitive polynomial over GF(2) denoted by F(x); a code generator polynomial of degree 2E containing 2E consecutive roots of a primitive element defined by F(x); and, in a Berlekamp RS code, the basis in which the RS information and check symbols are represented. The process includes separate transformation steps for symbol-by-symbol conversion for a first RS code to ultimately a second conventional RS code capable of being corrected by a conventional RS decoder, followed by a reverse sequence of the inverse of the first set of steps to arrive at codewords having corrected information symbols, at which time check symbols of the RS code may be discarded.

Mappings between codewords of two distinct (N,K) Reed-Solomon codes over

Each access attempt transmitted to an authentication agency causes the agency to produce a request identifier unique to that request. The request identifier is transmitted back to the authentication code generator of the user initiating the access attempt, and to an authentication code generator in the agency. The agency also retrieves a user identifier from a database and sends it to its authentication code generator. Both the user's authentication code generator and the agency's authentication code generator independently combine, through identical or complementary transformations, the user identifier and the request identifier to form a user authentication code and an agency authentication code. The two authentication codes are presented by a comparator, which issues a permit signal only if the comparison indicates a match between the two authentication codes. The permit signal is transmitted to a transaction control device to permit the transaction to proceed. Since the authentication code is unique to each transaction attempt, interception of an authentication code will not permit an unauthorized user to successfully initiate another transaction. As an additional security feature, the user of irreversible transformations in the authentication code generator would prevent decoding of an intercepted authentication code and would not allow an unauthorized user to derive the user identifier associated with the transaction. As required by a particular application, additional levels of security can be achieved by using encryption steps in combination with the irreversible transformations at selected points in the process.

Transaction authentication using a centrally generated transaction

A removable hood ornament is created in a manner which renders it virtually impervious to the wearing and corrosive action of time. A stock hood ornament and ornament seat element are both milled slightly. A shaft which will seat in a socket mounted on the underside of the vehicle hood is inserted up through the seat. The shaft has a threaded bifurcated top with a transverse bore therethrough which straddles the standard tongue of the ornament, with a pin passing through the bore of the shaft and through the mounting hole in the tongue to engage the shaft and tongue together. A threaded washer previously rotated onto the top of shaft is now tightened up against the underside of the ornament seat at a relatively high torque, which bends the pin and frictionally engages all of the parts together under sufficient force that for all practical purposes they will never come apart unless deliberately separated.

Portable hood ornament structure

A theft alarm actuator is provided for an alarm system for a hood ornament, utilizing a pair of spaced insulating plugs held apart by a coil spring and retained together by the long end of a safety pin-like clip which engages a detent in the hood ornament element, and has a long leg which passes down thrugh the plugs, with a nut engaged on the threaded end of the long leg beneath the lower contact such that deflection of the hood ornament element raises the clip, bringing the contacts, which are mounted on the plugs, together to actuate the alarm. The alarm itself is not part of the invention, and could be any electrically-operated unit actuated by closing the circuit.

Hood ornament alarm actuator

A memory system is provided, of the type which includes an error-correcting circuit that detects and corrects errors, which more efficiently utilizes the capacity of a memory formed of groups of binary cells whose states can be inadvertently switched by ionizing radiation. Each memory cell has an asymmetric geometry, so that ionizing radiation causes a significantly greater probability of errors in one state than in the opposite state (e.g., an erroneous switch from '1' to '0' is far more likely than a switch from '0' to '1'). An asymmetric error-correcting coding circuit can be used with the asymmetric memory cells, which requires fewer bits than an efficient symmetric error-correcting code.

Asymmetric soft-error resistant memory

A Mercedes Benz hood ornament structure is modified to include an alarm actuator switch connected to the vehicle horn. The spring-loaded restraint which holds the hood ornament element in its upright position is affixed with a sliding contact which rises into contact with a fixed contact when the hood ornament is deflected forwardly. The two contacts are wired into the horn circuit so that the horn is actuated when the ornament element is deflected forwardly, and the geometry of the mounting for the hood element is such that deflections rearwardly and sideways, such as might occur by accident or in a car wash, will not actuate the horn.

