AN EFFICIENT DYNAMIC AND DISTRIBUTED CRYPTOGRAPHIC ACCUMULATOR

摘要

A computer implemented method is used to realize an authenticated dictionary by computing and updating the value of an exponential accumulator function in a distributed network (203) in a manner that allows a source computer (200) to quickly update mirror site computers (204-206) that are storing the same data (201) as the source computer. This allows the mirror site computers (204-206) to answer queries (207-212) much faster while not compromising security. The mirror site computers (204-206) answer queries on behalf of the source computer (200) but provide accumulator values so that client sofware can determine that the answers provided are as accurate as had they come from the source computer (200) itself. The accumulator values are updated as items are inserted and removed from the source computer's database (201). This invention provides a mechanism by which the source computer (200) can use a pipelined binary tree computation to quickly update partial values that, when stored at the mirror sites (204-206), allow the mirror sites to answer queries (207-212) much faster while not compromising security.