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:
Apr. 09, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 02, 1998
Michael F. Angelo, Houston, TX (US);
David F. Heinrich, Tomball, TX (US);
Hung Q. Le, Katy, TX (US);
Richard O. Waldorf, Cypress, TX (US);
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A computer system according to the present invention implements a self-modifying “fail-safe” password system that allows a manufacturer or site administrator to securely supply a single-use password to users who lose a power-up password. The fail-safe password system utilizes at least one fail-safe counter, an encryption/decryption algorithm, a public key, and a secure non-volatile memory space. The fail-safe password is derived by generating a hash code using SHA, MD5,or a similar algorithm and encrypting the result. The fail-safe password is then communicated to the user. After the user enters the fail-safe password, the computer system generates an internal hash value and compares it with the hash code of the decrypted fail-safe password. When the decrypted fail-safe password matches the internal hash value, the user is allowed access to the computer system.