Patent ID: 7206410

Claim:
A circuit for use in a cryptosystem for computing a scalar product of a plurality of vectors in a finite Galois field identified by a generator polynomial, each vector including at least a first and a second element belonging to the finite Galois field, the circuit comprising: at least one input register for storing a plurality of digital signals representative of the first element of each of the plurality of vectors; at least one look-up table for storing a plurality of digital words representing a plurality of combinations and reductions of the first and second elements of the plurality of vectors, each of the plurality of digital words being a function of the second elements of the plurality of vectors and the generator polynomial, the at least one look-up table cooperating with said at least one input register partial product results each identified by at least one of the plurality of digital words stored in said at least one look-up table and based upon the plurality of digital signals stored in said at least one input register; and an accumulator unit for adding the partial product results to give the scalar product of the plurality of vectors in the finite Galois field identified by the generator polynomial of the cryptosystem based upon an accumulation of the partial product results.