Electronic contracts
First Claim
1. A digital file forming a contract comprising:
- a header package having rules defining sealed packages produced by a sealing party, a body containing at least a portion of the content of the contract; and
a validating signature generated from said rules and said body according to a first key belonging to a validating party; and
a sealing signature generated from said header package and said sealed packages according to a second key belonging to said sealing party.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a digital contract comprising a sealed package comprising: a header package comprising: rules defining any sealed packages to be included in said contract; a validating party who is to validate said header package; and a sealing party who is to seal said package; a body containing at least a portion of the content of the package; and a validating signature generated from said rules and said body according to a first key belonging to said validating party; any sealed packages defined in said rules; and a sealing signature generated from said header package and any of said sealed packages according to a first key belonging to said sealing party. Further provided is contract management software for generating, validating, exchanging and managing such contracts.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A digital file forming a contract comprising:
-
a header package having rules defining sealed packages produced by a sealing party, a body containing at least a portion of the content of the contract; and
a validating signature generated from said rules and said body according to a first key belonging to a validating party; anda sealing signature generated from said header package and said sealed packages according to a second key belonging to said sealing party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A contract management apparatus for validating a digital file const contract, said digital file having a header package which includes rules defining sealed packages, a body containing at least a portion of the contract, and a validating signature, comprising:
-
means for reading said rules and for identifying a validating party and a sealing party which created a sealed file of said contract; first means for obtaining a first key belonging to said validating party cooperable with said validating signature generated from said rules and body to validate said header package; second means for obtaining a second key belonging to said sealing party cooperable with said sealing signature to validate said contract; and means for iteratively validating any sealed packages contained in said contract using said second key and sealing signature. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A contract management apparatus for generating a digital file constituting a contract comprising:
-
means for obtaining a header package for said contract; means for reading rules defining sealed data packages, and for identifying a sealing party and any sealed packages to be included in said contract; means for obtaining said identified sealed packages; means for generating a sealing signature from said header package and any of said sealed packages according to a first key belonging to said sealing party; and
means for assembling said header package, sealed packages and said sealing signature into said digital file constituting a contract.
-
-
13. A computer product for storing instructions which are executed by a computer to validate a digital file having a header package which includes rules defining sealed packages, a body containing at least a portion of a contract and a validating signature, comprising:
-
reading said digital file and identifying a validating party and a sealing party which created a sealed package of said contract; deriving a first key belonging to a validating party; validating said header package using said first key and said validating signature; deriving a second key belonging to said sealing party; a sealing signature from said header package; and validating said digital file using said second key and said sealing signature. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. A computer product for storing ins ons for a computer to execute the steps of:
-
storing rules to describe a data package; creating from said rules a data package containing a digital data file;
merging said rules and said data package into a merged file;creating a package validity signature from said merged file to prevent unauthorized use of said digital file; and generating a unique number identifying said digital file; merging said package validity signature, said merged file and said unique number; creating a sealing signature from said merged files; and sealing said merged files with said sealing signature to produce a sealed package. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
-
Specification