Security for uniquely generated electronic seals of certification

• US 7,092,912 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2003
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SquareTrade, Inc. (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SquareTrade, Inc. (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Khaishgi, Ahmed, Quinn, John
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, MARY DA ZHI WANG
• Application Number:
  US10/643,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20040034606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 705 53- 55, 705/58, 705/62, 345 21- 22, 345/628, 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 for preventing misuse of electronic seals associated with participants in an online marketplace that is accessed via a computer network and enables participants to buy and sell items, the method comprising:

generating corresponding media objects for each of a plurality of participants in the marketplace, wherein each of the media objects includes media to present a seal of certification for each of the participants as an image;

embedding dates into the media objects;

accessing a network of computing resources to identify occurrences of the media objects, wherein the media objects are presented as portions of websites associated with the online marketplace;

reading the dates embedded within the media objects to determine whether the media objects are valid; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising

certifying the participants,

wherein generating corresponding media objects comprises selectively generating corresponding media objects based on the seal of certification.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein embedding dates into the media objects includes embedding expiration dates for the seals into the media objects.

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

5. The method of claim 1, wherein revoking the media objects includes replacing a media object located on a remote server with a second media object.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second media object contains an image visually different from an image contained within the replaced media object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving requests from web browsers executing on client devices for the media objects;

communicating the requested media objects to the requesting web browsers for presentment of the respective seals of certification to users as portions of websites; and

maintaining a log of the requests to detect misuse of the media objects.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein maintaining a log of the requests comprises storing a unique identifier for each client device within the request log.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the unique identifier include an Internet Protocol address.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

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

alerting the entities associated with misused media objects of the detected misuse.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein analyzing the request log to detect misuse comprises analyzing the request log to detect an unexpected unique identifier.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising certifying the participants,

wherein generating corresponding media objects comprises generating corresponding media objects for each of the participants based on the seal of certification.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein certifying the participants comprises at least one of verifying that a business practice of the participants meets a standard or receiving agreements to participate in online dispute resolution from the participants.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the participants are sellers in the online marketplace.

15. A method for preventing misuse of electronic seals associated with participants in an online marketplace that is accessed via a computer network and enables participants to buy and sell items comprising, the method comprising:

generating corresponding media objects for each of a plurality of participants in the online marketplace, wherein each of the media objects includes media to present a seal of certification for each of the participants as an image;

receiving requests from web browsers executing on client devices for the media objects;

communicating the requested media objects to the requesting web browsers for presentment of the respective seal of certification to users as portions of websites associated with the online marketplace;

maintaining a log of the requests that includes an Internet Protocol address associated with each of the requesting client devices;

analyzing the request log to detect misuse of the media objects;

alerting the participants associated with misused media objects of the detected misuse;

removing the misused media objects from a server; and

generating new media objects for the participants associated with the misused media objects.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising certifying the participants,

wherein generating corresponding media objects comprises generating corresponding media objects for each of the participants based on the seal of certification.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein certifying the participants comprises at least one of verifying that a business practice of the participants meets a standard, verifying that the participants agree to the standard, or receiving agreements to participate in online dispute resolution from the participants.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the participants are sellers in an online marketplace.

19. A method for selectively providing information associated with participants in an online marketplace that is accessed via a computer network and enables participants to buy and sell items to other participants in the online marketplace, the method comprising:

generating media objects for the participants to present seals for the participants based on information for the participants stored in a database;

communicating a requested one of the media objects to a web browser for presentment of the respective seal to a user as a portion of a website associated with the online marketplace;

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

retrieving at least a portion of the information stored in the database for the participant associated with the requested media object as a function of a unique identifier provided by the request.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing certification information for each of the participants within the database; and

selectively providing the certification information stored within the database for the participant associated with media object to the user via the web browser.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein selectively providing the certification information comprises:

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

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

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the participant comprises an online merchant and the information includes a transaction history for the merchant.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing a disclosure setting for each of the participants, wherein selectively providing the information includes filtering the information based on the disclosure setting.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising filtering the information based on a universal resource locator (URL) received during the request for the information.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein selectively presenting the certification information comprises providing a web page that includes the certification information.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

verifying that the participants comply with compliance requirements;

storing verification data for the plurality of participants in a database of a seal issuer; and

selectively presenting the seals for display within websites associated with the participants based on the verification data, wherein the seals represent compliance by the participants with the compliance requirements.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

detecting non-compliance with the compliance requirements by one of the participants; and

updating the verification data to revoke the respective seal for the non-compliant participant.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein the participant comprises an online merchant and the information includes a transaction history for the merchant.

29. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing a disclosure setting for each of the participants, wherein selectively providing the information includes filtering the information based on the disclosure setting.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising filtering the information based on a universal resource locator (URL) received during the request for the information.