CONTEST
Competed
$3,500
This contest is closed.
Problem
Patexia is looking for descriptions of private-public key encryption system (also known as a public key encryption or asymmetric key encryption) where a verification string is also provided to prove that the provided public key is authentic and genuine, without revealing the private key in the process.
Submitted documents describing this system must be:
- filed or published before 05/28/1997
- not on the known references list
The entire submission should describe a verification string that:
- proves the public key is authentic and genuine
- can itself be verified without using the private key
- requires the private key to be generated
- can’t be used to reverse-engineer the private key
This contest is for a prior art search for US Patent 6,202,150, with a focus on claims 1, 2, 3, 4, and 17.
Contest icon by Arthur Shlain via the Noun Project.
Contest Update: A previous version of this contest had a typo for question 5 asking that "the private key and verification string is provided anytime someone wishes to establish a secure communication protocol". It has been corrected to say "the public key and verification string is provided anytime someone wishes to establish a secure communication protocol".
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before May 28th, 1997? | T/F |
| 2 | Does the reference show a private + public key encryption scheme, that additionally includes a verification method checking that the public key is authentic? | 10 |
| 3 | Does the reference show that the verification is a string that (1) proves that the public key is correct and associated to the private key, and (2) can itself be verified as authentic without the private key? | 40 |
| 4 | Does the reference show that this verification string is (3) generated from the private key, but (4) can’t be used to reverse-engineer the private key? | 40 |
| 5 | Does the reference show that the public key and verification string is provided anytime someone wishes to establish a secure communication protocol (for example, over the Internet)? | 10 |
Additional Notes
This is a Prior Art Search contest aimed at determining if a patent idea was known and publicly available before a patent was filed.
+5 bonus points will be awarded for non-patent literature and for foreign language references.
This contest will close on Sunday, January 24th, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST.
Please review the Contest Rules. For more information on how to submit to this Contest type, please read the Intro to Prior Art Search page.
