Keyboard Layout Mapping for Unique Password Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face challenges in managing multiple internet passwords securely and conveniently, as existing methods either compromise security or are inconvenient due to the need to remember or store complex passwords for various services.
Innovation Solution
A password management technique that uses a computer keyboard layout to generate unique passwords for each service, where a user remembers a key combination that, when mapped to a specific layout, produces a strong, unique password for each site, preventing password storage on the user's device and thwarting keylogger software.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users create strong, unique passwords for each service, then security is improved, but users cannot remember them all
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a keyboard layout mapping as an intermediary between the user's memorable key positions and the actual password characters. Users remember simple key positions on a keyboard layout, which then map to complex password characters through a predetermined mapping scheme. This intermediary allows users to generate strong, unique passwords without needing to memorize the actual password strings.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables users to generate their own passwords using a personal keyboard layout mapping that they create and control. The keyboard layout serves as a personal cryptographic key that users can independently manage, allowing them to generate unlimited unique passwords across different services while maintaining full control and memorability.
2Ease of operation
If users write down passwords to remember them, then memorization is improved, but security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the memorizable element (keyboard key positions) from the actual password characters. Instead of storing or writing down complete passwords, users only need to remember their personal keyboard layout mapping and key positions. The actual password characters are derived through the mapping relationship, which cannot be easily reverse-engineered even if someone observes password entry.
3Ease of operation
If users store passwords in browser for convenience, then ease of use is improved, but security against malicious users is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard layout mapping acts as a secret intermediary that never needs to be stored or transmitted. Users can implement automatic login by transmitting only the keyboard layout identifier and key positions, not the actual passwords. The receiving system uses the shared keyboard layout mapping to generate the actual passwords locally, eliminating the need to store sensitive password data in browsers or other storage locations.
4Ease of operation
If users use same password for all services, then convenience is improved, but security is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard layout mapping serves as a universal secret that can generate unlimited unique passwords across any number of services. Users maintain a single personal keyboard layout that works for all services, providing the simplicity of a single password system while actually generating service-specific unique passwords through the mapping relationship.
Data Source
AI summary
A password management service located either on a user computer or in the cloud intercepts a user's attempt to create an account on a Web site. The user enters a sequence of a physical key combination and the service assigns a particular keyboard layout for this Web site. The service generates a password by combining the key combination with the assigned keyboard layout and returns this password to the user or to the Web site. The service stores the name of the Web site in association with the designated keyboard layout. Upon a subsequent login attempt, the service again intercepts the user's typing of the same physical key combination, generates the same password by combining the key combination with the previously assigned and stored keyboard layout, and returns the generated password to the Web site for authentication. A keyboard layout for a site may be chosen by the user, may be selected by the service, or a random layout may be generated. The service enforces a password constraint of a site by adding in the required characters, by requiring the user to choose a new key combination, or by using a different keyboard layout.