Method for zero-knowledge authentication of a prover by a verifier providing a user-selectable confidence level and associated application devices

摘要

Authentication is performed to a confidence level (CL) desired by a verifier ( 220 ). A prover ( 210 ) picks and sends certain same size, square matrices to the verifier ( 220 ). A random request bit is sent ( 234 ) from the verifier ( 220 ) to the prover ( 210 ) after the receipt of a certain square matrix. Depending on the request bit, calculations are made ( 244, 264 ) by the verifier ( 220 ) to determine if the matrices sent from the prover are verifiable. The prover ( 210 ) is iteratively authenticated by the verifier ( 220 ). Iterations are continued until ( 320 ) a count of the iterations (IL) reaches a number sufficient to achieve the desired confidence level (CL). After a delay, more iterations can achieve a higher confidence level by building on previous result of authentication without having to begin at zero. During this delay, the verifier ( 220 ) can perform tasks in reliance on the result of authentication. Digital logic can perform the authentication.