Encryption/decryption system.

0001This invention relates to devices for providing message secrecy and more particularly to an encryption/decryption system for insertion in a digitalized communication channel to maintain message privacy.

0002Communication channels, particularly radio communication links, are increasingly being used to transmit highly confidential and important data and messages between and within businesses. The need to safeguard such data from eavesdropping and unauthorized tampering has grown correspondingly. One traditional protection technique is to encrypt the data at the transmitting end and decrypt it at the receiving end.

0003However, previous efforts to safeguard data communications have had difficulty reconciling the need for a high level of secrecy with other important goals, such as simple construction and low cost, quick recovery from transmission errors, and minimum reduc­tion of message throughput.

0004For example, certain conventional systems employ nonlinear en­cryption by storing a controlling encryption key variable at the transmitting and receiving ends and using a technique in which the encryption at a later time depends on the encrypted message at an earlier time. Such systems have an exceptionally high level of message secrecy. However, if provision is made for the encryption key variable to have a large number of possible val­ues, the conventional system can become rather slow in recovering from transmission errors in the received encrypted signal. Each transmission error interferes with correct decoding, causing a blackout period during which it is impossible to correctly de­crypt a corresponding portion of the message. Enabling the encryption key variable to have a greater variety of possible values lengthens the blackout period.

0005Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a new and improved encryption/decryption system which enables the encryp­tion key variable to have a larger variety of possible values without greatly increasing the errors in the decoded signal reproduced at the receiving end. Yet another object is to pro­vide such a device with a very high level of message secrecy without sacrificing relatively simple construction and moderate cost.

0006In keeping with one aspect of the invention, an encryption/de­cryption system for a communication channel encrypts an input digital signal at the transmitting end and reproduces it at the receiving end. The transmitting end of the system has a first storage register, a first memory, a first selector device, and an encrypted signal composing device. The encrypted signal compos­ ing device combines a randomized coding signal with the input digital signal to form an encrypted signal segmented into frames.

0007For additional protection, the invention uses cipher feedback. The first storage register stores bits of the encrypted signal and outputs them in parallel. The first memory receives these parallel bits as addresses and outputs corresponding random num­bers. The first selector device selects from the random number data to form the randomized coding signal fed to the encrypted signal composing device.

0008The receiving end has a second storage register, a second memory, a second selector device, and a digital signal reproducing de­vice. The second storage register stores bits of the received encrypted signal and outputs them in parallel. The second memory receives these parallel bits as addresses and outputs correspond­ing random numbers. To enable decoding, the working and stored contents of the first and second memories are identical.

0009The second selector device, operating the same way as the first, selects from the random number data to form a decoding signal. The digital signal reproducing device combines the received en­crypted signal with the randomized decoding signal to reproduce the input digital signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

0010The above mentioned and other features of this invention and the manner of obtaining them will become more apparent, and the invention itself will be best understood, by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Fig. l is a block diagram of a first embodiment of an inven­tive encryption system for use at the transmitting end of a communications link;</li><li>Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of an inven­tive decryption system for use at the receiving end of a communi­cations link to decode signals transmitted from the system of Fig. l;</li><li>Fig. 3 is a timing chart for use in describing the operation of the systems of Figs. l and 2;</li><li>Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a communications transmitting system employing a prior art encryption device;</li><li>Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a communications receiving system employing a prior art decryption device;</li><li>Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the inventive encryption system for use at the transmitting end of a communications link; and</li><li>Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the inventive decryption system for use at the receiving end of a communications link to decode signals transmitted by the system of Fig. 6.</li></ul>

0011An example of a prior art encryption device employed in a commun­ications transmitting system is shown in Fig. 4. For decoding, Fig. 5 shows a complementary prior art decryption device employed in a communications receiving system. In the encrypted transmit­ting system of Fig. 4, a digital input signal S is combined by an Exclusive OR (XOR) gate 2 with a randomized digital encoding signal Y successively output from a transmitter memory unit l. This produces an encrypted signal Z for transmission.

0012To produce cipher feedback, the successive bits of the encrypted digital signal Z are input for temporary storage to an M bit shift register 3 as shift register bits R₁, R₂, ..., R_M.Memory unit l has 2^M addresses, each of which contains a prestored random bit, a logical 0 or l. The register bits R₁, R₂, ..., R_M are then used in parallel as an input address to memory unit l, which outputs the prestored random bit at that address as the next bit of Y.

