Method and apparatus for secure transmission of data

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 60/196,009 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Secure Transmission of Data” filed on Apr. 7, 2000.

[0002] This invention relates generally to the secure transmission of data. More specifically, the invention relates to a system for establishing a secure exchange of information between a sending unit and a receiving unit.

[0003] In the transmission of data between a sender and a receiver, there is a need for a system that allows a secure transaction to take place when the sending unit and the receiving unit have not established a secure channel through which data can be transmitted. It is often difficult for a separate secure channel to exist. Hence, there is a need for a system that permits a secure exchange of information between the sending unit and the receiving unit when such a separate secure channel does not exist.

[0004] In one situation, for example, a sending unit will need to send administrative information to the receiving unit. This administrative information may not need to be encrypted. However, it will likely need to be authenticated. Thus, there is a need to ensure that the administrative information that was sent was not corrupted during its transmission through the transmission channel, for example, by an attacker. An attacker wishing to corrupt the transmitted message could stage a “man in the middle” attack on the transmission in order to corrupt the data. Thus, there is a need for a system that prevents such corruption.

[0005] The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transmitting data across an interface between a sending unit and a receiving unit. The system is capable of providing the sender with a shared key; providing the receiver with the shared key; providing the receiver with a receiver_—key; conveying the receiver_—key to the sender; providing the sender with a sender_—key; conveying the sender_—key to the receiver; providing a payload message; generating an authenticating payload message utilizing at least the shared key, receiver_—key, and sender_—key; generating a confirmatory authenticating payload message; and utilizing the authenticating payload message and confirmatory authenticating payload message to authenticate the payload message. A transaction identifier can also be used with the shared key, receiver_—key, and sender_—key, to generate the authenticating payload message and confirmatory authenticating payload message.

[0006] Other and further features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of this specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein certain methods and apparatuses for practicing the invention are illustrated. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the details disclosed but includes all variations and modifications that fall within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

[0009] The method for transmitting data across an interface can generally be stated as establishing an interface between a sender and a receiver, and providing the sender and the receiver with a shared key. The receiver is also provided with a receiver_—key and the sender is also provided with a sender_—key. The receiver and sender exchange their respective keys; thus, the sender obtains the receiver_—key and the receiver obtains the sender_—key. A payload message, namely, the message for which authentication is required, is then provided. An authenticating payload message is generated utilizing at least the shared key, the receiver_—key, and the sender_—key. A confirmatory authenticating payload message is also generated. Finally, the authenticating payload message and the confirmatory authenticating payload message are utilized to authenticate the original payload message.

[0010] Referring now to the flowchart 100 in FIGS. 1a, 1b, and 1c, a method for implementing one embodiment of the invention can be seen. In block 104, a sender is provided with a shared key. A “sender” is considered to be a sending unit, such as a transmitter, that broadcasts or sends signals, such as a binary stream of data, across a communication channel. The shared key will often be a secret key. Namely, a “shared key” is a key possessed by both the sender and receiver for use in establishing an authenticated transaction; however, it is not necessarily limited to such a use. For example, it could be a key exchanged between the sender and receiver as part of another process, such as the encryption/decryption process. Thus, the sender and receiver will each have a copy of the shared key. The receiver having the shared key is reflected in block 108. A “receiver” is considered to be a receiving unit that is capable of receiving signals sent by the sending unit across the communication channel. In block 112, a receiver_—key is generated. A “receiver_—key” is a key generated on the receiver side of the interface. One example of a receiver_—key would be a “nonce”. A nonce is a generated number e.g., a randomly generated number, that is utilized only once in a system. Nonces are useful in that they can be used to prevent a “replay” attack. Thus, if a nonce is used once between a receiver and a sender, the receiver and sender will recognize a replay attack if that same number used for the nonce is used again. In block 116, the receiver_—key is stored, for example, in a memory at the receiver. If nonces are used for the receiver_—key and sender_—key, they can be referred to as the receiver_—nonce and sender_—nonce, respectively. Furthermore, if the nonce is necessarily randomly generated, such a receiver_—key could be referred to as a receiver_—random_—number_—nonce.

