Rateless Network Coding with Shared Secret for Pollution Resilience

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing network coding systems are vulnerable to adversarial errors due to the need for prior knowledge of network capacity and adversary parameters, which can be costly and impractical to estimate, especially in dynamic networks.

Innovation Solution

A rateless network error correction code that uses shared secret randomness to encode and decode messages without requiring prior knowledge of network capacity or adversary parameters, allowing for efficient error correction and reliable multicast even in the presence of adversarial errors.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If coding schemes assume given network capacity and adversary parameters for code design, then error correction capability is improved, but system complexity and cost of estimating parameters increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveerror correction capabilityVSAvoidcomplexity of estimating network capacity and adversary parameters

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent transforms the coding scheme from requiring fixed network capacity and adversary parameter assumptions to adapting dynamically to varying network conditions. The code construction parameters are changed based on observed packet transmission patterns and error rates, allowing the system to maintain optimal error correction capability without needing to estimate network capacity in advance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements preliminary error correction mechanisms by pre-processing received packets through syndrome computation and error detection algorithms before full decoding. This preliminary action identifies corrupted packets early, allowing the system to request retransmissions or adjust decoding strategies without waiting for complete code execution, thereby reducing overall system complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If rateless coding schemes are designed to work without prior knowledge of network parameters, then adaptability is improved, but decoding complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to work without network capacity knowledgeVSAvoiddecoding complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the decoding process into multiple independent stages: syndrome computation, error pattern identification, candidate solution generation, and verification. Each stage processes a subset of received packets independently, allowing parallel computation and reducing overall decoding complexity while maintaining the rateless property of adapting to any network capacity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces intermediary structures such as parity-check matrices and syndrome vectors that mediate between the received coded packets and the original message. These intermediaries simplify the decoding complexity by transforming the complex rateless decoding problem into a series of simpler linear algebra operations that can be efficiently solved even without prior network parameter knowledge.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Productivity

If network coding is used to maximize throughput and improve robustness, then communication efficiency is improved, but vulnerability to adversarial jamming increases due to packet pollution

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork throughputVSAvoidvulnerability to packet pollution from adversarial jamming

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary anti-action by embedding error detection and correction codes in the network coding process before packets can be polluted by adversarial jamming. The syndrome computation and error pattern identification algorithms proactively detect corrupted packets, and the system requests retransmissions or adjusts routing to prevent polluted packets from compromising overall communication integrity, thereby maintaining throughput despite adversarial conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent converts the harmful effect of adversarial jamming into a benefit by using the presence of errors as additional information for error correction. The error patterns introduced by jamming are detected and analyzed to identify the adversary's behavior, which then informs the decoding strategy to correct not only the jammed packets but also to improve overall robustness against future attacks, effectively turning the harm into enhanced security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Data Source

PatentUS10652217B2Method and system for rateless and pollution-attack-resilient network coding including decoder(s)

Publication Date: 2020.05.12 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

A decoder deployed in one or more terminals, includes a computer readable storage medium storing program instructions, and a processor executing the program instructions, the processor configured to receiving a noisy message and a noisy hash from the network, searching for a pair of matching candidates for the hash and message from two row spaces of noisy message vectors using a shared secret with an encoder, and outputting, by the decoder, a decoded message if the searching is successful.