Digital License Certificates for Offline Authority Authentication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication systems lack a reliable method for verifying the authenticity of issuing authorities in transactions, especially in offline scenarios where online authentication services are unavailable, and current solutions often require revealing unnecessary personal information.
Innovation Solution
A digital certificate generated by a certification authority is associated with a digital license to authenticate the issuing authority, using a public-private key infrastructure to ensure trust and legitimacy, allowing offline verification by relying parties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a digital license is issued by an issuing authority without a digital certificate, then the digital license can be generated and shared, but the relying party cannot verify the authenticity of the issuing authority
Solution Approach 1:
A digital certificate is introduced as an intermediary component between the issuing authority and the relying party. The certificate contains the issuing authority's public key and is signed by a certification authority, enabling the relying party to verify the issuing authority's authenticity without requiring direct trust relationships or complex verification procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses cryptographic copying of the issuing authority's public key within the digital certificate framework. The certificate creates a verified copy of the public key that can be transmitted and verified by relying parties, eliminating the need for the issuing authority to be directly known or trusted by them.
2Reliability
If online authentication services are used to verify issuing authority authenticity, then verification can be performed, but transactions in locations without stable online connections cannot be authenticated
Solution Approach 1:
The digital certificate is generated and associated with the digital license before the transaction occurs. This preliminary action stores the verifying information locally on the user's device, enabling offline authentication without requiring online connections during the actual transaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service authentication where the relying party can verify the issuing authority's authenticity using the digital certificate stored on the user's device without needing to contact an online authentication service. The verification is performed locally using the certificate and the transaction data.
3Reliability
If physical driver's licenses or vaccination records are provided for verification, then authentication can be performed, but more personal information about the user is revealed than needed for the transaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary verification information (the digital certificate containing the issuing authority's public key) from the user's digital license, separating it from other personal information. This allows the relying party to verify authenticity without accessing or revealing unnecessary personal data about the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The digital license is segmented into distinct components: the digital certificate (containing verifying information), the user's personal data, and the transaction data. This segmentation allows selective sharing of only the certificate for authentication purposes, keeping personal information private and preventing its revelation during transactions.
Data Source
AI summary
An issuing authority (IA) may validate the identity of a user and issue a digital license to the user. IA may generate IA public-private key pair, and provide IA public key to the certification authority (CA). IA may sign the digital license with IA private key, and provision the signed digital license on the user device. IA may request CA to certify the digital license. CA may use IA public key to validate the digital license, and sign IA public key with CA private key, thereby generating a digital certificate associated with the issuing authority that is linked to the digital license. A relying party may use CA public key to validate the digital license. The relying party can retrieve the information from the digital license and trust that the retrieved information is legitimate.