System and method for certificate searching and retrieval
First Claim
1. A method for searching and retrieving certificates associated with one or more contacts, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) identifying one or more certificate servers to be searched;
b) identifying one or more contact information sources, each storing contact information for at least one contact;
c) for each contact of at least a subset of the contacts for which contact information is stored in the one or more contact information sources, searching each identified certificate server for certificates associated therewith by submitting at least one query constructed using at least some of the contact information for the respective contact to the respective certificate server, wherein the searching step is performed by a certificate synchronization application;
d) for each identified certificate server, downloading certificates satisfying the at least one query submitted thereto, to a computing device; and
e) storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded at step d) in one or more certificate stores,
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for searching and retrieving certificates, which may be used in the processing of encoded messages. In one embodiment, a certificate synchronization application is programmed to perform certificate searches by querying one or more certificate servers using contact information stored on a computing device, from an address book for example. The invention allows certificates for contacts to be automatically searched for and retrieved from certificate servers, so that users need not manually search for certificates associated with each individual contact for which information is stored in a contact information source.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method for searching and retrieving certificates associated with one or more contacts, the method comprising the steps of:
-
a) identifying one or more certificate servers to be searched;
b) identifying one or more contact information sources, each storing contact information for at least one contact;
c) for each contact of at least a subset of the contacts for which contact information is stored in the one or more contact information sources, searching each identified certificate server for certificates associated therewith by submitting at least one query constructed using at least some of the contact information for the respective contact to the respective certificate server, wherein the searching step is performed by a certificate synchronization application;
d) for each identified certificate server, downloading certificates satisfying the at least one query submitted thereto, to a computing device; and
e) storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded at step d) in one or more certificate stores, - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A software application comprising a plurality of instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the instructions for a method of searching and retrieving certificates associated with one or more contacts, the method comprising the steps of:
-
a) identifying one or more certificate servers to be searched;
b) identifying one or more contact information sources, each storing contact information for at least one contact;
c) for each contact of at least a subset of the contacts for which contact information is stored in the one or more contact information sources, searching each identified certificate server for certificates associated therewith by submitting at least one query constructed using at least some of the contact information for the respective contact to the respective certificate server, wherein the searching step is performed by the software application;
d) for each identified certificate server, downloading certificates satisfying the at least one query submitted thereto, to a computing device; and
e) storing at least a subset of certificates downloaded at step d) in one or more certificate stores.
-
-
12. A system for searching and retrieving certificates associated with one or more contacts comprising at least one computing device, wherein a certificate synchronization application executes and resides on a computing device of the at least one computing device, the certificate synchronization application programmed to;
-
a) identify one or more certificate servers to be searched;
b) identify one or more contact information sources, each storing contact information for at least one contact;
c) for each contact of at least a subset of the contacts for which contact information is stored in the one or more contact information sources, search each identified certificate server for certificates associated therewith by submitting at least one query constructed using at least some of the contact information for the respective contact to the respective certificate server, wherein the searching is performed by the certificate synchronization application;
d) for each identified certificate server, download certificates satisfying the at least one query submitted thereto, to one of the at least one computing device; and
e) store at least a subset of downloaded certificates in one or more certificate stores.
-
Specification