Patent ID: 7412054

Claim:
An encryption method, comprising the steps of: providing a message to be encrypted, said message having a string of characters; providing a starting matrix having (i) a multitude of columns and a multitude of rows, said multitude of rows including a last row and a next to the last row, and (ii) distinct characters in all of the columns in the last row and distinct numbers in all of the columns in all of the other rows, and wherein each of the characters in said string corresponds to one of the columns of the matrix; forming a string of numbers from said string of characters by, for each of said string of characters, selecting the number in the next to last row in said matrix in the column corresponding to said each of said string of characters, removing the selected number from the matrix, placing the selected number in a queue, and when said corresponding column has any remaining numbers, shifting all of said remaining numbers in said corresponding column down by one row; and continuing until one of the columns becomes depleted of numbers; and when said one column becomes depleted of numbers performing a circular shift right of all columns in said matrix by a specified amount to refill said depleted column with numbers, and thereby forming new number vacancies in other columns, refilling said new vacancies with numbers taken from said queue, and performing a circular shift right of each row, except said last row, in said matrix.