Voting system, vote relay server, client terminal, voting method, advertisement distribution system, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11900735-B2
Application number	US-201917058590-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2019
Priority date	May 29, 2018
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

In a voting system including a vote broadcasting server and a plurality of client terminals, the vote broadcasting server generates a plurality of pieces of vote information that is data in which secret information is shared and transmits the vote information to each client terminal, each client terminal generates voting information by encrypting vote information such that the vote information can be decrypted when predetermined conditions are satisfied and transmits the voting information to the vote broadcasting server, the vote broadcasting server transmits a voting information group composed of voting information received from respective client terminals to the respective client terminals, and each client terminal ascertains a vote result according to the number of pieces of vote information decrypted from the voting information group and executes processing based on the vote result.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for processing one or more votes, the method comprising:
generating, by a server, a plurality of votes, wherein the plurality of votes includes secret information for distribution among a plurality of client terminals;
transmitting, by the server, a vote of the plurality of votes to a client terminal of the plurality of client terminals using an encrypted data communication, causing the client terminal to receive and encrypt the vote using at least a user key associated with the client terminal
receiving, by the server, a plurality of encrypted votes, wherein the plurality of encrypted votes includes the encrypted vote by the client terminal, and each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes is decryptable by the client terminal according to a predetermined condition; and
transmitting the plurality of encrypted votes to the client terminal, causing the client terminal to decrypt the plurality of the encrypted votes according to the predetermined condition and to determine a voting result based on a number of the plurality of votes.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the server includes a vote relay server, and wherein the client terminal represents a voting client terminal.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , the method further comprising:
generating, by the server, the user key;
generating, by the server, a shared key; and
transmitting the user key and the shared key.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , the method further comprising:
transmitting the plurality of encrypted votes, causing the client terminal to decrypt each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes and identify a secret key and a number of votes.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the encrypted vote includes secret information.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the server includes a directed information distributions sever, and wherein the directed information includes advertisement information, and wherein the client terminal receives the directed information.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a number of terminal clients participating in voting.

8. A system for relaying votes, the system comprises:
a processor; and
a memory storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to:
generate, by a server, a plurality of votes, wherein the plurality of votes includes secret information for distribution among a plurality of client terminals;
transmit, by the server, a vote of the plurality of votes to a client terminal of the plurality of client terminals using an encrypted data communication, causing the client terminal to receive and encrypt the vote using at least a user key associated with the client terminal;
receive, by the server, a plurality of encrypted votes, wherein the plurality of encrypted votes includes the encrypted vote by the terminal, and each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes is decryptable by the client terminal according to a predetermined condition; and
transmit the plurality of encrypted votes to the client terminal, causing the client terminal to decrypt the plurality of the encrypted votes according to the predetermined condition and to determine a voting result based on a number of the plurality of votes.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the server includes a vote relay server, and wherein the client terminal represents a voting client terminal.

10. The system of claim 8 , the computer-executable instructions when executed further causing the system to:
generate, by the server, the user key;
generate, by the server, a shared key; and
transmit the user key and the shared key.

11. The system of claim 8 , the computer-executable instructions when executed further causing the system to:
transmit the plurality of encrypted votes, causing the client terminal to decrypt each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes and identify a secret key and a number of votes.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the encrypted vote includes secret information.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the server includes a directed information distributions sever, wherein the directed information includes advertisement information, and wherein the client terminal relate to receives the directed information.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a number of terminal clients participating in voting.

15. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause a computer system to:
generate, by a server, a plurality of votes, wherein the plurality of votes includes secret information for distribution among a plurality of client terminals;
transmit, by the server, a vote of the plurality of votes to a client terminal of the plurality of client terminals using an encrypted data communication, causing the client terminal to receive and encrypt the vote using at least a user key associated with the client terminal;
receive, by the server, a plurality of encrypted votes, wherein the plurality of encrypted votes includes the encrypted vote by the client terminal, and each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes is decryptable by the client terminal according to a predetermined condition; and
transmit the plurality of encrypted votes to the client terminal, causing the client terminal to decrypt the plurality of the encrypted votes according to the predetermined condition and to determine a voting result based on a number of the plurality of votes.

16. The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 15 , wherein the server includes a vote relay server, and wherein the client terminal represents voting client terminal.

17. The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 15 , the computer-executable instructions when executed further causing the system to:
generate, by the server, the user key;
generate, by the server, a shared key; and
transmit the user key and the shared key.

18. The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 15 , the computer-executable instructions when executed further causing the system to:
transmit the plurality of encrypted votes, causing the client terminal to decrypt each encrypted vote of the plurality of encrypted votes and identify a secret key and a number of votes.

19. The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 15 , wherein the encrypted vote includes secret information.

20. The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 15 ,
wherein the server includes a directed information distributions sever, wherein the directed information includes advertisement information, and wherein the client terminal receives the directed information, and
wherein the predetermined condition includes a number of terminal clients participating in voting.

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Kinjo Koha
• Okuda Tetsuya
• Kikuchi Ryo

Classifications

• G07C13/00 Primary

  Voting apparatus · CPC title

• H04L9/088

  Usage controlling of secret information, e.g. techniques for restricting cryptographic keys to pre-authorized uses, different access levels, validity of crypto-period, different key- or password length, or different strong and weak cryptographic algorithms (network architectures or network communication protocols for using time-dependent keys in a packet data network H04L63/068) · CPC title

• H04L9/0838

  Key agreement, i.e. key establishment technique in which a shared key is derived by parties as a function of information contributed by, or associated with, each of these (network architectures or network communication protocols for key exchange in a packet data network H04L63/061) · CPC title

• H04L9/30

  Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy · CPC title

• H04L2209/463

  Electronic voting · CPC title