Patent Document

This Application claims the benefit of No. 60/093,404, filed Jul. 20, 1998. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to the field of data communications, and in particular to the field of secure data communications via systems that employ the Data Encryption System (DES) encryption algorithm. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     The Data Encryption System (DES) encryption algorithm is one of the most widely used symmetric key ciphers in the world. The DES encryption algorithm and associated standards were developed in an era when 8-bit devices and architectures were prevalent. The DES standard includes a permutation of a 64-bit internal data structure to a sequence of 8-bit data elements, to facilitate the use of an 8-bit bus structure. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the permutation of the DES 64-bit structure to and from an 8-bit structure. 
     In FIG. 1, a 64-bit shift register  100  simultaneously transfers eight selected bits  108 ,  116 ,  124 ,  132 ,  140 ,  148 ,  156 , and  164  to an 8-bit output register  190 . The output register  190  is conventionally associated with an 8-bit data bus (not shown). Another device on the data bus, for example, the transmitter  520  in FIG. 5, can thereafter access these eight bits via the data bus, for subsequent actions, such as transmission to a receiver  570  in FIG.  5 . After the eight bits are “unloaded”  171  onto the data bus, the 64-bit shift register  100  shifts each of its bits down, in the direction of the shift arrow  172 . In so doing, the contents of the register at the eight selected bit locations  108 ,  116 ,  124 ,  132 ,  140 ,  148 ,  156 , and  164  receive the value of the previously immediately adjacent bit locations  107 ,  115 ,  123 ,  131 ,  139 ,  147 ,  155 , and  163 . These new values at the eight selected bit locations are transferred to the 8-bit output register  190 , for subsequent access by the other device or devices on the data bus. This unload  171  and shift  172  process is repeated until the 64-bit data in shift register  100  is communicated as eight 8-bit data elements via the register  190 . That is, after seven shifts, the value from the first bit location  101  of shift register  100  will be located in the selected bit location  108 , and transferred to the output register  190 . As illustrated in FIG. 1, the contents of the eight selected bit locations  108 ,  116 ,  124 ,  132 ,  140 ,  148 ,  156 , and  164  are transferred to the output register  190  in a permuted form. The fortieth register  140  of shift register  100  is associated with the first bit location  191  of shift register  190 ; the eighth register  108  of shift register  100  is associated with the second bit location  192  of the shift register  190 ; and so on. 
     In FIG. 2, a 64-bit shift register  200  simultaneously receives eight selected bits  201 ,  209 ,  217 ,  225 ,  233 ,  241 ,  249 , and  257  from an 8-bit input register  290 . The input register  290  is conventionally associated with an 8-bit data bus (not shown), and corresponds to the output register  190 . The registers  190 ,  290  are presented herein for ease of understanding; in many embodiments, the 8-bit data is presented directly to the 8-bit data bus from the shift registers  100 ,  200 , without the use of the intervening registers  190 ,  290 . That is, for example, the transmitter  520  in FIG. 5 will receive the aforementioned selected bits from a register  100  in the encrypter  510  via the 8-bit register  190 , or an 8-bit data bus, and transmit these bit values to the receiver  570 ; the receiver  570  will place the received eight bits from the transmitter  520  into the 8-bit register  290 , or onto an 8-bit data bus, for subsequent access by a decrypter  560  that contains the  64  bit shift register  200 . After receiving the data from the 8-bit register  290 , the 64-bit shift register  200  shifts each of its bits down, in the direction of the shift arrow  272 . In so doing, the contents of the shift register  200  at the eight selected bit locations  201 ,  209 ,  217 ,  225 ,  233 ,  241 ,  249 , and  257  transfer the value to the immediately adjacent bit locations  202 ,  210 ,  218 ,  226 ,  234 ,  242 ,  250 , and  258 . After the contents of the 64-bit shift register  200  are shifted, the next 8-bit data element  290 B is received into the data register  290 , and thereby communicated to the eight selected bit locations  201 ,  209 ,  217 ,  225 ,  233 ,  241 ,  249 , and  257 . This shift  272  and load  271  process is repeated until the eight 8-bit data elements  290 A,  290 B,  290 C,  290 D,  290 E,  290 F,  290 G, and  290 H are loaded via the 8-bit register  290  into the 64-bit shift register  200 . That is, for example, after seven shifts, the value from the second bit location  292  of the first 8-bit data element  290 A will be located in the eighth bit location  208  of shift register  200 , while the value from the second bit location  292  of the last 8-bit data element  290 H will be located in the first bit location  201  of shift register  200 . The values of the second bit location  292  of each of the intermediate 8-bit data elements  209 B- 209 G will be located in the seventh  207  through second  202  register locations of the shift register  200 . As illustrated in FIG. 2, the contents of the output register  290  are transferred to the eight selected bit locations  201 ,  209 ,  217 ,  225 ,  233 ,  241 ,  249 , and  257  in a permuted form. This permuted form is the inverse of the permutation effected between the selected bit locations  108 ,  116 ,  124 ,  132 ,  140 ,  148 ,  156 , and  164  of the 64-bit shift register  100  and the output register  190 , illustrated in FIG.  1 . 
