Secure flexible electronic submission acceptance system

• US 6,604,197 B1
• Filed: 12/03/1998
• Issued: 08/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mirlas, Lev, Lau, Terence Chun-Yat
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Application Number:
  US09/204,778
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 713/177-178, 713/164-165, 713/181, 713/151, 380/243
• US Class Current: 713/151
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

In an electronic filing system over a computer network, a central server sets the requirements for making submissions. These requirements include a time limit after the expiry of which, submissions will no longer be accepted. A gateway server polls the central server for the submission requirements, and establishes a directory in its own file system to which all potential submitters have write access until expiry of the time limit. On completion of its submission, a submitter generates evidence of the complete submission. The evidence can be in the form of a digitally signed message digest. The submitter may encrypt the evidence using the gateway server'"'"'s public encryption key and then forwards the evidence to the gateway server. If the evidence is filed before expiry of the time limit, the gateway server permits the evidence to be written to the directory established for the submission requirements. Once the submitter has successfully filed its evidence, it can forward the complete submission to the gateway server. When the gateway server receives the complete submission, if encrypted, it decrypts the evidence, checks the submitter'"'"'s digital signature on the evidence, and it then compares the complete submission with the evidence. If the evidence is a message digest, the gateway server computes a message digest of the complete submission. If the two digests are identical, then it is clear that the submission was completed when the evidence was filed, before expiry of the deadline, and the gateway server can then forward the submission on to the central server.

Claims

1. A method for enforcing time limits in a gateway server in an electronic filing system, comprising steps of:

receiving, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing evidence of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission;

identifying a write-enabled directory for storing said evidence and writing said evidence in the directory, else returning a first submission rejection indication to the submitting program; and

on receipt of a subsequent message containing the completed submission, computing second evidence from the completed submission and matching the second evidence with the evidence written in the directory, else returning a second submission rejection indication to the submitting program.

2. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the step of matching the second evidence with the evidence written in the directory comprises the step of:

verifying the submitting program'"'"'s identity through digital signature.

3. The method, according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving a submission requirement including an unexpired submission time limit and generating the directory with write access for submitting programs; and

removing write access to the directory on expiry of the submission time limit.

4. The method, according to claim 3, wherein the step of removing write access to the directory comprises changing access policy for the directory.

5. The method, according to claim 4, wherein the step of removing write access to the directory comprises changing access policy for the directory and, immediately after expiry of the submission time limit, copying all messages stored in the directory to another storage area.

6. A method for enforcing time limits in a gateway server in an electronic filing system, comprising steps of:

receiving, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing a first message digest of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission;

identifying a write-enabled directory for storing said first message digest and writing said first message digest in the directory, else returning a first submission rejection indication to the submitting program; and

on receipt of a subsequent electronic message containing the completed submission, computing a second message digest of the completed submission, and matching the second message digest with the first message digest written in the directory, else returning a second submission rejection indication to the submitting program.

7. The method, according to claim 6, further comprising steps of:

receiving a submission requirement including an unexpired submission time limit and generating the directory with write access for submitting programs; and

removing write access to the directory on expiry of the submission time limit.

8. The method, according to claim 7, wherein the step of removing write access to the directory comprises changing access policy for the directory.

9. The method, according to claim 7, wherein the step of removing write access to the directory comprises changing access policy for the directory and, immediately after expiry of the submission time limit, copying all messages stored in the directory to another storage area.

10. In a network, a gateway mechanism for enforcing time limits for filing electronic submissions, comprising:

means in a server in the gateway mechanism for receiving information related to a submission time limit from a submission processing environment and for generating a storage directory in the server'"'"'s file system with write access for all potential submitters within the submission time limit;

means for

(i) receiving, from a submitter, a first electronic message containing evidence of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission,

(ii) verifying write access to the storage directory, and

(iii) if the write access is verified, writing the evidence to the storage directory, else returning an error indication to the submitter;

means for removing the write access to the storage directory on expiry of the submission time limit;

means for computing second evidence from the completed submission upon receiving said completed submission from the submitter in a subsequent electronic message; and

means for matching the second evidence with the evidence written to the storage directory, else returning an error indication to the submitter.

11. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein the means for receiving information related to a time limit from a submission processing environment comprises:

a submission repository adapted to receive information related to current submission requirements from the submission processing environment; and

means to poll the submission repository to update the submission time limit.

12. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein the means for removing write access to the storage directory comprises means for changing access policy for the storage directory.

13. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein the means for removing write access to the storage directory comprises means for changing access policy for the storage directory and means for creating a copy in another storage location of the storage directory as the time limit expires.

14. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein the means for matching the second evidence with the evidence written to the storage directory comprises verifying the submitter'"'"'s identity by digital signature.

15. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein:

the evidence comprises a message digest of the completed submission;

the means for computing second evidence from the completed submission comprise means at the server for computing a second message digest from the received completed submission; and

the means for matching the second evidence with the evidence written to the storage directory comprise means at the server for comparing the second evidence to the evidence written to the storage directory; and

further comprising means for routing the completed submission to the submission processing environment if the means for comparing determines that the second evidence and the evidence written to the storage directory are identical.

16. The mechanism, according to claim 10, wherein the evidence comprises a message digest of the completed submission computed by the submitter, and wherein the means for computing second evidence from the completed submission comprises means at the server to compute a new message digest of the completed submission.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for enforcing time limits in an electronic filing system, the computer readable program product comprising:

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to receive, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing evidence of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission;

computer readable program code means for causing the computer to identify a write-enabled directory for storing said evidence and to write said evidence in the directory, else return a first submission rejection indication to the submitting program; and

computer readable program code means, on receipt of a subsequent electronic message containing the completed submission, for causing the computer to compute second evidence from the completed submission and to match the second evidence with the evidence written in the directory, else return a second submission rejection indication to the submitting program.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for enforcing time limits in an electronic filing system, the computer readable program product comprising:

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to receive, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing a first message digest of a completed submission, wherein said first electronic message does not contain said completed submission;

computer readable program code means for causing the computer to identify a write-enabled directory for storing said first message digest and to write said first message digest in the directory, else return a first submission rejection message to the submitting program; and

computer readable program code means, on receipt of a subsequent message containing the completed submission, for causing the computer to compute a new message digest of the completed submission and to match the new message digest with the first message digest written in the directory, else return a second submission rejection message to the submitting program.