0013The encrypted digital signal Z is input to a transmitter 4, which transmits it whenever a transmission switch 5 is closed.

0014In the prior art decoder receiving system of Fig. 5, a received digital signal Z′ is output by a receiver 9. The received signal Z′ is input to an M bit shift register 6 as shift register bits R′₁, R′₂, ..., R′_M.

0015A receiver memory unit 7 has 2^M addresses, each of which contains a prestored bit. The register bits R′₁, R′₂, ..., R′_M are then used in parallel as an input address to memory unit 7, which outputs the prestored random bit at that address as the next bit of a decoding signal Y′.

0016The received signal Z′ is successively combined by an Exclusive OR (XOR) gate 8 with the decoding signal Y′ to generate a repro­duced signal S′.

0017The prior art receiving system makes use of a general property of binary digits A and B that (A XOR B) XOR B = A That is, if A and B are any two bits that have been combined by an XOR (Exclusive OR) operation, the way to recover A from the output of the operation is to further XOR the output with B.

0018Therefore, to enable the digital signal S input to the transmit­ting system to be reproduced by the receiving system, the pre­stored random bits of the receiver memory unit 7 of the receiving system are made identical to those stored in the corresponding addresses of the transmitter memory unit l of the transmitting system.

0019The transmitting system sends the signal Z = S XOR Y, the XOR operation being equivalent to mod 2 addition of the binary sig­nals S and Y. When the signal Z is transmitted without error, Z′ = Z, and the corresponding bits of registers 3 and 6 are also equal. That is, the register bits used in parallel for the memory addresses are the same at the receiving end as at the transmitting end, R′₁ = R₁, R′₂ = R₂, ..., R′_M = R_M. If the contents of the two memory units 7 and l are identical, their corresponding outputs Y′, Y will also be identical.

0020It follows that: S′ = Z′ XOR Y′ = Z XOR Y = (S XOR Y) XOR Y = S That is, reproduced signal S′ equals the initial input signal S.

0021In this prior art system, the encryption and decryption opera­tions are controlled by the particular random bit pattern stored in the addresses in memory units l and 6. This important con­trolling bit pattern is called the encryption key variable.

0022Such conventional encryption/decryption devices have the advan­tages of simple construction and, because they use nonlinear encryption, an exceptionally high level of message secrecy. How­ever, they have the disadvantage that increasing the number of possible random bit patterns that might be stored in the memories l and 7, that is enabling the encryption key variable to have a larger variety of possible values, also increases the system′s weakness with respect to transmission errors. For example, in order to increase the variety of random binary bit patterns available for the memories l and 7, it is necessary to increase the number of addresses in these memories. Conventionally, the number of bits M used in shift registers 3 and 6 must be in­creased to add more addresses.

0023However, increasing the shift register length M can degrade system recovery from transmission errors in the received signal Z′. Until any errors in received signal Z′ have passed complete­ly through the M bit shift register 6, they generate errors in the decoding signal Y′ output by memory 7. When these errors are being generated, the output signal S′ of the receiving system cannot reproduce the proper transmitted information. This black­out or interruption continues for an interval equal to the time it takes to transmit M bits.

0024Therefore, these systems have the disadvantage that the number of possible values for the encryption key variable cannot be in­creased without lengthening the duration of the interrupting effect on the reproduced signal S′ caused by any transmission error.

0025Fig. l shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of an encryp­tion system that overcomes these problems for use at the trans­mitting end of a communications link. An XOR (Exclusive OR) gate l0 combines an input digital signal S with a randomized coding signal Y to produce an encrypted digital signal Z.

0026As part of the encryption, a shift register l2 receives and temporarily stores the successive bits of signal Z as register bits r₁, r₂, ..., r_m. The m register bits are then provided in parallel as an input memory address to a transmitter memory unit 22. Each of the 2^m addresses in memory unit 22 is prestored with a corresponding n bit random number x₁, x₂, ..., x_n.

0027The number n is an integer equal to or greater than 2. As each address r₁, r₂, ..., r_m is input, encoder memory 22 outputs its corresponding stored random number x₁, x₂, ..., x_n. Random se­ lection circuit ll selects from among the n bit random number data x₁, x₂, ..., x_n output by memory unit 22 to form each frame of bits of the coding signal Y.

