METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REVOCATION LIST MANAGEMENT USING A CONTACT LIST HAVING A CONTACT COUNT FIELD

摘要

Access to information is controlled by maintaining, for a given device or other entity through which information may be accessed, a contact list that includes information identifying one or more other entities which have attempted to communicate with the given entity. The contact list further includes a contact count field specifying, for each of the entities on the contact list, the number of times the corresponding entity has attempted to communicate with the given entity. The contact list is utilized in conjunction with a revocation list stored in a memory associated with the given entity in order to determine which of the other entities are authorized to communicate with the given entity. The contact list is updated after a modification of the revocation list, or if a new entity not already included on the contact list attempts to communicate with the given entity. If the contact list does not have sufficient space to accommodate a non-revoked new entity, an entity already on the contact list is selected for removal from the contact list based on its corresponding contact count.