Methods and computer systems for document encryption

• US 20050235165A1
• Filed: 02/08/2005
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Gomez, Laurent, Hebert, Cedric, Ulmer, Cedric
• Granted Patent: US 8,726,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for document encryption. In one embodiment, an adaptation engine is provided for partial encryption of a document. The adaptation engine may include a paginator for paginating the document into at least one sub-page according to characteristics of a specific device class. The adaptation engine may further include an encryptor for separately encrypting a to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page using a partial encryption mechanism known by a client device that belongs to the specific device class.

Claims

1. A computerized adaptation engine for partial encryption of a document, the adaptation engine comprising:

a paginator for paginating the document into at least one sub-page according to characteristics of a specific device class; and

an encryptor for separately encrypting a to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page using a partial encryption mechanism known by a client device that belongs to the specific device class.

2. The adaptation engine of claim 1, further comprising:

a reducer for removing irrelevant portions from the document with respect to the specific device class before paginating the document.

3. The adaptation engine of claim 1, further comprising:

a markup mapper for translating, after the encryption of the paginated document, non-encrypted elements of the at least one sub-page into a description language known by the client device.

4. The adaptation engine of claim 1, wherein the to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page is surrounded by a corresponding encryption tag.

5. The adaptation engine of claim 1, wherein the paginator is configured to split the to-be-encrypted element over multiple sub-pages by generating corresponding encrypt tags on the multiple sub-pages, each of the corresponding encrypt tags surrounding a part of the to-be-encrypted element on the corresponding sub-page and having the same encryption/decryption modalities as the initial to-be-encrypted element.

6. The adaptation engine of claim 1, wherein the partial encryption mechanism used by the encryptor is based on an XML encryption.

7. The adaptation engine of claim 1, wherein the partial encryption mechanism used by the encryptor is based on jCETaglib.

8. A server computer including a memory and at least one processor configured to encrypt a document by paginating the document into at least one sub-page according to characteristics of a specific device class and encrypting a to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page using a partial encryption mechanism known by a client device that belongs to the specific device class, the server computer further comprising an interface configured to receive a request for the document from the client device and to send in response to the request a sub-page of the requested document to the client device, wherein the sub-page includes partially encrypted content in a client device compatible language.

9. A client device including a memory and at least one processor configured to run a browser, the browser comprising an interface configured to send a request for a document to a server computer and to receive from the server computer a sub-page of the requested document generated by an adaptation engine of the server computer, the sub-page including partially encrypted content in a client device compatible language.

10. The client device of claim 9, further comprising:

means for identifying a to-be-encrypted element in the received sub-page; and

means for applying partial encryption to the to-be-encrypted element.

11. A method for partial encryption of a document, the method comprising:

paginating the document into at least one sub-page according to characteristics of a specific device class; and

separately encrypting a to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page using a partial encryption mechanism known by a client device that belongs to the specific device class.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

removing irrelevant portions from the document with respect to the specific device class before executing the paginating step.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

translating non-encrypted elements of the at least one sub-page into a description language known by the client device after execution of the encrypting step.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying the to-be-encrypted element of the at least one sub-page by a corresponding encryption tag surrounding the to-be-encrypted element.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the paginating step comprises:

splitting the to-be-encrypted element over multiple sub-pages by generating corresponding encrypt tags on the multiple sub-pages, each of the corresponding encrypt tags surrounding a part of the to-be-encrypted element on the corresponding sub-page and having the same encryption/decryption modalities as the initial to-be-encrypted element.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed by an adaptation engine in response to a request for the document received from a client device that belongs to the specific device class.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

sending, with the adaptation engine, a partially encrypted sub-page to the client device in response to the request.

18. A method for partial encryption of a sub-page, comprising:

receiving the sub-page at a client device from an adaptation engine, wherein the adaptation engine has generated the sub-page by paginating a document according to characteristics of a specific device class in response to a request of the client device that belongs to the specific device class, the sub-page including a to-be-encrypted element; and

applying partial encryption to the sub-page at the client device by identifying the to-be-encrypted element in the received sub-page and applying a partial encryption mechanism to the to-be-encrypted element.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving at the client device a data entry with respect to the to-be-encrypted element of the sub-page, wherein the entered data are subject to the partial encryption in the applying step.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

sending the partially encrypted sub-page from the client device to a server computer.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the client device applies a partial encryption mechanism that is permanently available at the client device.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the client device applies a partial encryption mechanism that is part of a communication protocol used by the client device.

23. A computer program product comprising instructions that when loaded into a memory of a client device cause a processor of the client device to execute the method of claim 18.