System and method for document-driven processing of digitally-signed electronic documents
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, at least two signing roles corresponding to different to-be-signed portions, the method comprising:
- determining the signing role of each signer;
identifying the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of each signer;
receiving an indication from each signer to digitally sign the document; and
applying the digital signature of each signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to the indication from each signer.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers includes determining a signing role of each signer; identifying a to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of each signer; receiving an indication from each signer to digitally sign the document; and applying the digital signature of each signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to the indication from each signer. A computer-implemented method for processing electronic documents includes receiving a document at a document processing station; reading a processing instruction from a processing portion of the document; identifying a processing service within the document processing station for executing the processing instruction; executing the processing instruction at the document processing station using the identified processing service; and applying a digital signature of the document processing station to the document after the processing instruction is executed.
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Citations
82 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, at least two signing roles corresponding to different to-be-signed portions, the method comprising:
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determining the signing role of each signer;
identifying the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of each signer;
receiving an indication from each signer to digitally sign the document; and
applying the digital signature of each signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to the indication from each signer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-implemented method for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, the document including a signing order for indicating an order in which the document is to be signed by the plurality of signers, the method comprising:
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determining a signing role of a signer;
determining whether the signer is signing in the indicated order;
when the signer is signing in the indicated order;
identifying the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the role of the signer;
receiving an indication from the signer to digitally sign the document; and
applying the digital signature of the signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A computer-implemented method for processing electronic documents, each document comprising a data portion and a processing portion, the processing portion comprising at least one processing instruction, the method comprising:
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receiving a document at a document processing station, the document processing station having a unique private key for applying a digital signature to the document;
reading a processing instruction from the processing portion of the document;
identifying a processing service within the document processing station for executing the processing instruction;
executing the processing instruction at the document processing station using the identified processing service; and
applying the digital signature of the document processing station to the document after the processing instruction is executed. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 80)
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50. In a document processing system comprising a plurality of document processing stations, a computer-implemented method for processing electronic documents, each document comprising a data portion and a processing portion, the processing portion comprising at least one processing instruction, each document processing station having a unique private key for applying a digital signature;
- the method comprising;
receiving a document at a first document processing station;
reading a processing instruction from the processing portion of the document;
identifying a processing service for executing the processing instruction;
determining whether the identified service is available within the first document processing station;
in response to the identified service not being available within the first document processing station;
locating a second document processing station in which the identified service is available; and
sending the document to the second document processing station;
executing the processing instruction at the second document processing station using the identified processing service; and
applying the digital signature of the second document processing station to the document after the processing instruction is executed.
- the method comprising;
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51. A system for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, at least two signing roles corresponding to different to-be-signed portions, the system comprising:
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a signing role identifier for identifying the signing role of a signer;
a parser, coupled to the signing role identifier, for parsing the document to identify the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of the signer; and
a signing module, coupled to the parser, for applying the digital signature of the signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to receiving an indication to sign from the signer. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A system for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, the document including a signing order for indicating an order in which the document is to be signed by the plurality of signers, the system comprising:
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a signing role identifier for identifying the signing role of a signer;
a parser, coupled to the signing role identifier, for parsing the document to identify the signing order and to identify the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of the signer; and
a signing module, coupled to the parser, for applying the digital signature of the signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to receiving an indication to sign from the signer and in response to the signer signing in the indicated order. - View Dependent Claims (64, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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65. A system for processing electronic documents, the system comprising:
at least one document processing station, each document processing station comprising;
a computer-readable medium for storing an electronic document, the document comprising a data portion and a processing portion, the processing portion comprising at least one processing instruction;
a parser, coupled to the computer-readable medium, for reading a processing instruction from the processing portion of the document and identifying a processing service for executing the processing instruction;
at least one processing service, coupled to the parser, for executing the processing instruction; and
an signing module, coupled to the processing service, for applying the digital signature of the document processing station to the document after the processing instruction is executed. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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81. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, at least two signing roles corresponding to different to-be-signed portions, the computer-readable medium comprising:
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computer-readable code adapted for determining the signing role of each signer;
computer-readable code adapted for identifying the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of each signer;
computer-readable code adapted for receiving an indication from each signer to digitally sign the document; and
computer-readable code adapted for applying the digital signature of each signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to the indication from each signer.
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82. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for processing electronic documents, each document comprising a data portion and a processing portion, the processing portion comprising at least one processing instruction, the computer-readable medium comprising:
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computer-readable code adapted for receiving a document at a document processing station, the document processing station having a unique private key for applying a digital signature to the document;
computer-readable code adapted for reading a processing instruction from the processing portion of the document;
computer-readable code adapted for identifying a processing service within the document processing station for executing the processing instruction;
computer-readable code adapted for executing the processing instruction at the document processing station using the identified processing service; and
computer-readable code adapted for applying the digital signature of the document processing station to the document after the processing instruction is executed.
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Specification