International Business Machines Corporation

William Robert Pulleyblank

Chai Wah Wu

Charles Philippe Tresser

Gustavo Alejandro Stolovitzky

Marco Martens

Andrea Califano

Stephen Carl Kaufman

Timothy Joseph Chainer

John Anthony Tomlin

Claude Alexander Greengard

Alan Jerome Hoffman

A method of processing semiotic data includes receiving semiotic data including at least one data set P, selecting a function h, and for at least one of each data set P to be collected, computing h(P), destroying data set P, and storing h(P) in a database, wherein data set P cannot be extracted from h(P). The method further includes selecting a private key/public key (K, k) once for all cases, one of destroying the private key K and sending the private key K to a trusted party, and choosing function h as the public encryption function corresponding to k.

Semiotic system and method with privacy protection

A method (as well as system and signal-bearing medium) of processing biometric data, includes receiving biometric data including a data set P, selecting a secure hash function h, and for each data set P to be collected, computing h(P), destroying the data set P, and storing h(P) in a database, wherein data set P cannot be extracted from h(P).

The present invention provides methods and apparatus to detect and reliably record the physical history of a product including effects due to one or more of the following: 1) product use 2) handling 3) tampering and 4) environment of the product (as changes in the environment, such as excessive temperatures, humidity, or shocks, can result in degradation to a product). The apparatus includes a &ldquo;smart card&rdquo;, or, more generally, &ldquo;smart token&rdquo;, in combination with one or more sensors which record the external influences on the product and/or the environment and records those changes in an encrypted form. This information can then be verified by any individual who is equipped with a (possibly public) decryption key, but capability to modify this information, depending on the application, is restricted to those with access to the encrypting key. Furthermore, the apparatus contains authentication information which can be reliably verified, in particular to confirm that the apparatus is attached to the product it supposed to be attached to.

Method and apparatus for securely determining aspects of the history of a good

A method, system, and data structure are provided which facilitate matrix multiplication with advantageous computational efficiency. The invention, as variously implemented as a processing system, method, or data structure in a recording medium such as a memory, has applicability to numerous fields, including linear programming, where a great deal of multiplication of large, sparse matrices is performed. The method of the invention includes the steps of creating a first submatrix block from non-zero terms of a sparse matrix, such that all of the terms within a given column of the submatrix block are form a respective column of the sparse matrix, creating a corresponding second index submatrix block of the same dimensions as the first block, such that each term of the second block identifies the position of the corresponding term of the first block within the sparse matrix, in terms of a row and column index. Finally, the method includes reordering terms of the first and second blocks correspondingly, as necessary to produce a final configuration within the first and second blocks such that all of the row indices within any given row of the second block are distinct.

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Croton on Hudson, NY, United States of America

William Robert Pulleyblank