     The DES permuted 64-bit transfer to and from an 8-bit data structure is fairly efficient in a system that uses an 8-bit architecture. However, an 8-bit architecture is no longer common in the art, having been supplanted by the common use of a 32-bit architecture. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the conventional DES permuted 64-bit transfer is not particularly well suited to a system that uses a 32-bit architecture. As would be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art, because of the number of crossovers in the transfer paths  380  ( 480 ) of FIG. 3 ( 4 ) between the 64-bit shift register  300  ( 400 ) and the 32-bit data register  390  ( 490 ) the physical layout of the wiring between the shift register  300  ( 400 ) and the data register  390  ( 490 ) can be expected to be complex and area inefficient. Additionally, the structure presented in FIG. 3 ( 4 ) requires a 4-bit shift between unload (load) operations. To avoid the time required for a 4-bit shift, alternative architectures are used that employ non-standard devices and structures, requiring more time and effort to design and layout than conventional devices and structures. In like manner, in a software-based DES system, non-standard algorithms are typically required to move the contents of the shift register  300  to the data register  390 , and the contents of the data register  490  to the shift register  400 , because of the complex and somewhat non-algorithmic nature of the mapping. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of this invention to provide a DES permutation that is well suited for data transfers of 64-bit DES data structure to and from a 32-bit data structure. It is another object of this invention to provide a DES permutation that is area efficient for hardware implementations. It is another object of this invention to provide a DES permutation that is efficient in processing and transfer time. It is another object of this invention to provide a DES permutation that is computationally efficient for software implementations. 
     These objects and others are accomplished by providing a DES permutation that has minimal crossovers between the DES 64-bit structure and the 32-bit data structures, allows for efficient data transfer, and is easily encoded as a software algorithm. Every other bit location in the DES 64-bit data structure is mapped to a contiguous bit location in the 32-bit data structure, in a sequential order. The sequential mapping to contiguous bit locations minimizes potential crossovers that are area inefficient, and allows for encoding algorithms that effect the mapping by using incrementing operators only. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention is explained in further detail, and by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional DES 8-bit output system. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional DES 8-bit input system. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional DES 32-bit output system. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a conventional DES 32-bit output system. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates an example DES encryption and decryption system in accordance with this invention. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates an example DES 32-bit output system in accordance with this invention. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates an example DES 32-bit input system in accordance with this invention. 
     FIG. 8 illustrates an example flowchart for a DES 32-bit output system in accordance with this invention. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates an example flowchart for a DES 32-bit input system in accordance with this invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 5 illustrates an example DES encryption  500  and decryption  550  system. The encryption system  500  includes an encrypter  510  and transmitter  520 ; the decryption system  550  includes a receiver  570  and a decrypter  560 . The encrypter  510  receives the contents of a plain text input document  505 , and encrypts the contents using a symmetric key and the DES encryption algorithm. The encrypted contents are communicated to the transmitter  520  via a data path  511 . The data path  511  is conventionally a parallel path having a width of parallel access that is defined in terms of the number of bits that can be transferred in parallel. In prior generations, the common width of the data path was 8-bits, and is illustrated in FIG. 5 by the dashed arrow  511 ′. In later generations, the common width of the data path became 32-bits, and is illustrated by the solid arrow  511  which is illustrated as being substantially larger than the dashed arrow  511 ′. As discussed above, the conventional DES internal architecture uses a 64 bit data structure for the encrypted data, and therefore the transfer of the encrypted data items is via two 32 bit transfers to the transmitter  520 . The transmitter  520  communicates the encrypted data items to the receiver  570  for subsequent decryption at the decrypter  560  to produce a copy  555  of the plain text  505  at the receiver site. The transmitter  520  and receiver  570  may include any means for communicating data, such as a pair of modems for transfer via a telephone or cable connection, a pair of network adapters, a pair of serial interface devices, and so on. The transfer of the encrypted data between the receiver  570  and the decrypter  560  is via a 32 bit data path  571 , which is illustrated as being substantially larger than the prior generation 8 bit data path  571 ′. As in the encryption system  500 , the transfer of the encrypted data items to the DES 64 bit internal structure is via two 32 bit transfers from the receiver  560 . 
