Electronic seals

• US 6,658,394 B1
• Filed: 08/08/2000
• Issued: 12/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SquareTrade, Inc. (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SquareTrade, Inc. (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Khaishgi, Ahmed, Quinn, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEUNG, MARY DA ZHI WANG
• Application Number:
  US09/634,149
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 705/53-55, 705/58, 705/62, 345/2--, 345/625, 101/31.1, 235/29.A
• US Class Current: 705/58
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/182 Alternative dispute resolution

Abstract

The invention provides techniques for issuing electronic seals of certification to online entities, such as online merchants, in a manner that prevents non-certified parties from easily stealing or otherwise misusing the seals. A central seal issuer verifies the credentials, policies or business practices of each merchant and issues a corresponding seal of certification. For each merchant, the seal issuer generates a unique media object representing an electronic seal. The media object includes an encrypted watermark containing an expiration date. The media objects are stored on a seal server such that the merchants can dynamically retrieve and display the electronic seals when accessed by a user. The seal issuer can easily revoke or update the centrally stored seals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating corresponding media objects for each of a plurality of online entities, wherein each of the media objects includes media to present a unique seal of certification for each of the entities;

receiving a request from a web browser executing on a client device for one of the media objects; and

communicating the requested media object to the web browser for presentment of the respective seal of certification to a user as a portion of a web site.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving certification data for each of the online entities; and

generating the respective media object for each of the entities as a function of the respective certification data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the media objects includes embedding expiration dates for the seal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein embedding the expiration dates includes encrypting the expiration dates.

5. The method of claim 2, further including:

verifying that the entities are legitimate business entities; and

setting the certification data based on a result from the verification.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein receiving a request comprise receiving a request containing a unique identifier embedded within a universal resource locator, and communicating the requested media object comprises selecting the requested media object from the media objects based on the unique identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the media objects comprises images and the entities comprises online merchants.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the media objects includes embedding digital watermarks into the images.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the media object comprises:

assessing certification data for the entities;

generating the media objects to have a first visual appearance when the certification data indicates the entity is certified; and

generating the media objects to have different visual appearances when the certification data indicates that the certifications have been revoked.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after communicating the requested media object to the client device, receiving a request from the client device to view additional information for the entity corresponding to the requested media object;

retrieving the information as a function of a unique identifier provided by the request; and

communicating the information to the client device for display to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the entity comprises an online merchant and the information includes a transaction history for the merchants.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing an anonymity setting for each entity, and wherein communicating the information includes filtering the information based on the anonymity setting.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising filtering the information based on a universal resource locator (URL) received during the request for the information.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing a unique identifier for the client device within a request log;

analyzing the request log to detect misuse of the media object; and

alerting the entity of the detected misuse.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions contained therein for causing a programmable processor to:

generate a set of electronic seals, wherein each electronic seal represents a certification status for a corresponding online entity;

receive a request from a web browser executing on a client device, wherein the request includes a unique identifier for one of the online entities; and

communicate the electronic seal corresponding to the identified online entity to the client device for display in association with a website.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to embed a digital watermark into the seal.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to embed an expiration date within the seal.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to encrypt the expiration date.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to generate the set of electronic seals as a function of certification data for each entity.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to:

generate an electronic seal having a non-transparent image when certification data indicates the entity is qualified; and

generating an electronic seal having a transparent image when the certification data indicates certification for tile entity has been revoked.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to maintain an anonymity parameter for the online entity and to filter an identity of the entity from the web page when the anonymity parameter is set.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to maintain a log of the requests including storing an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the client device.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the programmable processor to analyze the request log to detect misuse of the seal and to alert the entity to the misuse.

24. A method comprising:

requesting a web page from a website, wherein the web page includes a reference to a media object residing on a server of a seal issuer;

requesting the media object from the server, wherein the media object represents a seal of certification for an entity;

receiving the media object representing the seal from a remote server; and

presenting the media object and the web page to a user.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein presenting the media object includes displaying the media within the web page.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving input from a user;

in response to the input, requesting information for the entity; and

presenting the information to the user.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving input from the user includes receiving input when the user selects the presented media object using a pointing device.

28. A system comprising:

a database configured to store data defining a set of entities, wherein each entity has a unique identity and a certification status; and

a server configured to store a set media objects, wherein each media object represents a seal of certification for a corresponding entity and can be retrieved based on the unique identifier for the corresponding entity, and wherein the server receives requests from client devices accessing websites associated with the entities, and communicates the media objects to the client devices for presentment in association with the websites.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the server is configured to retrieve the certification status from the database and generate the media objects as a function of the certification status.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the server is configured to communicate the media object to a device for presentment to a user.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the database is configured to store an expiration date each media object.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the server is configured to embed an encrypted expiration date within the media objects.

33. A method comprising:

accessing a network of computing resources to identify occurrences of media objects representing seals of certification for online entities, wherein the media objects are presented as portions of websites;

determining whether the media objects remain valid; and

revoking each media object that is determined not to remain valid.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein revoking the media object includes replacing a media object located on a remote server with a second media object.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the second media object contains an image visually different from an image contained within the replaced media object.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein determining whether the media objects remain value includes reading expiration dates embedded within the media objects.

37. The method of claim 36, further including decrypting the embedded expiration date.