0028Random selection circuit ll comprises an encoder frame counter l5, an encoder memory l4, and an encoder selector circuit l3. A frame pulse FP output by a frame sync pulse generator l6 is input as a clock signal to counter l5, which has q bits. The counter bits b₁, b₂, ..., b_q are provided in parallel as an input memory address to the encoder memory l4. Each of the 2^q addresses in encoder memory l4 is prestored with a corresponding p bit random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p. The random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p stored at address b₁, b₂, ..., b_q is output to selector circuit l3 to change its selection contents.

0029In other words, encoder counter l5 and encoder memory l4 together form a random number generator, generating a random number for the selector circuit l3 for each frame of the signal. If de­sired, a PN (pseudorandom noise) signal generator or the like can instead be used as the random number generator.

0030Encoding circuit l3 receives each of the n bit random numbers x₁, x₂, ..., x_n output by transmitter memory unit 22. Based on the value of random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p for the current frame, random selection circuit l3 selects from among the n bit random number data x₁, x₂, ..., x_n output by memory unit 22 to form each frame of bits of the coding signal Y. Signal Y is then combined with input signal S by XOR gate l0 to produce the encrypted digital signal Z.

0031The encrypted signal Z is input to a frame composing circuit l9, which combines it with a frame sync signal FS and a START signal prefix to produce a TDATA signal for transmission. The frame sync signal FS is generated by a frame sync signal generator l7 in response to a frame sync pulse FP from pulse generator l6. The START signal prefix is generated by a start signal generator l8 in response to the closing of a transmission switch 2l. The TDATA signal is then transmitted by a transmitter 20.

0032Transmission switch 2l is arranged so that, when it is closed, it activates transmitter 20. When switch 2l is first closed, it also sends encoder counter l5 a Clear signal to set it to a preselected initial value.

0033Figure 3 shows the make-up of each frame of the TDATA signal output as well as its relationship in time to its corresponding frame sync pulse. In Fig. 3, "START" indicates the START signal, "FS" the frame sync signal, "Z" the encrypted signal Z, and "FP" the frame sync pulse.

0034Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a decryp­tion system for receiving the signal transmitted by the system of Fig. l and reproducing from it the input digital signal S.

0035A receiver 23 picks up the transmitted signal of Fig. 3 and outputs a received digital signal RDATA. Signal RDATA is input to a separator circuit 24, a frame sync signal detector 25, and start signal detector 26.

0036Separator circuit 24 separates out a received encrypted signal Z′ from the received signal RDATA. If there have been no errors in the transmission path, this signal Z′ is identical to the trans­mitted encrypted digital signal Z.

0037More particularly, detector 26 detects the START signal prefix at the beginning of the RDATA signal and outputs a start pulse SP. Frame sync signal detector 25 detects each frame signal FS and outputs a frame sync pulse FP. The frame pulses FP output by detector 25 are used to synchronize separating circuit 24 so that for each frame it can separate out just the signal Z′ which corresponds to the Z portion of the transmitted signal of Fig. 3.

0038The frame pulse FP is also provided as a clock signal to a decoder frame counter 3l in a decoder random selection circuit 28. The start pulse SP from detector 26 is provided as a Clear signal to counter 3l to set it to a preselected initial value.

0039The encrypted received signal Z′ output by circuit 24 is input to both a shift register 27 and an XOR gate 33. Shift register 27 receives and temporarily stores the successive bits of signal Z′ as register bits r′₁, r′₂, ..., r′_m. These m register bits are then provided in parallel as an input memory address to a receiv­er memory unit 32.

0040Each of the 2^m addresses in memory unit 32 is prestored with a corresponding n bit random number x′₁, x′₂, ..., x′_n. As each address r′₁, r′₂, ..., r′_m is input, the random number x′₁, x′₂, ..., x′_n stored at that address is output. A decoder selec­tor circuit 29 in random selection circuit 28 receives and se­lects from among the n bit random number data x′₁, x′₂, ..., x′_n output by memory unit 32 to form each frame of bits of a decoding signal Y′. Signal Y′ is then provided to the XOR gate 33.

0041Decoder random selection circuit 28 works exactly like the encod­er random selection circuit ll in the encryption system at the transmitting end. Decoder counter 3l is initialized by a start pulse SP from detector 26 before counting the frame sync pulses FP output by detector 25. The output b′₁, b′₂, ..., b′_q of counter 3l is provided in parallel as address input to a decoder memory 30 for each frame. This outputs a stored random number a′₁, a′₂, ..., a′_p for each address. The random number output a′₁, a′₂, ..., a′_p controls the selection contents of decoder selector circuit 29 for each frame.

