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AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsERIK HOLT, STEFAN THOM, SHIVARAM H. MYSORE, VALERIE KATHLEEN BAYS, CARL ELLISON
Estimating the term…
A cryptographic device protocol provides a generic interface allowing pre-OS applications to employ any of a variety of cryptographic devices within the pre-OS environment. The generic interface can be used independent of the specific cryptographic devices and is independent of the cryptographic or hashing algorithms used by each device. Cryptographic functions may be performed in the pre-OS environment by pre-OS applications communicating with cryptographic device drivers using the cryptographic device protocol that is independent of the cryptographic devices. Each cryptographic device may be identified by a unique device identifier and may have a number of keys available to it, with each key being identified by a unique key identifier.
One or more computer-readable media embodying computer-useable instructions for performing a method of facilitating communication between a pre-operating system (OS) application and one or more cryptographic device drivers using a generic cryptographic device protocol to thereby enable one or more cryptographic functions to be performed for the pre-OS application, the method comprising:
One or more computer-readable media embodying computer-useable instructions for implementing a method comprising performing a cryptographic function in a pre-operating system (OS) environment using a cryptographic device identified by a unique device identifier and using a key available to the cryptographic device, the key being identified by a unique key identifier, wherein a pre-OS application communicates with a cryptographic device driver associated with the cryptographic device to request performance of the cryptographic function by employing a generic cryptographic device protocol independent of a type of the cryptographic device.
A computerized system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.