International Business Machines Corporation

Michael Peter Kuyper-Hammond

Michael Charles Osborne

Michael Baentsch

Tamas Visegrady

Thorsten Kramp

Thomas D Weigold

Reto Josef Hermann

Peter Buhler

Frank Hoering

Thomas Eirich

Harold D Dykeman

Thomas Gschwind

Diego Alejandro Ortiz-Yepes

A method, a secure device and a computer program product for securely managing files. The method includes providing a secure device, where the secure device is protected by design against malicious software or malware and adapted to establish a connection to a server via a host, the host connected to the server through a telecommunication network, upon receiving a request for using a file stored on the secure device, processing the request at the secure device according to an updated use permission associated to the file, where the updated use permission is obtained by instructing at the secure device to establish a connection between the secure device and the server via the host and updating at the device the use permission associated to the file, according to permission data sent from the server through the established connection.

Method, secure device, system and computer program product for securely managing files

A method, a secure device, a system and a computer program product for securely managing user access to a file system. The method includes providing a secure device, where the secure device is protected by design against malicious software or malware and adapted to establish a connection to a server through a telecommunication network establishing a connection between the secure device and the server, receiving at the secure device, through the established connection, data pertaining to a file system identifying files which are at least partly stored outside the secure device, exposing at the secure device the file system to a user, based on the data received from the server, the file system navigable by the user.

Method, secure device, system and computer program product for securely managing user access to a file system

A system and method of performing electronic transactions between a server computer and a client computer. The method implements a communication protocol with encrypted data transmission and mutual authentication between a server and a hardware device via a network, performs a decryption of encrypted server responses, forwards the decrypted server responses from the hardware device to the client computer, displays the decrypted server responses on a client display, receives requests to be sent from the client computer to the server, parses the client requests for predefined transaction information by the hardware device, encrypts and forwards client requests, displays the predefined transaction information upon detection, forwards and encrypts the client request containing the predefined transaction information to the server if a user confirmation is received, and cancels the transaction if no user confirmation is received.

System and method of performing electronic transactions

A user trusted device and a software update method for updating the device. The device includes: a connection interface enabling connection with a host computer; a persistent memory storing a boot enabling data structure and a network updater, wherein: the network updater is configured to interact with firmware of the host computer to initiate communication over a network; and the boot enabling data structure: is detectable by the firmware upon connection of the user trusted device with the host computer; is such that host computer can boot from the user trusted device, as per the data structure of the boot enabling data structure; and includes instructions for the firmware to initiate a transfer of the network updater on the host computer for subsequent execution, upon the host computer booting from the user trusted device.

Network updatable user trusted device

A mobile touch-generating device includes logic; a touch-generating system, including one or more touch-generating elements, operatively coupled to the logic and configured to generate touch events detectable by a touchscreen, via the elements; a network connectivity device operatively coupled to the logic to establish a secure connection with a server via a telecommunication network and receive data through an established secure connection; and a visualization device connectable to the logic to display contents according to data received through the established secure connection.

Mobile touch-generating device as secure loupe for touchscreen devices

A mobile touch-generating device having logic and a touch-generating system. The touch-generating system includes one or more touch-generating elements. The touch-generating system is operatively coupled to the logic to generate touch events via the one or more touch-generating elements, the touch events detectable by a touchscreen, such as, a capacitive sensing touchscreen. Also provided are: (i) a method of bidirectional communication between a mobile touch-generating device and a touchscreen device; and (ii) a computer readable non-transitory medium containing a computer program which, when executed, causes a computer to execute the steps of the above method.

Mobile touch-generating device and communication with a touchscreen

Methods and apparatus are provided for authenticating communications between a user computer and a server via a data communications network. A security device has memory containing security data, and security logic to use the security data to generate an authentication response to an authentication message received from the server in use. An interface device communicates with the security device. The interface device has a receiver for receiving from the user computer an authentication output containing the authentication message sent by the server to the user computer in use, and interface logic adapted to extract the authentication message from the authentication output and to send the authentication message to the security device. Includes a communications interface for connecting to the server via a communications channel bypassing the user computer. Either the security device or interface device sends the authentication response to the server via the communications channel bypassing the user computer.

Authentication of data communications

An authorization device for authorizing operations of a remote server requested from user computers via a data communications network includes a computer interface configured to connect to a local user computer for facilitating communication with the remote server via a data communications network, a user interface configured to present information to a user, and control logic. The control logic is adapted to use security data accessible to the control logic to establish, via the local user computer, a mutually-authenticated connection for encrypted end-to-end communications with the server; collect from the server, via the connection, information indicative of any operation requested via a different connection to the server and requiring authorization by the user; and present the information to the user via the user interface to prompt for authorization of the operation.

Authorization of server operations

A method of decoding a two-dimensional enhanced-density barcode. A first and a second barcode are encoded in the enhanced-density barcode. The enhanced-density barcode includes a set of blocks. Each block includes a predefined number of sub-pixels. The blocks of the enhanced-density barcode being arranged relatively to each other in a geometrical lattice having a first and a second lattice direction. The method includes the steps of distorting of the enhanced-density barcode in the first lattice direction, resulting in a first distorted barcode, distorting of the enhanced-density barcode in the second lattice direction, resulting in a second distorted barcode, reconstructing the first barcode by low-pass filtering the first distorted barcode, reconstructing the second barcode by low-pass filtering the second distorted barcode.

Enhanced-density barcode

An apparatus for reading a multi-modal barcode is provided. The apparatus includes a camera, an edge detector, wherein the edge detector comprises a filter to read a secondary image, a quantization component, and a barcode processor.

Multi-modal one-dimensional barcodes

An apparatus for reading a multi-modal barcode is provided. The apparatus includes a camera, an edge detector, wherein the edge detector comprises a filter to read a secondary image, a quantization component, and a barcode processor. Also provided is a multi-modal barcode including a single-dimensional grayscale structure, wherein the structure is stretched in a perpendicular direction to its single-directional axis.

Techniques for decoding a multi-modal barcode are provided. The techniques include scanning a multi-modal barcode into a grayscale image, applying a threshold to quantize the grayscale image into a monochrome image, passing the monochrome image to 1D barcode recovery to reconstruct a primary barcode, applying a horizontally-oriented edge detector to the grayscale image to quantize grayscale into monochrome, passing the monochrome image to a 1D barcode recovery process to reconstruct a secondary barcode to decode the multi-modal barcode.

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Kaltbrunn, Switzerland

Michael Peter Kuyper-Hammond