Check out the new USENIX Web site. next up previous
Next: General requirements and principles Up: Model and System Architecture Previous: Coins and cryptographic terminology

Databases, modules, components

We briefly mention the components that interact with the processes we describe. Briefly, a participant has a purse, which has a database of coins. The issuer has a coin database and a participant database. These indicate the status of a coin, including the withdrawer ID if anonymity was not requested. A schematic view of the issuer's coin database is shown in Figure 3.


 
Figure 3:   Encrypted coin in the Issuer's coin database.
\begin{figure*}
\epsfxsize=4.5in
\centerline{\epsffile{coindbfig.ps}}\end{figure*}

The issuer has a secure cryptographic module for coin generation. The coin-generation key is hardware-protected inside this module.



Juan A. Garay
7/20/1998