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US 6,026,163 AGranted
Distributed split-key cryptosystem and applications
OwnerSilvio Micaliinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A distributed split-key cryptosystem and application in a public-key setting wherein each of a plurality of trustees independently selects his own secret-public key pair. The trustees combine their public encryption keys into a single public encryption key. Using this combined public key for an electronic auction and other secure transactions.
Claims4
A method for an electronic auction with encrypted bids, comprising:
- having each of a plurality of trustees generate an individual public key with a corresponding individual secret key;
- combining the individual public keys of the plurality of trustees into a combined public key;
- encrypting a bid of a user with the combined public key;
- reconstructing a combined secret key corresponding to the combined public key from the individual secret keys of the plurality of trustees;
- and
- using the combined secret key to decrypt the user's bid.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.