0042Based on the value of random number a′₁, a′₂, ..., a′_p for the current frame, random selection circuit 29 selects from among the n bit random number data x′₁, x′₂, ..., x′_n output by memory unit 32 to form each frame of bits of the decoding signal Y′ for XOR gate 33. The XOR gate 33 then combines encrypted received signal Z′ with decoding signal Y′ to reproduce digital signal S′ as the decrypted message signal.

0043Counter l5 at the transmitting end and counter 3l at the receiv­ing end are each set to the same preselected initial value before they begin counting frame sync pulses. Decoder memory 30 is prestored with the same pattern of random numbers prestored in encoder memory l4. This enables decoder random selection circuit 28 to follow the identical selection routine employed by encoder random selection circuit ll.

0044Receiver memory unit 32 is prestored with the same pattern of random numbers prestored in transmitter memory unit 22. There­fore, when there are no transmission errors, the reproduced digital signal S′ at the receiver end is identical to the digital signal S input at the transmitting end. For no transmission errors, this result is just as in the prior art encoder/decoder system.

0045The logical working of the decoding mechanism is as follows. When no errors are introduced by the transmission path, the received signal Z′ equals the encrypted cipher signal Z. Then shift registers 27 and l2 provide the same address inputs to memory units 32 and 22, having identical contents. Each random number x′₁, x′₂, ..., x′_n output by receiver memory unit 32 is identical to the random number x₁, x₂, ..., x_n previously output by transmitter memory unit 22.

0046Since the contents of decoder memory 30 are identical to those of encoder memory l4, decoder random selection circuit 28 can dupli­cate the working of encoder random selection circuit ll. This enables randomized signal Y′ to be identical to randomized signal Y.

0047It follows that: S′ = Z′ XOR Y′ = Z XOR Y = (S XOR Y) XOR Y = S In the above embodiment not just the contents of memory units 22, 32 are used as a variable coding/decoding parameter that depends on the encrypted message at an earlier time. The contents of memories l4 and 30 are also used. Therefore, the amount of random numbers stored in memory units 22, 32 can be reduced. That is, the number of addresses in memory units 22, 32 can be less than used in the prior art memory units l and 7 of Figs. 4 and 5.

0048This enables shift registers l2, 27 to have only m bits, where m is less than the usual M bits used in prior art shift registers 3 and 6 of Figs. 4 and 5. If an error is generated in the transmission path, it causes errors in the decoding signal Y′ for a time interval equal to the time it takes to transmit m bits. However, because the number of bits m in register 27 can be less than the usual M bits, the amount of time that the received signal S′ is not properly reproduced is reduced.

0049Moreover, the number of bits n stored at each memory address can be selected to be a relatively small number as compared to the address length m, reducing the complexity of encoder selector circuit l3 and decoder selector circuit 29.

0050To the extent that the frame sync signal remains reliable, the variety of random numbers stored in the encoder memory l4 and decoder memory 30 can be made very large. This effectively gives the encryption key variable a large number of possible values without increasing the errors in decoding signal Y′ or the reproduced digital signal S′.

0051The present invention not only randomizes individual signal bits in the transmitted signal but also changes the selection rule used by encoder random selection circuit ll to form encoding signal Y for each frame of the message. This ensures an excep­tionally strong level of message secrecy without greatly increas­ing the errors in reproduced digital signal S′. The number of different values for the encryption key variable of the coder/en­coder is greatly increased without sacrificing the system's prompt recovery from any transmission channel errors.

0052In the encryption system of Fig. l, a cipher feedback loop com­prising, in order, a register (l2), a transmitter memory unit (22), and a random selection circuit (ll) provides the randomized coding signal Y. Similarly, in the decryption system of Fig. 2, the decoding signal Y′ is provided by a cipher feedback loop comprising, in order, a register (27), a transmitter memory unit (32), and a random selection circuit (28).

0053Fig. 6 shows a second embodiment of the inventive encryption system having a different cipher feedback loop comprising, in order, a shift register l2, a random selection circuit 4l, and a transmitter memory unit 42. The remaining portions of the second embodiment of the encryption system are identical to those shown in Fig. l for the first embodiment, as indicated by use of iden­tical reference numerals.

0054More particularly, shift register l2 stores and outputs in paral­lel a predetermined number of bits m of the encrypted signal Z output from the XOR gate l0. For each signal frame, random selection circuit 4l randomly selects from among the m bit number data output by shift register l2 and outputs corresponding n bit address numbers w₁, w₂, ..., w_n, where n is an integer equal to or greater than 2.

