Our construction follows the gradual release paradigm, and works on a new ``time'' structure that we call a {\em mirrored time-line.} Using this structure, we design a protocol for the timed fair exchange by two parties of arbitrary values (values lying on their respective mirrored time-lines). Finally, we apply the blinding techniques of Garay and Jakobsson to turn this protocol into a protocol for the timed fair exchange of standard signatures.
The length of these mirrored time-lines makes another problem apparent, which is making sure that the underlying sequence has a period large enough so that cycling is not observed. We also show how to construct these structures so that, under reasonable assumptions, this is indeed the case.
Category / Keywords: cryptographic protocols / Publication Info: Financial Crypto 2003 Date: received 3 Mar 2003, last revised 3 Mar 2003 Contact author: garay at research bell-labs com Available format(s): Postscript (PS) | Compressed Postscript (PS.GZ) | BibTeX Citation Version: 20030303:221052 (All versions of this report) Short URL: ia.cr/2003/042 Discussion forum: Show discussion | Start new discussion