E-SIGNATURE

• US 20160179776A1
• Filed: 12/17/2014
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Heartland Payment Systems Incorporated (Global Payments Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Heartland Payment Systems Incorporated (Global Payments Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bartley, Joshua A., Battcher, Maxwell J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,058 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/32 using wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3825 Use of electronic signatures

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to electronic transaction management methods and systems that facilitate transactions between multiple parties by providing web-based transaction environments that enable all aspects of transaction establishment and performance, including document processing and execution for establishing binding agreements. The transaction management capabilities facilitate transaction performance through the use of multiple transaction environments, such as a real-time, simultaneous execution environment wherein its establishment and maintenance is determinable and within which the obtainment of multiple handwritten signatures to an executable transaction document can occur simultaneously and in real-time.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a transaction document for a multi-party transaction within a real-time, simultaneous execution environment, comprising:

determining a transaction document, established in a first transaction environment, requires execution by obtainment of a handwritten signature from at least two signatories and is being concurrently accessed within the first transaction environment by a plurality of the required at least two signatories;

determining at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is accessing the document within the first transaction environment via a mobile device; and

determining at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is remotely located from at least one other of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories, and upon confirmation of the satisfaction of each determination the document is established in a real-time, simultaneous execution environment that allows real-time, simultaneous execution of the document by the obtainment of handwritten signatures from each of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising arriving at the establishment of at least one of a partially executed and fully executed transaction document upon the real-time, simultaneous obtainment of handwritten signatures from each of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the document is in execution ready form while established in the first transaction environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the document is established in the real-time, simultaneous execution environment within an establishment period.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an electronic communication from a transaction system hosting the multi-party transaction was sent to at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories and provided direction to the first transaction environment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one other party to the transaction is concurrently accessing the transaction document with the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one other party, having a user designation, is concurrently accessing the transaction document with the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first transaction environment and the real-time, simultaneous execution environment allows additional acts of execution to be performed by any required signatory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transaction environment allows generation of the document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-time, simultaneous execution environment is closed upon at least one of the obtainment of handwritten signatures from the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories, obtainment of all required acts of execution from all required signatories, a determination by a process established for an RSEEV maintenance package, a determination by a process established for an RSEEV PET package.

11. A method for generating a fully executed transaction document being hosted within a transaction environment by a transaction system, comprising:

establishing an executable transaction document within an execution environment hosted by the transaction system that allows the real-time, simultaneous obtainment of handwritten signatures from a plurality of concurrently accessing signatories, wherein the establishment of the document within the execution environment is based upon the satisfaction of the following requirements while the executable transaction document is established in a preliminary transaction environment;

(i) determining that the document requires execution by at least two signatories and a plurality of the at least two signatories is concurrently accessing the document within the preliminary transaction environment,

(ii) determining that at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is accessing the document within the preliminary transaction environment via a mobile device, and

(iii) determining at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is remotely located from at least one other of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories;

within the execution environment, simultaneously obtaining the handwritten signatures from the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories in real-time; and

in response to the real-time, simultaneous obtainment of the handwritten signatures within the executable transaction document from the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories, establishing a fully executed transaction document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the establishment of the document within the transaction environment further requires determining that a communication has been sent to at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories that provided them a link to the executable transaction document established within the preliminary transaction environment.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the fully executed transaction document is established within at least one of the execution environment, a system storage location, and an alternative transaction environment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing the fully executed transaction document requires at least one of a notarization and a document certification.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the establishing of the fully executed transaction document requires a verification of the completion of all signature blocks included within the transaction document.

16. A computing system for facilitating transactions, comprising:

a server computer having a processor and memory, the server communicably coupled with two or more computing devices via the Internet, the two or more computing devices being utilized by two or more parties including at least a plurality of signatories;

a computer readable medium encoded with a transaction management program stored in memory and configured, when executed by the processor, to host a web-based transaction that at least;

provides a first, web-based transaction environment, accessible by the at least two or more parties, within which a transaction document can be established and interacted with to arrive at an execution ready form of the transaction document;

provides for the establishment the execution ready form of the transaction document within a real-time, simultaneous execution environment of the transaction in response to satisfaction determinations reached, while the execution ready form of the transaction document is established within the first transaction environment, regarding the following requirements;

(a) the plurality of signatories are concurrently accessing the execution ready form of the executable transaction document;

(b) at least one of the computing devices is a mobile computing device being used by at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories to access the execution ready form of the transaction document;

(c) at least one of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is remotely located from at least one other of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories; and

(d) obtaining a handwritten signature within the execution ready form of the transaction document from each of the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories is a required act of execution,

wherein the execution ready transaction document can be at least one of partially and fully executed while established in the real-time, simultaneous execution environment, wherein handwritten signatures from the plurality of concurrently accessing signatories are required acts of execution that are obtained simultaneously and in real-time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the requirements that are determined satisfied for establishing a real-time, simultaneous execution environment further comprise a communication sent to at least one of the two or more parties including a link directing the at least one party to the transaction document established within the first transaction environment.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein upon partial execution of the transaction document a version of the transaction document including the obtained acts of execution is at least one of stored in the memory, maintained within the real-time, simultaneous execution environment and established within another transaction environment.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the obtainment of handwritten signatures from signatories is accomplished through the establishment and interaction with at least two real-time, simultaneous execution environments.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the computing devices is positioned at a closing location.