Method and apparatus for executing cryptographically-enabled letters of credit

• US 7,991,698 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2005
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Schneier, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): AUGUSTIN, EVENS J
• Application Number:
  US11/103,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20050182733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,303 Days
• Field of Search: 705/69, 705/26, 705/1, 705/51, 705/79
• US Class Current: 705/53
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/38215 Use of certificates or encrypted proofs of transaction rights
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification

Abstract

A method and apparatus for executing electronic transactions using cryptographically-enabled accounts stores cryptographically-enabled account information and instructions, receives a cryptographically-encoded permission certificate, and processes the received permission certificate to execute the transactions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting, by a controller comprising at least one processor, a first permission certificate and an indication of at least one condition of a contract to a verification authority;

receiving, by the controller, the first permission certificate,

in which the received first permission certificate is signed by a third party, and

in which the received signed first permission certificate verifies that the at least one condition of the contract has been satisfied; and

after receiving the signed first permission certificate,

transmitting, by the controller, a second permission certificate to a seller,

the second permission certificate indicating permission is granted by a trusted agent for the seller to acquire an amount of funds.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the trusted agent is a bank.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a contract that has been digitally signed by the seller, a buyer and the trusted agent.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

storing, by the trusted agent, information about the contract in a database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing at a bank a cryptographically-enabled account that corresponds to the contract.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

depositing funds in the cryptographically-enabled account.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

placing a cryptographic lock on the cryptographically-enabled account.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a calculation program to generate the first permission certificate and the second permission certificate.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the amount of funds from the trusted agent to the seller.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the second permission certificate from the seller.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the amount of funds to the seller after receiving the second permission certificate.

12. The method of claim 1, in which transmitting the first permission certificate comprises:

transmitting the first permission certificate from the trusted agent to a verification authority.

13. The method of claim 1, in which transmitting the second permission certificate comprises:

electronically transmitting the second permission certificate from the trusted agent to the seller.

14. The method of claim 1, in which receiving the first permission certificate comprises:

receiving the first permission certificate by the trusted agent from the third party.

15. The method of claim 1, in which the second permission certificate is for providing by the seller to a bank, the bank maintaining a cryptographically-enabled account that is associated with the contract.

16. A computer readable medium storing instructions configured to direct a processor to perform the method of claim 1.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

the computer readable medium of claim 16 in communication with the processor.