The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 21, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 29, 1996
Joshua L Cohen, Highland Park, NJ (US);
Cecil A Dean, Andover, MA (US);
Thomas L du Breuil, Georgetown, MA (US);
Daniel Nelson Heer, Newton, NH (US);
David P Maher, Largo, FL (US);
Vance Eugene Poteat, Windham, NH (US);
Robert John Rance, Andover, MA (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
The generation of electronic identifiers for network interface units connected to a data network for use in detecting unauthorized decryption of encrypted data transmitted over the data network. A random number is generated for use as a private key decryption code and is stored in memory in each network interface unit. A public key is calculated from the stored private key using a non-invertible mathematical formula. If the calculated public key is unique, then a portion of the public key (e.g. a subset of its bits) is stored in a data provider database as an electronic identifier for use in detecting unauthorized decryption of data by the interface unit.