Patent ID: 8347080

Claim:
A method for providing an operational certificate to a device, the operational certificate associated with one or more operations of the device, the method comprising: a manufacturing certificate authority comprising a computing device, the manufacturing certificate authority obtaining a plurality of attributes during the manufacture of the device, each attribute comprising identity information associated with the device; the manufacturing certificate authority providing a plurality of attribute certificates to the device, each attribute certificate comprising at least one of the plurality of attributes; the manufacturing certificate authority providing a manufacturing certificate to the device, the manufacturing certificate linked with the plurality of attribute certificates; an operational certificate authority obtaining and authenticating at least one of the plurality of attribute certificates through accessing the manufacturing certificate, the device or the manufacturing certificate authority restricting the operational certificate authority's access to at least another one of the plurality of attribute certificates; and, if the at least one of the plurality of attribute certificates is authenticated, the operational certificate authority providing the operational certificate to the device.