Hood ornament alarm

A theft alarm is provided for a hood ornament utilizing a pair of spaced plugs held apart by a coil spring and retained together by a central hook and threaded post which extend through axial bores through the plugs with the hook extending up through the hole in the hood to engage the hood ornament. The plugs each mount an electrical contact, and when the ornament is deflected, the coil spring is compressed between the plugs, bringing the electrical contacts into contact and setting off an alarm, which ordinarily is the vehicle's horn.

Hood ornament theft alarm

A verifier for use in a personal identification system of the type in which a generator receives at least a personal account number (PAN) and a secret personal identification number (PIN) and based thereon produces digits A.sub.i 's which are present in a feedback shift register (FSR) A and digits C.sub.i 's present in a feedback shift register (FSR) C respectively. The A.sub.i 's and C.sub.i 's are mapped into D.sub.i 's which represent digits of an Offset Number which together with the PAN are recorded on the magnetic stripe of a card. To use the cards the Offset Number and the PAN are read off therefrom and an intended user enters a secret PIN. In the verifier, the PIN is operated upon to produce C.sub.i 's and the PAN is operated upon to produce A.sub.i 's. The latter together with the D.sub.i 's of the received Offset Number are mapped by a processer (201) to form C.sub.i.sup.c 's. These are compared with the C.sub.i 's by a comparator (202) to determine whether the intended card user is the rightful user.

Verifier for a personal indentification system

A personal identification system comprises a generator which generates an Offset Number which is recorded on the magnetic stripe of a card, together with the account number (PAN) of the person to whom the card is to be issued. The generator stores transformed digits of a sequence of digits (IN) which have been secretly entered by one or more officers of the card-issuing institution. To generate the Offset Number the PAN is entered and transformed before being stored to initialize a first feedback shift register. The person to whom the card is to be issued enters a chosen alphanumeric sequence (PIN) secretly known only to him. The PIN, after undergoing transformation is stored to initialize a second feedback shift register. When both registers have been initialized they are reinitialized by different parts of different digits of the transformed IN. Different digits of the two registers are used to initialize a control feedback shift register which when reaching a selected state in its cycle of states controls the generator to generate the Offset Number, based on a selected mapping of the digits, then present, in the first and second feedback shift registers. To use the card it is entered into a verifier. Therein the PAN and Offset Number on the magnetic stripe are read out. The intended user enters a PIN, and the verifier, like the generator, generates an Offset Number. Only if the PIN entered into the verifier is identical to that entered into the generator, does the verifier produce an Offset Number identical to that read off the card, thereby indicating that the card user is the one to whom the card was issued.

Personal identification system

A distributed processing telex switch having different levels of processor control to handle the calls between terminations connected to the exchange is disclosed. A common control processor occupies the highest level of processor control and function as the system-wide manager. Next below common control is a plurality of master control processors which function to switch the command data between common control and the lower levels of processor control, and to handle the conversation data generated by each of the terminations connected to the exchange. Each master control processor controls a predetermined number of termination from among all of the terminations connected to the exchange. Connected to each master control processor is a plurality of group control processors which control the flow of data to and from a second predetermined number of terminations from among the terminations controlled by each master control processor. The group control processors occupy the next lower level of processor control from the master control level. Associated with each group control processor is a line control processor that cooperates with its associated group control processors to produce the signaling sequences in the terminations and to handle the conversation data from and to the terminations. The line control processor occupy the lowest level of processor control.

Distributed processing telex exchange

A circuit for the systematic handling of conversation data from a calling party to a called party for use in a distributed processing telex exchange is disclosed. The customer terminations connected to the exchange are divided into a predetermined number of groups of terminations having a predetermined number of terminations in each group. Associated with each group of terminations is a frame memory which has memory capacity for storing a single bit of conversation data from every termination connected to the exchange. Associated with each frame memory is a vector memory which has a memory location associated with each termination in a group. Each vector memory location contains a frame memory address that addresses the location in frame memory containing the conversation data to be forwarded down to the termination associated with the current vector memory address. In addition, each vector memory location contains an active bit which is included with the conversation data forwarded to the called party termination to indicate that a call is in progress for that termination.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Marvin K Perlman