Centralized Time Mediator for Secure Access Rights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for granting access to protected content on mobile devices rely on the insecure system clock for date and time information, which can lead to user confusion and integration challenges when a secure clock is introduced, as applications must handle two different time sources and require significant integration efforts to utilize a secure time source effectively.
Innovation Solution
A centralized component is used to store and manage access rights information, calculating the difference between the system clock and a secure clock, modifying the access rights information accordingly, and providing it to applications and users, ensuring all date and time information is relative to the familiar system clock.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a secure clock is introduced to provide accurate time for access control decisions, then the reliability of access rights determination is improved, but the device complexity increases due to maintaining two different time sources (secure clock and system clock)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized component that acts as an intermediary between the secure clock and applications. This component calculates the time difference between the secure clock and system clock, then modifies access rights information by this difference before presenting it to applications. This mediator approach allows applications to use the familiar system clock while still making accurate access control decisions based on the secure time, thereby improving reliability without increasing application-side complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a modified copy of the access rights information that incorporates the time difference between secure clock and system clock. Instead of requiring applications to directly access and process secure time, the system generates adjusted access rights data that reflects secure time constraints but is expressed in terms of system clock time. This copying approach allows accurate access control while maintaining simplicity for applications and users.
2Measurement precision
If applications directly access the secure clock to make access decisions, then the measurement precision of time-based access control is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates as users must understand and manage two different time sources
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized component serves as an intermediary that handles the complex task of translating between secure time and system time. Applications and users only interact with the modified access rights information expressed in system clock time, while the intermediary internally manages the secure clock comparisons and time difference calculations. This preserves measurement precision for access control while maintaining ease of operation for users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates adjusted copies of access rights information that are expressed in system clock time rather than secure time. These copied and modified access rights data structures allow applications to make precise access control decisions using familiar system time, eliminating the need for users to comprehend or manage dual time sources while maintaining accurate time-based enforcement.
3Reliability
If the secure clock is integrated into every application, then the reliability of access control is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring increases due to the complexity of system-wide integration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal centralized component that serves multiple applications simultaneously. Instead of integrating secure clock functionality into each individual application, this single multi-functional component provides secure time-based access control services to all applications that need it. The component calculates time differences and modifies access rights information in a unified manner, improving access control reliability across the system while dramatically reducing integration complexity compared to per-application implementation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for providing modified rights information to an application on an electronic device. A centralized component monitors both a system clock and a secure clock. The centralized component calculates the difference between the time of the system clock and the time of the secure clock and thereafter modifies the access rights information for the application by the difference between the times. The modified access rights information is then presented to the application for use.