System and method for improving reliability of distributed electronic transactions

• US 20060036546A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konvax Corporation
• Original Assignee: ATS Srl (Vitrolife AB)
• Inventors: Arcieri, Franco, Talamo, Maurizio, Merella, Daniela, Marinelli, Guido Maria
• Granted Patent: US 7,593,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed that separate control functionality from the management functionality for conducting electronic transactions. The control functions are performed by a third party resulting in a low overhead since significant overhead is incurred in response to an anomalous event, thus facilitating high throughput electronic transactions when anomalous events are infrequent. Further, the third party does not need to have access to confidential information since it only controls by observing, validating and certifying the observed communications in a specified manner to prevent confidential information from leaving the context of the transaction. Management of the transactions based on consideration of substantive information is provided by the participants. A preferred system of the invention comprises a validation authority, a logical boundary at which validation authority undertakes control of communications, and validation rules specifying parameters for observation and the nature of comparisons.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an electronic transaction comprising:

observing an electronic communication by detecting a plurality of specified parameters;

receiving a sender indicator and a receiver indicator based on the observed parameters in the electronic communication as sent by a sender and received by a receiver respectively;

validating the electronic communication by comparing the sender and receiver indicators, wherein validation comprises determining whether the electronic communication as sent by the sender and received by the receiver is in the same state;

generating a validation report based on validation of each of a request and a corresponding response communication, wherein the request and response communications form a service pair, and

certifying a business process comprising a plurality of service pairs based on the validation report for at least one service pair in the business process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of service pairs in the business process are required to be executed in accordance with at least a partial order in an agreement, wherein the partial order specifies that a first service pair from the plurality of service pairs is to be executed prior to the execution of a second service pair from the plurality of service pairs.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the execution of the first service pair results in the generation of a corresponding validation report.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the execution of the second service pair is in response to detecting a validation report corresponding to the execution of the first service pair.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of certifying includes generating a certificate indicating a result of one or more of determining whether the plurality of service pairs were executed in accordance with the partial order and whether the plurality of service pairs were not executed in accordance with the partial order.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected plurality of parameters include less information than the observed communication.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein substantial regeneration of confidential details in the observed communication is not possible in real-time from the detected plurality of parameters.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the detected specified plurality of parameters include enough information to allow validation of the observed communication.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the detected specified plurality of parameters do not include sufficient information to allow substantial regeneration of confidential details in the observed communication.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected plurality of parameters are specified by an agreement.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sender indicator and the receiver indicators is received in the form of a hash of the specified parameters.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the sender indicator and the receiver indicator is received from a software agent

13. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of providing the validation report to at least one party in substantially real time.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of registering at least one party.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an agreement specifies a system interface for the registered party.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a specification of a logical boundary at which one or more of observation, validation, and certification functions are carried out.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the logical boundary is specified in an agreement.

18. A method of managing a business process based on an electronic transaction controlled by a third party comprising the steps of:

subscribing to an agreement, wherein the agreement specifies a system interface and parameters in electronic communications to be observed by the third party, wherein observation requires that an indication based on the specified parameters include sufficient information to allow validation of an observed communication by determining whether the observed communication as sent by a sender is in the same state as received by a receiver,

agreeing to having communications observed in accordance with the agreement;

detecting a validation report, in substantially real time, based on validation of each of a request and a corresponding response communication, wherein the request and response communications form a service pair;

receiving a certificate of an outcome of the business process, wherein the certificate is based on determining whether a plurality of service pairs forming the business process were executed in accordance with a specified partial order, and

performing, based on the received certificate, at least one of;

avoiding completing a subsequent business process, initiating another business process, and completing an alternative business process.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein a second service pair in the plurality of services is allowed to be executed only in response to detecting a validation report corresponding to a first service pair in the plurality of services.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the agreement specifies parameters for generating a sender indicator at the sender and a receiver indicator at the receiver of the observed communication such that there is insufficient information to allow regeneration of substantial confidential details in the observed communication.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each of the sender indicator and the receiver indicator are based on a hash of the specified parameters.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of hosting a software agent, for observing communications, at one or more of the sender and the receiver of the observed communication.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of generating a next communication based on the certificate.

24. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of specifying a logical boundary at which one or more of observation, validation, and certification functions can be carried out by a validation authority based on the sender indicator and the receiver indicators generated at the logical boundary.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the validation authority is responsible for the observation, validation, and certification of communications beyond the logical boundary, wherein the logical boundary comprises at least one of a time point, completion of a specified service pair, a firewall, and a request for initiating the observation, validation, and certification of communications.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a request for establishing the logical boundary is made by at least one of the sender and the receiver.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein both the sender and the receiver specify their respective logical boundaries for the observation, validation, and certification of communications at their respective sites.

28. A system suitable for automated execution of electronic transactions between two or more parties, the system comprising:

business process means specifying one or more service pairs forming a business process with a specification of at least one partial order of execution of the one or more service pairs, wherein a service pair comprises a request and a response thereto;

validation means authorized to observe communications relating to at least one service pair by collecting predefined information to generate an indicator of a state of an observed communication;

at least one validation rule specifying parameters to be observed for validating the observed communication by a comparison between one or more of

(i) a state of a sent communication and a state of the corresponding received communication,

(ii) a parameter in a received request and a corresponding parameter in a response thereto,

(iii) a first parameter in a first response and a second parameter in a second request, and

(iv) between two parameters included in the observed communication;

a logical boundary for at least one service pair at which observations are undertaken, wherein the logical boundary comprises one or more of (i) a time point, (ii) completion of a specified service pair, (iii) a firewall, and (iv) a request for initiating the observation, validation, and certification of communications, wherein the logical boundary specifies a transfer of responsibility for controlling communication beyond the logical boundary to the validation means;

a validation report generation means for generating, in substantially real time, a validation report for the observed service pair,

a partial order means for detecting an order of execution of at least two service pairs; and

a certification means for certifying the business process.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the validation means respond to requests from a plurality of parties for specifying the logical boundary for observation of a specific service pair by selecting a party from the plurality of parties based on one or more of relative timing of the requests, resources available to the party, a specified preference for the party.

30. The system of claim 28 further comprising a system interface.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one validation rule comprises a specification of syntactical components and structural components in specifying the parameters for observation.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein a certificate is generated in response to one or more of a time limit, completion of a business process, and a validation report.