The invention relates to methods and apparatuses for acquiring a physical measurement, and for creating a cryptographic certification of that measurement, such that its value and time can be verified by a party that was not necessarily present at the measurement. The certified measurement may also include corroborative information for associating the actual physical measurement process with the certified measurement. Such corroborative information may reflect the internal or external state of the measurement certification device, as well as witness identifiers of any persons that may have been present at the measurement acquisition and certification. The certification may include a signal receiver to receive timing signals from a satellite or other external source. The external timing signals may be used to generate the time included in the certified measurement, or could be used to determine the location of the measurement certification device for inclusion in the certified measurement.

Claims

25 · 3 independent · depth 3

25 granted claims

›1.independentA device for secure measurement acquisition and certification, comprising:n(a) a sensor;(b) a time generator;(c) a computing device, including a compu…+12

›2.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the time generator includes a clock.d2

›3.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the cryptographic operation includes a one-way function.d2+2

›6.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the cryptographic operation includes encryption with an encryption key.d2+1

›8.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the output device comprises a printer.d2

›9.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the output device includes means for writing to a magnetic substrate.d2

›10.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the output device includes means for writing to a semiconductor substrate.d2

›11.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the output device includes a display.d2

›12.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the tamper resistance means is a secure enclosure.d2

›13.↳ 1The device of claim 1 wherein the secure enclosure encapsulates at least one of the sensor, the time generator and the computing device.d2

›14.independentAn apparatus comprising:nan input device configured to receive a first signal and a second signal, the first signal being based at least in part on a …+5

›20.independentA method comprising:nreceiving, by a computing device via an input device, a first signal that is based at least in part on a physical measurement;rec…+5

Classifications

21 codes

IPC · International Patent Classification

Section G — Physics

G06F21/00
G06F11/30
G06F7/04

Section H — Electricity

H04L9/32
H04K1/00
H04L9/28
H04L29/06
H04L9/00

USPC · US Patent Classification

713/178713/181380/255713/189713/175380/262713/161713/182713/168380/28726/5713/156726/18

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Pendency

3.2 y

1,154 days filing → grant

Office actions

non-final + final

Responses

2 RCE

Examiner

Aravind Moorthy

art unit 2492 · TC 2400

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Citations: 56 back · 0 forward

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1 priority documents

›Priority documents — 1

Type	Document	Date
related publication	US 20090313473 A1	17 Dec 2009

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