Self-destructing document and e-mail messaging system
First Claim
1. A method for creating a virtual container containing a digital object, comprising the steps ofcreating a virtual container, the virtual container residing in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, the virtual container including a header portion and a digital object portion;
- selecting a digital object for insertion into the virtual container;
applying an encryption technique to the digital object to create an encrypted digital object;
writing the encrypted digital object into the digital object portion;
selecting at least one lifetime control, including an expiration date and a limited number of times that the digital object may the opened, for the digital object; and
writing information indicative of the at least one lifetime control of said digital object, including an expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, into the header portion of the virtual container.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A self-destruction document or e-mail massaging system is provided that automatically destroys documents or e-mail messages at a predetermined time by attaching a “virus” to the document or e-mail message. A virus in the form of a Trojan horse is attached to file (such as an e-mail message or document) when it is created. The virus contains a portion of executable code or an executable program which instructs the computer to overwrite and/or delete the file to which the virus is attached at a desired time. Since the virus is attached to the file, it will travel with the file even when the file is copied, forwarded, or saved to disks or tape drives.
130 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method for creating a virtual container containing a digital object, comprising the steps of
creating a virtual container, the virtual container residing in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, the virtual container including a header portion and a digital object portion; -
selecting a digital object for insertion into the virtual container; applying an encryption technique to the digital object to create an encrypted digital object; writing the encrypted digital object into the digital object portion; selecting at least one lifetime control, including an expiration date and a limited number of times that the digital object may the opened, for the digital object; and writing information indicative of the at least one lifetime control of said digital object, including an expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, into the header portion of the virtual container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for extracting a document from a virtual container, comprising the steps of
reading information indicative of at least one lifetime control of a digital object, including an expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, from a header portion of a virtual container, the virtual container residing in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, the virtual container including the header portion and a digital object portion, the digital object portion containing an encrypted digital object; -
determining, based upon said lifetime control information, if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has been reached; overwriting the digital object portion of the virtual container wit null data if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times tat the digital object may be opened has been reached; and reading the digital object from the digital object portion and applying a decryption technique to the digital object if the digital object is not expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has not been reached. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
-
-
10. A virtual container system, comprising:
-
a container creator utility, the container creator utility creating a virtual container which resides in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, wherein the virtual container includes a header portion and a digital object portion, the container opener utility receiving a digital object selection and at least one lifetime control selection, including an expiration date selection, from a user, the container creator applying an encryption technique to the selected digital object to create an encrypted digital object and writing The encrypted digital object into the digital object portion of the virtual container, the container creator writing information indicative of the at least one lifetime control, including the expiration date and a limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, into the header portion of the virtual container; a container opener utility, the container opener utility reading the information indicative of the at least one lifetime control, including the expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, from the header portion of the virtual container, the container opener determining, based upon said Lifetime control information, if the digital object is expired;
the container opener overwriting the digital object portion of the virtual container with null data if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has been reached, the container opener reading the encrypted digital object from the digital object portion and applying a decryption technique to the digital object if the digital object is not expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has not been reached. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for creating a virtual container and extracting a digital object from a virtual container, Wherein the method of creating the virtual container comprises the steps of
creating a virtual container, the virtual container residing in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, the virtual container including a header portion and a digital object portion; -
selecting a digital object for insertion into the virtual container; applying an encryption technique to the digital object to create an encrypted digital object; writing the encrypted digital object into the digital object portion; selecting at least one lifetime control, including an expiration date and a limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, for the digital object; and writing information indicative of the at least one lifetime control of said digital object, including the expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, into the header portion of the virtual container, and wherein the method for extracting the document from the virtual container, comprises the steps of reading information indicative of at least one lifetime control of a digital object, including an expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, from a header portion of a virtual container, determining, based upon said lifetime control information, if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has been reached; overwriting the digital object portion of the virtual container with null data if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object maybe opened has been reached; and reading the digital object from the digital abject portion and applying a decryption technique to the digital object if the digital object is not expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has not been reached. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method for transmitting a destructible digital object to a recipient, comprising the steps of
creating a virtual container, the virtual container residing in contiguous locations in an electronic storage media of a computer, the virtual container including a header portion and a digital object portion; -
selecting a digital object for insertion into the virtual container; applying an encryption technique to the digital object to create an encrypted digital object; writing the encrypted digital object into the digital object portion; selecting at least one lifetime control, including an expiation date and a limited number of times tat the digital object may be opened, for the digital object; writing information indicative of at least one lifetime control, including the expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, into the header portion of the virtual container, transmitting the virtual container and a container opener utility to a recipient, wherein the container opener utility, when invoked by the recipient, reads the information indicative of at least one lifetime control, including the expiration date and the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened, from the header portion of the virtual container, determines, based upon said information, if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has been reached, overwrites the digital object portion of the virtual container with null data if the digital object is expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has been reached, and reads the encrypted digital object from the digital object portion and applies a decryption technique to the digital object if the digital object is not expired and if the limited number of times that the digital object may be opened has not been reached. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
-
Specification