Remanufactured Image-Forming Device Memory Authentication Offline
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remanufacturing technologies for image-forming devices require excessive network communication and calculation costs, and there is a risk of unreliable operation due to unverified data being written to device memories.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus that includes a memory with a rewritable storage area, a first private key for signature generation, and a control circuitry to generate and write digital signatures and electronic certificates, ensuring reliability without constant server access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is written to device memory during remanufacture, then device reliability is improved, but communication cost and calculation cost increase due to server access requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-storing the public key and electronic certificate in the device memory before remanufacture operations begin. This allows subsequent data writing to be verified offline without requiring server access during each remanufacture operation, thus reducing communication and calculation costs while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an electronic certificate as an intermediary that mediates between the server and device memory operations. The certificate, stored in advance, serves as a trusted intermediary that enables verification of data integrity without requiring continuous server communication, thereby reducing communication costs while ensuring reliability
2Ease of operation
If data is freely written to device memory, then ease of operation is improved, but device reliability deteriorates due to unverified data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the device to autonomously verify data integrity using the pre-stored public key and electronic certificate. The device can independently validate written data without external server intervention, maintaining both ease of operation and reliability through self-verification capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The electronic certificate acts as an intermediary that enables trustworthy data writing operations. It provides a mechanism for verifying data integrity that allows free writing operations while ensuring reliability through cryptographic verification using the pre-stored public key
3Reliability
If server access is required for each remanufacture operation, then data reliability is improved, but productivity decreases due to excessive communication overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent improves productivity by performing the server communication and certificate verification in advance, before remanufacture operations begin. This preliminary action eliminates the need for repeated server access during each remanufacture operation, thereby increasing efficiency while maintaining data reliability through the pre-stored verification credentials
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an information processing apparatus for remanufacturing a device that can be attached to an image-forming apparatus. The device includes a memory with a rewritable storage area and a component element involved in an image-forming operation. The information processing apparatus includes: a storage that pre-stores a private key for signature generation, a public key corresponding to the private key, and an electronic certificate for certifying reliability of the public key; a connection interface for the information processing apparatus to connect to the device; and control circuitry. The control circuitry obtains characteristic information representing a characteristic of the component element after remanufacture, generates a digital signature of the characteristic information using the private key, and writes the characteristic information, the digital signature, the public key, and the electronic certificate to the storage area of the memory of the device.