0055Transmitter memory unit 42 receives the n bit addresses and for each address w₁, w₂, ..., w_n outputs a corresponding random bit prestored at the address. The successive bits output by memory unit 42 make up the randomized coding signal Y.

0056Random selection circuit 4l has a frame counter 45 fed by frame sync pulses FP from a frame sync pulse generator l6. The output of frame counter 45 is a q bit number b₁, b₂ ..., b_q for each frame. An encoder memory 44 receives the q bit output of counter 45 as an address. It outputs a p bit random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p prestored at that address to a selector circuit 43 which executes the selection made by selection circuit 4l. The selec­tion rule of selector circuit 43 is controlled by the value of random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p for the current frame. In effect, counter 45 and encoder memory 44 generate a p bit random number a₁, a₂, ..., a_p for each frame for controlling selector circuit 43.

0057As the remaining portions of the second embodiment of the encryp­tion system function like those shown in Fig. l for the first embodiment, their operation will not again be described.

0058Fig. 7 shows a second embodiment of the inventive decryption system for use at the receiving end of a communications link to decode signals transmitted by the system of Fig. 6. This decryp­tion system has a cipher feedback loop comprising, in order, a shift register 27, a random selection circuit 58, and a receiver memory unit 52. The remaining portions of the second embodiment of the decryption system are identical to those shown in Fig. 2 for the first embodiment, as indicated by use of identical numer­als.

0059More particularly, shift register 27 stores and outputs in paral­lel a predetermined number of bits m of the received encrypted signal Z′ output from separating circuit 24. For each signal frame, the selection circuit 58 selects from among the m bit number data output by shift register 27 and outputs corresponding n bit address numbers w′₁, w′₂, ..., w′_n.

0060Receiver memory unit 52 has stored contents identical to that of transmitter memory unit 42 (Fig. 6). Memory unit 52 receives the n bit addresses and for each address w′₁, w′₂, ..., w′_n outputs a corresponding random bit (0 or l) prestored at the address. The successive bits output by memory unit 52 make up the decoding signal Y′.

0061Selection circuit 58 operates the same way as random selection circuit 4l and in sync with a corresponding frame of the encrypt­ed signal Z. Circuit 58 has a frame counter 5l fed by frame sync pulses from a frame sync signal detector 25. The output of frame counter 5l is a q bit number b′₁, b′₂ ..., b′_q for each frame. A decoder memory 50 has stored contents identical to that of encod­er memory 44 (Fig. 6).

0062Decoder memory 50 receives the q bit output of counter 5l as an address. It outputs a p bit number a′₁, a′₂, ..., a′_p prestored at that address to a selector circuit 59 which executes the selection made by selection circuit 58. The selection rule of selector circuit 59 is controlled by the value of random number a′₁, a′₂, ..., a′_p for the current frame. In effect, counter 5l and decoder memory 50 generate a p bit number a′₁, a′₂ .., a′_p for each frame for controlling selector circuit 59.

0063Since the remaining portions of the second embodiment of the decryption system function like those shown in Fig. 2 for the first embodiment, their working will not again be described. The stored contents and working of the decryption system are chosen to replicate those of the encryption system. When there are no transmission errors the received encrypted signal Z′ equals the encrypted signal Z, and the decoding signal Y′ equals the random­ized encoding signal Y.

0064Therefore, when there are no transmission errors the signal S′ reproduced by the second embodiment of the decryption system equals the signal S input to the companion encryption system: S′ = Z′ XOR Y′ = Z XOR Y = (S XOR Y) XOR Y = S As in the first embodiment, the second embodiment of the encryp­tion and decryption systems enables the number of values for the encryption key variable to be increased without increasing the number of bits m used in the shift registers l2 and 27. Instead, the additional randomizing key information is provided in the encrypter by the working of selector circuit 43, transmitter memory 42, encoder memory 44, and frame counter 45, and their counterparts in the decryption system.

0065Moreover, the number of bits n in address numbers w₁, w₂, ..., w_n and w′₁, w′₂, ..., w′_n can be selected to be a relatively small number as compared to the address length m, reducing the complexity of transmitter memory unit 42 and receiver memory unit 52.

0066Those who are skilled in the art will readily perceive how to modify the invention. Therefore, the appended claims are to be construed to cover all equivalent structures which fall within the true scope and spirit of the invention.