Electronic notary

• US 20030177360A1
• Filed: 03/18/2002
• Published: 09/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognomina Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cognomina Incorporated
• Inventors: Davis, J. Charles, Laird, Craig, Ashley, Scottie, Carmichael, Pat
• Granted Patent: US 7,660,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A process is disclosed for notarizing at least one document, by a client in the presence of a notary, comprising the steps of registering the notary, the client and the at least one document, from a local workstation coupled to a central office via a global communication network, to provide for assigning at least one respective encryption key for identifying each of the notary, the client and the at least one document to be notarized; associating in a first database in the central office, the respective encryption keys of the client with the notary and with the at least one document; generating a transaction code, based on the step of associating the respective encryption keys, for authorizing execution of the at least one document to provide the notarizing; executing the at least one document; and embedding selected ones of the respective encryption keys together with a notary seal in the at least one document.

Claims

1. A process for notarizing at least one document, by a client in the presence of a notary, comprising the steps of:

registering the notary, the client and the at least one document, from a local workstation coupled to a central office via a global communication network, to provide for assigning at least one respective encryption key to each of the notary, the client and the at least one document to be notarized;

associating in a first database in the central office, the respective encryption keys of the client with the notary and with the at least one document;

generating a transaction code, based on the step of associating the respective encryption keys, for authorizing execution of the at least one document to provide the notarizing;

executing the at least one document; and

embedding selected ones of the respective encryption keys together with a notary seal in the at least one document.

2. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the executed document in an archive database at the central office.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of registering comprises the steps of:

inputting a request for a notarizing transaction at the workstation;

transmitting information representing the notary, the client or the at least one document from the local workstation to the central office;

assigning a respective asymmetric encryption key pair to the notary, the client or the at least one document transmitting the information;

transmitting to the workstation a select one of the respective asymmetric key pair to the notary, the client or the at least one document transmitting the information; and

storing an unselected one of the respective asymmetric key pair for the notary, the client or the at least one document in the first database at the central office.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the step of transmitting information comprises the steps of:

inputting the information to the local workstation;

processing the information for transmitting via the global communication network; and

cross-checking in the central office the received information representing the notary, the client or the at least one document.

5. The process of claim 3, wherein the information comprises:

identification information about the notary, or the client, or text and image information contained in the at least one document; and

a signature graphic of the signature of the notary or the client.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the central office comprises:

a workstation having at least first and second databases, the central office being coupled with the global communication network and a certificating authority;

a program for generating an asymmetric encryption key pair for assignment respectively to each of the notary, the client and the at least one document; and

a device for associating, in the first database in the central office, each of the respective asymmetric encryption key pairs of the notary, the client and the document with each other.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein an asymmetric encryption key pair comprises:

a public key and a corresponding private key.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of associating comprises the steps of:

storing the respective encryption keys in linked locations in the first database after assigning the keys to the client and the at least one document such that the respective encryption keys for the client and the notary are linked and the respective encryption keys for the client and the at least one document are linked; and

testing the linked locations for a correct match among the respective encryption keys prior to generating the transaction code for issue to the local workstation.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the transaction code comprises the steps of:

issuing the transaction code to the local workstation corresponding to a correct match among the respective encryption keys for the client and the notary and the respective encryption keys for the client and the at least one document.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of executing comprises the steps of:

entering at the local workstation the transaction code together with the respective encryption key for the client;

generating a signature graphic for each of the client and the notary; and

generating a notary seal graphic for the notary and the at least one document.