Trusted hardware component for distributed systems
US9455992B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 12, 2009 |
| Grant date | Sep 27, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2209/127
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Techniques for utilizing trusted hardware components for mitigating the effects of equivocation amongst participant computing devices of a distributed system are described herein. For instance, a distributed system employing a byzantine-fault-resilient protocol—that is, a protocol intended to mitigate (e.g., tolerate, detect, isolate, etc.) the effects of byzantine faults—may employ the techniques. To do so, the techniques may utilize a trusted hardware component comprising a non-decreasing counter and a key. This hardware component may be “trusted” in that the respective participant computing device cannot modify or observe the contents of the component in any manner other than according to the prescribed procedures, as described herein. Furthermore, the trusted hardware component may couple to the participant computing device in any suitable manner, such as via a universal serial bus (USB) connection or the like.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.