After doing quite a bit of poking around, I am somewhat discouraged in my attempts to find a simple *pure* public key encryption method, without a lot of other stuff wrapped around it. What I need is to encrypt between 45 and 55 bits of information using a public key algorithm in an embedded environment. Memory usage needs to be minimal (a couple of K), and CPU usage will be tradded off based on key length. Decryption speed/memory usage is not very limited (done on a workstation, not on embedded system). I could use RSA (which is well described in many sources, and has RSAREF out there), but I want to avoid the patent issue if possible. The sci.crypt FAQ mentions that there are other methods but that is about all it says. Are there any that are not patented? Are there any that someone knows of that work well in a limited memory environment? Thanks for any/all pointers. Dan ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke@aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX