MANAGING PROVENANCE OF DIGITALLY SIGNED DATA IN USER EDITABLE RECORDS

• US 20090307137A1
• Filed: 06/09/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: O'Leary, Arthur J., Thomas, Michael W., White, Christopher Cameron
• Application Number:
  US12/136,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307137A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/645 using a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• 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 system and method for managing health information. The system may include a server configured to execute an account interface module enabling a user to access a user account, wherein a plurality of healthcare record items are stored on a server, via a user client device. The server may also be configured to execute an upload module that is configured to receive a digitally signed, original version of a healthcare record item from a content supplier, and an editor module configured to enable a user to make a user edit, thereby producing an updated version of the healthcare record item. The server may also be configured to execute a provenance module to determine whether the user edit affects the digitally signed data, and accordingly remove or replace the digital signature, and a download module to download the updated version of the healthcare record item to a content recipient.

Claims

1. A health information management system, comprising a server configured to execute:

an account interface module configured to serve an account interface to a user client device, the account interface being configured to enable a user to access a user account hosted on the server, the account being configured to store a plurality of healthcare record items;

an upload module configured to receive an original version of a healthcare record item from a content supplier, the healthcare record item including a digital signature of the content supplier that is associated with digitally signed data in the healthcare record item, the digital signature having an associated digital certificate, the digital certificate being verifiable via a third party authority;

an editor module configured to enable a user to make a user edit to the healthcare record item, to thereby produce an updated version of the healthcare record item;

a provenance module configured to determine whether the user edit affects a portion of the digitally signed data of the updated version of the healthcare record item, and to remove the digital signature in the updated version of the healthcare record item or replace the digital signature with a new digital signature passed in via the editor module with the updated version, if the user edit affects the digitally signed portion of the healthcare record item; and

a download module configured to download the updated version of the healthcare record item to a content recipient, with the digital signature removed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the provenance module is further configured to verify one or more additional digital signatures in the updated version of the healthcare record item that that have been added by other parties.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the server is further configured to execute:

an access control module configured to receive access control parameters from a user client device;

wherein the upload and download module are respectively configured to confirm that the content supplier or recipient is authorized to upload and download the updated version of the healthcare record item.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the access control parameters are configured to specify that the original version of the healthcare record item is also to be downloaded to the content recipient and the download module is configured to download the original version to the content recipient.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the provenance module determines the digitally signed portion of the healthcare record item by referencing a transform associated with the digital signature.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the healthcare record item is in XML format and the transform is in XLST format.

7. The system of claim 5,

wherein the updated version is a first updated version of the healthcare record item;

wherein the access control module is further configured to receive an access control parameter specifying that an authorized third party editor is authorized to edit the healthcare record item;

wherein the editor module is configured to receive third party edits from the authorized third party and include the third party edits annotated with a digital signature of the authorized third party editor in the healthcare record item, to thereby produce a second updated version of the healthcare record item; and

wherein the provenance module is configured to determine whether the third party edits affect a portion of the digitally signed data of the first updated version of the healthcare record item, and to remove a corresponding digital signature in the second updated version of the healthcare record item if the third party edits affect the digitally signed portion of the healthcare record item.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein prior to download, the provenance module is further configured to verify a validity of a digital certificate associated with an editor-specific digital signature based on an accreditation and a validity period of the digital certificate assigned by the third party authority.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the content supplier is a content supplier device selected from the group consisting of a healthcare provider computing device, an exercise device, a portable testing device and a laboratory device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the content recipient is a content recipient device selected from the group consisting of a pharmacist device, a dietician device, a trainer device and a laboratory device.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising verifying one or more additional digital signatures in the updated version of the healthcare record item that that have been added by other parties.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving access control parameters from a user client device;

uploading the original version of the healthcare record item from the content supplier upon confirming that the content supplier is authorized to upload based on the received access control parameters; and

downloading the updated version of the healthcare record item to the content recipient upon confirming that the content recipient is authorized to download based on received access control parameters.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising downloading the original version of the healthcare record item to the content recipient when the access control parameters are configured to specify that the original version of the healthcare record item is also to be downloaded to the content recipient.

11. A method for managing health information, the method comprising:

uploading an original version of a healthcare record item from a content supplier, the healthcare record item including a digital signature of the content supplier that is associated with digitally signed data in the healthcare record item, the digital signature having an associated a digital certificate, the digital certificate being verifiable via a third party authority;

receiving a user authorized edit to the healthcare record item;

producing an updated version of the healthcare record item based on the user authorized edit;

determining whether the user authorized edit affects a portion of the digitally signed data of the original version of the healthcare record item;

removing the digital signature in the updated version of the healthcare record item or replacing the digital signature with a new digital signature corresponding with the user authorized edit, if the user authorized edit affects the digitally signed portion of the healthcare record item; and

downloading the updated version of the healthcare record item to a content recipient, with the digital signature removed.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the user authorized edit affects the digitally signed data of the updated version of the healthcare record item includes referencing a transform associated with the digital signature.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the health care record item is in XML format and the transform is in XLST format.

17. The method of claim 11,

wherein the updated version is a first updated version of the healthcare record item;

and

the method further comprising;

receiving third party edits from an authorized third party editor;

annotating the third party edits in the healthcare record item with an editor-specific digital signature of the editor, to thereby produce a second updated version of the healthcare record item;

determining whether the third party edits affect a portion of the digitally signed data of the first updated version of the healthcare record item; and

removing a corresponding digital signature in the second updated version of the healthcare record item or replacing the corresponding digital signature in the second updated version with a new digital signature of the authorized third party editor, if the third party edits affect the digitally signed portion of the healthcare record item in the first updated version.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising verifying a validity of a digital certificate associated with an editor-specific digital signature based on an accreditation and an assigned validity period of the digital certificate by the third party authority.

19. The method of claim 18,

wherein the content supplier is a content supplier device selected from the group consisting of a healthcare provider computing device, an exercise device, a portable testing device and a laboratory device;

and wherein the content recipient is a content recipient device selected from the group consisting of a pharmacist device, a dietician device, a trainer device and a laboratory device.

20. A method for managing user controlled information, the method comprising:

uploading an original version of a record item from a content supplier, the record item including a digital signature of the content supplier that is associated with digitally signed data in the record item, the digital signature having an associated digital certificate, the digital certificate being verifiable via a third party authority;

receiving a user authorized edit to the record item;

producing an updated version of the record item based on the user authorized edit;

determining whether the user authorized edit affects a portion of the digitally signed data of the updated version of the record item;

removing the digital signature in the updated version of the record item or replacing the digital signature with a new digital signature passed in via the editor module with the updated version, if the user authorized edit affects the digitally signed portion of the record item; and

downloading the updated version of the record item to a content recipient, with the digital signature removed.