Lightweight ICN Communication Protocol Using Huffman-Coded Requests

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing communication protocols for information-centric networking (ICN) face challenges in providing message confidentiality, especially for constraint devices with limited computational resources, and are vulnerable to censorship and brute-force attacks.

Innovation Solution

A lightweight secure communication protocol using Huffman coding to encode and decode messages, optimized for low compute power devices, which employs a unique key generation mechanism and pseudonym ranges to ensure confidentiality and resistance to attacks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If existing cryptographic schemes such as symmetric key cryptography are used, then message confidentiality is achieved, but computation overhead and energy consumption increase significantly for constrained devices

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage confidentialityVSAvoidcomputation overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces expensive cryptographic operations with cheap Huffman coding operations. Instead of using computationally intensive symmetric key cryptography, the system uses lightweight Huffman encoding/decoding that can be performed efficiently on constrained devices with minimal energy consumption, while still achieving the goal of message confidentiality through the protocol design

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent substitutes the mechanical/crypto system (symmetric key cryptography) with a different system (Huffman coding-based protocol). This replacement maintains the security function while dramatically reducing the computational burden on constrained devices, as Huffman coding is a simple table-lookup operation rather than a complex cryptographic computation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Reliability

If symmetric key cryptography is used for secure communication, then message confidentiality is provided, but vulnerability to brute force attacks increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage confidentialityVSAvoidbrute force attack vulnerability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the security mechanism from cryptographic key-based security to Huffman coding-based security. By transforming the security approach from relying on computational hardness (cryptographic keys) to relying on protocol design and encoding uniqueness, the system achieves confidentiality that is not vulnerable to traditional brute force attacks against cryptographic keys

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If anti-censorship masking mechanisms are implemented, then user censorship prevention is achieved, but request rates and communication efficiency deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecensorship resistanceVSAvoidrequest rate

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial masking through Huffman encoding rather than complete encryption. The encoding provides sufficient anonymity to prevent censorship while being computationally lightweight, allowing high request rates to be maintained. The encoding adds minimal overhead compared to full cryptographic encryption, thus preserving communication efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

4Use of energy by moving object

If lightweight encoding schemes are used for constrained devices, then computation overhead is reduced, but security strength against attacks decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputation overheadVSAvoidsecurity strength

Core Design Contradiction:

Use of energy by moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a composite security mechanism by combining Huffman coding with a multi-step protocol that includes encoding, hashing, and verification steps. This composite approach achieves security strength comparable to or exceeding traditional cryptography while maintaining the low computational overhead of Huffman coding, effectively creating a hybrid security solution that leverages the strengths of both lightweight encoding and protocol design

Inventive Principle:

Principle #40Composite materials

Data Source

PatentUS10601443B1Protocol for lightweight and provable secure communication for constrained devices

Publication Date: 2020.03.24 ARROWHEAD CENTER INC

AI summary

A method of sending content comprising receiving a membership request from a client at an anonymizer, the membership request being encrypted with a public key of the anonymizer, generating a table from a prefix-free source coding scheme with a full binary tree, a pseudonym range, and a master key, sending the table, the pseudonym range, and the master key, all encrypted with a public key of the client, receiving a content request with an encoded content name, the content request being encoded using the table, a pseudonym from the pseudonym range, and the master key, decoding the content name of the content request using the pseudonym, the table, and the master key, retrieving content corresponding to the content name, and sending the content and the encoded content name. Secure information sharing is also provided for.