Patent · US Expired

Certificate revocation performance optimization

US5687235A · kind A · utility

122Cited by
5References
32Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 26, 1995
Grant dateNov 11, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 26, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L9/3268
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is an improved certificate revocation process that improves the efficiency of an authentication exchange in a public key distributed network system. Specifically, the present invention includes a novel revocation service (RS) that, in response to a unique request from a server node, selects certain revoked certificates from a current CRL to include in its reply so as to consume minimal system bandwidth. The unique request includes a number of parameters for consideration by the RS in generating its reply, including a maximum CRL size and/or a timestamp. The maximum CRL size indicates the largest number of revoked certificate serial numbers that the server node can process and thus receive in the revocation service reply, whereas the timestamp indicates the latest certificate revocation date of the certificates included in the CRL presently retained by the server node. Significantly, the RS generates an optimal CRL for its reply that contains all, part, or none of the current CRL revoked certificate serial numbers. Determination of the optimal CRL entails consideration of any number and combination of optimization factors, including the number of revoked certif…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.