Automatic E-signatures in response to conditions and/or events

• US 10,250,393 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Inventors: Follis, Benjamin D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Henning, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US15/363,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20170078103A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 713176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Techniques allow for automatic signing of a digital document in response to some event and/or when the document satisfies some predefined condition. The document may be, for example, an agreement, a technical paper for publication, a press release or marketing materials, or any other digital document that might need to be assented to, approved by, and/or attributed to one or more persons or representatives. The techniques may further provide support for automatic signature tracking and notification in order to assist with auditability. In one example embodiment, the techniques are implemented in the context of an e-signature application or service, which may be installed locally on the user'"'"'s computer or provided to the user via a network from a server. In one example embodiment, the e-signature service is configured to automatically impress a signer'"'"'s signature into a given document, if the signer'"'"'s pre-established auto-sign criteria is met.

Claims

1. An electronic signature method implemented at an electronic signature application server device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from a document sender device that is associated with a document sender, a document containing a variable document term that can be modified by a document recipient, wherein the document is received from the document sender device via a network;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, a condition on the variable document term;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, a recipient'"'"'s signature block at a first location in the document that is configured to receive a signature of the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatic signature block at a second location in the document that is configured to receive an automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device, via the network, to a document recipient device that is associated with the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient device, the document including the variable document term, wherein the document received from the document recipient device includes the signature of the document recipient positioned in the recipient'"'"'s signature block, and wherein the document is received from the document recipient device via the network;

making a determination, by the electronic signature application server device, that the variable document term received from the document recipient device satisfies the condition; and

in response to making the determination, applying, by the electronic signature application server device, the automatically generated electronic signature to the automatic signature block without user intervention.

2. The electronic signature method of claim 1, wherein:

the document received from the document sender device also contains a fixed document term;

the document sender has indicated that the document recipient is not allowed to modify the fixed document term; and

the method further comprises making an additional determination, by the electronic signature application server device, after the document is received from the document recipient device, that the fixed document term has not been modified from its state when the document was sent to the document recipient device.

3. The electronic signature method of claim 1, further comprising sending the document, including the signature of the document recipient and the automatically generated electronic signature, from the electronic signature application server device, via the network, to at least one of the document recipient device and the document sender device.

4. The electronic signature method of claim 1, wherein the condition is received by the electronic signature application server device from the document sender device via the network.

5. The electronic signature method of claim 1, wherein the variable document term is a field in which an approval of the document recipient can be indicated.

6. The electronic signature method of claim 1, wherein:

the variable document term includes an adjustable parameter;

the condition defines acceptable values for the adjustable parameter;

receiving the document from the document recipient device includes receiving an assigned value for the adjustable parameter; and

making the determination includes determining that the acceptable values encompass the assigned value received from the document recipient device.

7. The electronic signature method of claim 1, wherein the signature of the document recipient is a graphical representation of a handwritten signature of the document recipient.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an electronic signature process to be carried out, the electronic signature process comprising:

receiving, by an electronic signature application server device, from a document sender device that is associated with a document sender, a document containing a variable document term that can be modified by a document recipient, wherein the document is received from the document sender device via a network;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, a condition on the variable document term;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device, via the network, to a document recipient device that is associated with the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient device, the document including a version of the variable document term that has been modified by the document recipient, wherein the document received from the document recipient device includes a signature of the document recipient positioned in a recipient'"'"'s signature block, and wherein the document is received from the document recipient device via the network;

making a determination, by the electronic signature application server device, that the version of the variable document term that was received from the document recipient device satisfies the condition; and

in response to making the determination, applying, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatically generated electronic signature to an automatic signature block in the document.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises, in response to making the determination, sending a notification to the document recipient device via the network that a signature authorized by the document sender has been applied to the document.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the automatically generated electronic signature is a graphical representation of a handwritten signature associated with the document sender.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

the electronic signature process further comprises locating a document recipient'"'"'s signature line in the document received from the document sender device; and

the document recipient'"'"'s signature line is located based on a document recipient identifier being positioned adjacent to an identified signature line.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises:

locating a document recipient'"'"'s signature line in the document received from the document sender device; and

defining the recipient'"'"'s signature block adjacent to the document recipient'"'"'s signature line, wherein the recipient'"'"'s signature block is defined before the document is sent to the document recipient device.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises:

locating a document sender'"'"'s signature line in the document received from the document sender device; and

defining the automatic signature block adjacent to the document sender'"'"'s signature line.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

the condition is included in the document received from the document sender device; and

the condition is removed from the document before the document is sent to the document recipient device.

15. An electronic signature application server device that comprises a memory device and a processor that is operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory device that, when executed, cause the processor to carry out an electronic signature process that comprises:

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from a document sender device that is associated with a document sender, a document containing a variable document term that can be modified by a document recipient, wherein the document is received from the document sender device via a network;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, a condition on the variable document term;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device, via the network, to a document recipient device that is associated with the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient device, the document including a version of the variable document term that has been approved by the document recipient, wherein the document received from the document recipient device includes a signature of the document recipient positioned in a recipient'"'"'s signature block, and wherein the document is received from the document recipient device via the network;

making a determination, by the electronic signature application server device, that the version of the variable document term that was received from the document recipient device satisfies the condition; and

in response to making the determination, applying, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatically generated electronic signature to an automatic signature block in the document.

16. The electronic signature application server device of claim 15, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises:

locating a document sender'"'"'s signature line in the document received from the document sender device; and

defining the automatic signature block adjacent to the document sender'"'"'s signature line, wherein the automatic signature block is defined before the document is sent to the document recipient device.

17. The electronic signature application server device of claim 15, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises:

locating a document sender'"'"'s signature line in the document received from the document sender device; and

defining the automatic signature block adjacent to the document sender'"'"'s signature line, wherein the automatic signature block is defined after the document is received from the document recipient device.

18. The electronic signature application server device of claim 15, wherein:

the document received from the document sender device also contains a fixed document term;

the document sender has indicated that the document recipient is not allowed to modify the fixed document term; and

the electronic signature process further comprises making an additional determination, by the electronic signature application server device, after the document is received from the document recipient device, that the fixed document term has not been modified from its state when the document was sent to the document recipient device.

19. The electronic signature application server device of claim 15, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises sending the document, including the signature of the document recipient and the automatically generated electronic signature, from the electronic signature application server device, via the network, to at least one of the document recipient device and the document sender device.

20. The electronic signature application server device of claim 15, wherein the condition is received by the electronic signature application server device from the document sender device via the network.