[0011] In block 120, a transaction identifier is generated. The transaction identifier identifies the exchange of information process between the sender and the receiver. Thus, the sender and receiver couple the transaction identifier with information exchanged between the sender and receiver to identify the purpose of the information being exchanged. In the particular process of interest, the transaction identifier will identify the ongoing authentication transaction. Thus, in block 124, after the transaction identifier is generated, it can be stored, for example, at the receiver. In block 128, the previously generated receiver_—key is conveyed to the sender. Preferably, this conveyance occurs by transmitting the receiver_—key along with the transaction identifier across the interface to the sender, as illustrated by blocks 128 and 132. In this fashion, the transaction identifier can be coupled with the receiver_—key data such that the sender will recognize the purpose of the transmission.

[0012] In FIG. 1b, block 136, the receiver_—key which has been sent or conveyed to the sender is stored at the sender. In block 140, the transaction identifier generated at the receiver is stored at the sender, as well.

[0013] The process is generally repeated in the generation of a sender_—key as shown by blocks 144, 148, 152, and 156. A “sender_—key” is a key generated on the sender side of the interface. Thus, a sender_—key is generated as shown in 144. Again, the sender_—key can be a random number nonce in order to prevent a replay attack in the exchange of the sender_—key. In block 148, the sender_—key is stored at the sender. Then, the sender_—key can be conveyed to the receiver as shown in 152. As mentioned earlier, the exchange of information between the sender and receiver can be accomplished through the use of a transaction identifier which is attached to the information being exchanged between the sender and receiver. This is shown by block 156.

[0014] In block 160, the value of the transaction identifier conveyed with the sender_—key is compared to the stored value of the transaction identifier that was sent with the receiver_—key. If the comparison confirms that the transaction identifier is the same as the stored value, then the process continues. However, if the transaction identifier has changed, then the data is disregarded as part of the authentication procedure. This is illustrated by block 164. As illustrated in block 168, the sender_—key can then be stored at the receiver in the memory of the receiver if the transaction identifier is recognized.

[0015] Block 172 demonstrates the formation of the payload message. The payload message is the information of interest which is to be sent by the sender and authenticated. Thus, it is the information which necessitates the authentication process. An example of a payload message is a two bit packet of information that indicates four different levels of copy protection for an MPEG encoded data stream. Authentication refers to the process whereby a user or information source proves that it is who it claims to be. Thus, authentication allows information such as the payload message to be confirmed as to its origin.

[0016] In block 176, an authenticating payload message is formed. The authenticating payload message is a message which is used e.g., by the receiver, to authenticate the payload message sent by the sender. The authenticating payload message is formed utilizing data values possessed by both the sender and receiver. For example, the authenticating payload message can be formed by utilizing the shared key, the sender_—key, and the receiver_—key. Alternatively, the transaction identifier and/or additional data values can also be utilized to generate the authenticating payload message. By appending these various keys and/or identifiers and performing a hash algorithm on the appended set of data, a unique authenticating payload message is derived. It is not critical to utilize any particular algorithm to hash the fields of data. It is envisioned that any algorithm which creates a unique result based on a unique input of data could be utilized.

[0017] The payload message is conveyed to the receiver from the sender across the interface as illustrated in block 180. An “interface” is considered to be the physical point of demarcation between two devices. Thus, there is a receiver side of the interface and a sender side of the interface. This payload message is stored at the receiver in block 182. In FIG. 1c, block 184, the authenticating payload message is conveyed to the receiver. The authenticating payload message is then stored at the receiver as shown in block 186. In addition, the transaction identifier can be conveyed along with the authenticating payload message as shown in block 188. Once again, a comparison is made between the value of the transaction identifier which was stored by the receiver and the value of the transaction identifier conveyed with the authenticating payload message as shown in block 190. If the transaction identifier does not match the value that was sent earlier, the authenticating payload message is disregarded as shown in block 192.

[0018] In block 194, a confirmatory authenticating payload message is generated. The confirmatory authenticating payload message is generated on the receiver side of the interface utilizing the same information or data values that were utilized in the generation of the authenticating payload message. Thus, for example, the confirmatory authenticating payload message is generated by the receiver utilizing the shared key, receiver_—key, and sender_—key. Or, if the transaction identifier was used in generation of the authenticating payload message, it too would be utilized to generate the confirmatory authenticating payload message. The same algorithm would be utilized to generate the confirmatory authenticating payload message as was used to generate the authenticating payload message. Thus, the confirmatory authenticating payload message which utilize the same information as the authenticating payload message should be equivalent to the authenticating payload message. In order to determine whether they are equivalent, the confirmatory authenticating payload message is compared to the authenticating payload message, as shown in block 196. Such a test is made in block 197 to determine the equivalency of the two values. If the two values are not equivalent, then the process is aborted as shown in block 198. However, if the confirmatory authenticating payload message is equivalent to the authenticating payload message, then authentication is complete or is achieved and the payload information can be utilized, as shown in block 199.

[0019] FIG. 2 demonstrates a practical example of the method demonstrated in FIGS. 1a, 1b, and 1c. In the cable television industry, set top boxes have been utilized that contain both the set top components and the cable system conditional access system components integrated into stand alone chips. However, the 1996 Cable Act and 1998 FCC Rule and Order require that navigation devices be open to competition through the separation of security functions into a separate module. Thus, there is now a channel between the conditional access system of the set top box and the remainder of the set top box which is open to attack by those desiring to obtain the content of the cable transmission. FIG. 2 shows an implementation that can utilize the method described in FIGS. 1a, 1b, and 1c. In circuit 200, the cable headend 201 obtains an incoming signal which the cable access encryption system 208 encrypts. The encrypted signal is then sent to a quadrature amplitude modulation output 204. The QAM output signal is transmitted to a QAM input 212 at the set top box receiver 210. Once received, the signal is transmitted across the interface 222 to the sender 214. At the sender, the conditional access information is decrypted in block 216. Sender 214 is also comprised of a copy protection encryption unit 220 and memory 222. One aspect of the conditional access information is copy protection information. For example, a cable headend can indicate the level of copying allowed for a particular cable program. Thus, if the program is highly valuable, it may have copy protection that indicates that it is not allowed to be copied at the set top box. Alternatively, if the program is not valuable, the copy protection information could indicate that the set top box is free to make multiple copies of the program. As yet another alternative, the copy protection information may indicate that one additional copy is allowed to be produced by the set top box. Thus, this facilitates distributing the program to more than one device from the set top box. Therefore, the copy protection information for a program could be embodied in as few as one or two bits.

[0020] The copy protection information, also known as CCI information, needs to be conveyed across the interface 222 to the set top box. The interface between the sender 214 and receiver 210 is exposed, thus a level of authentication is required in sending the CCI information. An attacker might try to alter the CCI information so as to allow the set top box to produce multiple copies of a valuable program. Thus, the CCI information should be authenticated to ensure that an attacker does not corrupt the CCI information into a lower level of protection. The method in flowchart 100 described above can be utilized to accomplish this task. Namely, the sender and receiver will share an encryption/decryption key from an earlier transaction in which such a key was stored at both the receiver and the sender. Thus, they each have a copy of the shared key. In addition, as described above, they can exchange nonces so as to prevent a replay attack. Then, the CCI information can be utilized as the payload message and a hash algorithm can be implemented utilizing the shared key, the receiver_—key, and the sender_—key. Once the payload data is authenticated, the copy protection information is decrypted at the receiver 210 in block 224. With the copy protection information decrypted, the program signal can be distributed to the end user devices. Thus, in block 228, the decompression of the MPEG signal can be accomplished and output to the various transducer chips. For example, to produce a signal compatible with an analog TV, an analog output chip 230 could be utilized for end user device 234. Alternatively, if a digital TV 238 is the end user device, the MPEG signal could be sent to a 1394 firewire chip 232. Such would be the case as well for a digital VCR 242, shown in FIG. 2.

[0021] While various embodiments of the invention have been described as methods or apparatus for implementing the invention. It should be understood that the invention can be implemented through code coupled to a computer, e.g., code resident on a computer or accessible by the computer. For example, software could be utilized to implement many of the methods discussed above. Thus, in addition to embodiments where the invention is accomplished by hardware, it is also noted that these embodiments can be accomplished through the use of an article of manufacture comprised of a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, which causes the enablement of the functions disclosed in this description. Therefore, it is desired that the embodiments expressed above also be considered protected by this patent in their program code means as well.

[0022] It is also envisioned that embodiments of the invention could be accomplished as computer signals embodied in a carrier wave, as well as signals (e.g., electrical and optical) propagated through a transmission medium. Thus, the various information discussed above could be formatted in a structure, such as a data structure, and transmitted as an electrical signal through a transmission medium or stored on a computer readable medium.

[0023] It is also noted that many of the structures and acts recited herein can be recited as means for performing a function or steps for performing a function, respectively. Therefore, it should be understood that such language is entitled to cover all such structures or acts disclosed within this specification and their equivalents, including the matter incorporated by reference.

[0024] It is thought that the apparatuses and methods of the embodiments of the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from this specification and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form herein before described being merely exemplary embodiments thereof.