Patent ID: 7853785

Claim:
A computer-implemented system for implementing maintenance and distribution of revocation information within an ad-hoc network, comprising: at least one network node configured to serve as a certifier node for the ad-hoc network, wherein the network node includes a computer implemented application configured to maintain revocation information in computer memory and distribute the revocation information to other network nodes using four types of revocation message, including individual revocation messages, incremental revocation messages, differential revocation messages, and cumulative revocation messages, wherein the at least one network node is further configured to determine whether a region of the ad-hoc network should be assigned another certifier node, and wherein the network node is configured to create a new certifier node and to establish a parent-child relationship between the network node and the new certifier node by updating the digital certificates of both the network node and the new certifier node to indicate the parent node status of the network node and the child node status of the new certifier node.