     In the preferred embodiment of this invention, every other bit of the DES 64 bit data structure is mapped to contiguous bits in a 32 bit data structure sequentially, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. The 32 bit DES output system of FIG. 6 maps the 64 bit internal data structure to a 32 bit output structure. The 64 bit internal structure is illustrated as being embodied as a shift register  600 . The 32 bit output structure is illustrated as being embodied as a data register  690 . As would be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art, the 32 bit structure may merely be embodied as a set of 32 wires or interconnections, and would be commonly termed a 32 bit data bus. The embodiment of the 32 bit structure as a data register  690  is presented herein for ease of terminology and understanding. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the second bit location  602  in the shift register  600  is mapped to the first register  691  of the data register  690 ; the fourth bit location  604  is mapped to the second register  692 ; the sixth bit location  606  is mapped to the third register  693 ; and so on. The use of an every-other sequential mapping has a number of advantages. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the transfer paths  680  between the shift register  600  and the data register  690  exhibits no crossovers, and therefore is likely to allow for a simple and area efficient interconnection embodiment. By providing an every-other sequential mapping, rather than, for example, a mapping of the first half  601 - 632  or the second half  633 - 664  of the register  600  to the data register  690 , allows for the replacement of the values of the even numbered bit locations  602 ,  604 ,  606 , . . . of the register  600  by the values of the odd numbered bit locations  601 ,  603 ,  605 , . . . of the register  600  via a single shift operation  672 . If, for example, each location of the second half  633 - 664  of the register had been connected to each register of the data register  690 , replacing the values of the thirty-two locations by the first half  601 - 632  of the shift register would require thirty two shift operations. Conversely, however, the every-other sequential mapping of the preferred embodiment may be somewhat less efficient than a mapping of half the 64 bit structure directly to the 32 bit structure in a software embodiment. The use of the every-other sequential mapping of this invention in software, however, can be expected to typically require fewer operations than the conventional prior-art DES mappings of FIGS. 3 and 4. That is, the preferred embodiment of this invention is particularly well suited, albeit not necessarily optimal, for both hardware and software embodiments, or a combination of the two. 
     FIG. 8 illustrates an example flowchart of a software embodiment of the DES 32 bit output system in accordance with this invention. The starting index to the 64 bit data structure is initialized to 2, at  810 , corresponding to  602  in FIG.  6 . The loop  820 - 890  is executed twice, first starting at this location, then at starting location  1 , corresponding to  601  in FIG.  6 . The transfer of the values from the 64 bit structure to the 32 bit structure begins when the 32 bit structure is ready  830  to receive these values. An index S to the 64 bit structure is initialized to the start index, and an index R to the 32 bit structure is initialized to  1 , at  840 . The loop  850 - 870  loads the 32 bit values from the 64 bit structure by loading each bit, as indexed by S, into the 32 bit structure, indexed by R, then incrementing R by one and S by two, at  860 , until R exceeds 32, at  870 . At  880 , the starting index is decremented by one. If the starting index is 1, at  890 , the loop  820 - 890  is repeated, otherwise the loop is terminated, having completed two transfers of 32 bits each. As shown, the every-other sequential mapping process provides for a relatively simple algorithm for effecting the mapping, as compared to the less regular processing typically associated with the DES output system of FIG.  3 . 
     The 32 bit DES input system of FIG. 7 maps the 32 bit input data structure to the 64 bit internal structure. The 64 bit internal structure is illustrated as being embodied as a shift register  700 . The 32 bit input structure is illustrated as being embodied as a data register  790 . As in FIG. 6, the embodiment of the 32 bit structure as a data register  790  is presented herein for ease of terminology and understanding. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the first register  791  of the data register  790  is mapped to the first bit location  701  in the shift register  700 ; the second register  792  is mapped to the third bit location  703 ; the third register  793  is mapped to the fifth bit location  705 ; and so on.. As in the output system of FIG. 6, the transfer paths  780  between the data register  790  and the shift register  700  exhibits no crossovers, and therefore is likely to allow for a simple and area efficient interconnection embodiment. And, as in FIG. 6, the use of an every-other sequential mapping allows the transfer of the values of the first 32 bit values  790 A to alternate locations  702 ,  704 ,  706 , etc. via a single shift operation  772 , allowing the load of the next 32 bit values  790 B to the mapped locations  701 ,  703 ,  705 , etc. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates an example flowchart of a software embodiment of the DES 32 bit input system in accordance with this invention. The starting index to the 64 bit data structure is initialized to 1, at  910 , corresponding to  701  in FIG.  7 . The loop  920 - 990  is executed twice, first starting at this location, then at starting location  2 , corresponding to  702  in FIG.  7 . The transfer of the values from the 64 bit structure to the 32 bit structure begins when the 32 bit structure contains  830  the appropriate information. An index S to the 64 bit structure is initialized to the start index, and an index R to the 32 bit structure is initialized to 1, at  940 . The loop  950 - 970  loads the 32 bit values from the 32 bit structure, indexed by R, to the 64 bit structure, indexed by S, then incrementing R by one and S by two, at  960 , until R exceeds 32, at  970 . At  980 , the starting index is incremented by one. If the starting index is 2, at  990 , the loop  920 - 990  is repeated, otherwise the loop is terminated, having completed two transfers of 32 bits each. As shown, the use of an every-other sequential mapping allows the input transfer via the use of a relatively simple algorithm, rather than the less regular processes typically utilized in the conventional DES input mapping of FIG.  4 . 
     The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within its spirit and scope. For example, other software algorithms, optimized for the particular system upon which the software is executed, may be used to perform the mappings of FIGS. 6 and 7. In like manner, devices other than shift registers and data register may be employed to process the data as 64-bit and 32-bit data structures, and the principles of this invention may be used for other applications that require efficient transfers between N-bit and N/2-bit structures.

Technology Category: 5