An Apple patent (number 20110320814) for a system and method for authentication has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It involves a means of providing authentication based on a process that utilizes, in one aspect, a physical theory or a physical value such as time and in another aspect, a random value.

The proposed scheme utilizes new algorithms that introduce randomness using a physical value for authentication. An exemplary method includes sharing an initial state value S(0) with a sender and a receiver, generating a sender S(t, v) based on a parameter t and an identifier v and based at least in part on the value S(0). The method includes generating a receiver S(t, v) from S(0) based on the parameter t and the identifier v wherein the parameter t is related to a physical value in authenticating the identifier v based on a comparison of the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v). The process of generating the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v) includes a random variable generated by a process such as by a random number generator, the Brownian Motion or Wiener Process. Other embodiments do not use the physical value for authentication. The inventors are Mathieu Ciet, Augustin J. Farrugia, Jean-Francois Riendeau and Nicholas T. Sullivan.

Another new Apple patent (number 20110320806) for a system and method for modulus obfuscation appeared today. It involves methods for obfuscating data via a modulus operation. A client device receives input data, stores an operation value, performs a modulus obfuscation on the operation value, performs a modulus operation on the operation value and the input data, performs a modulus transformation on the operation value and the input data to obtain client output data, and checks if the client output data matches corresponding server output data.

A corresponding server device receives input data, performs a modulus transformation on the input data to obtain a result, performs a plain operation on the result and an operation value to obtain server output data, and checks if the server output data matches corresponding client output data from the client device. The client and/or server can optionally authenticate the client input data and the server input data if the server output data matches the client output data. The inventors are Mathieu Ciet, Augustin J. Farrugia and Nicholas T. Sullivan.

-- Dennis Sellers