Methods and systems for establishing and enforcing document visibility rights with an electronic signature service

• US 8,844,055 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Follis, Benjamin David, Aloni, Eran
• Primary Examiner(s): Reza, Mohammad W
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHIM, MONJUR
• Application Number:
  US13/447,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20140041052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/605 Copy protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Techniques for generating and enforcing document visibility rights associated with a document in use with an electronic signature service are described. Consistent with embodiments of the invention, document visibility rights can be established for each person designated to sign and/or receive a copy of a document, and on a per-page, per-document section, or per-source document basis. Additionally, visibility rights may be conditional, such that various events (including the singing of a document) may modify visibility rights making a previously un-viewable page or document section viewable to a particular person.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a server operating an electronic signature service a plurality of files representing source documents, wherein at least one respective source document includes associated metadata defining visibility rights and signature requirements for the respective source document;

converting the plurality of files to a single file representing a document package having a file format consistent with a portable document format (PDF);

receiving a plurality of message addresses with each message address identifying a person, of which at least one person is to execute a source document included in the document package by providing an electronic signature to be associated with the source document;

generating document visibility rights and signature requirements corresponding to one or more people identified by the plurality of message addresses for each portion of the document package at least partially based on the metadata defining visibility rights and signature requirements for the at least one source document; and

communicating a message to each of the message addresses associated with a person, each message having a customized link to access the portions of the document package based on the visibility rights and to submit digital signatures required by the signature requirements.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to view the document package;

determining which person is associated with the request;

accessing the document visibility rights of the particular person associated with the request;

generating with an image filter module images of an instance of the document package with only those pages that the particular person has been authorized to view, as indicated by the document visibility rights for that particular person.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to download the document package;

determining which person is associated with the request;

accessing the document visibility rights of the particular person associated with the request;

generating with an outbound document generator module an instance of the document package with only those pages that the particular person has been authorized to view, as indicated by the document visibility rights for that particular person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating document visibility rights and signature requirements corresponding to one or more people identified by the plurality of message addresses for each portion of the document package includes specifying-the pages of the document package that one or more groups of people can view.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating document visibility rights for each person includes generating document visibility rights for each person based on which group of the one or more groups the person is a member.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one group is defined by an account established with the electronic signature service.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one group is defined by a domain name of a message address of persons to receive and/or sign a source document in the document package.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a document visibility right for one person that is to receive or sign a source document in the document package is established as a conditional rule such that at least one or more pages are not viewable to the one person until one or more other persons have signed, with the electronic signature service, a source document of the document package.

9. A system comprising:

a microprocessor for executing instructions stored in a memory device, the instructions, when executed to cause the system to;

receive at a server operating an electronic signature service a plurality of files representing source documents, wherein at least one respective source document includes associated metadata defining visibility rights and signature requirements for the respective source document;

convert the plurality of files to a single file representing a document package having a file format consistent with a portable document format (PDF);

receive a plurality of message addresses with each message address identifying a person, of which at least one person is to execute a source document included in the document package by providing an electronic signature to be associated with the source document;

generate document visibility rights and signature requirements corresponding to one or more people identified by the plurality of message addresses for each portion of the document package at least partially based on the metadata defining visibility rights and signature requirements for the at least one source document; and

communicate a message to each of the message addresses associated with a person, each message having a customized link to access the portions of the document package based on the visibility rights and to submit digital signatures required by the signature requirements.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

receive a request to view the document package;

determine which person is associated with the request;

access the document visibility rights of the particular person associated with the request;

generate with an image filter module images of an instance of the document package with only those pages that the particular person has been authorized to view, as indicated by the document visibility rights for that particular person.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

receive a request to download die document package;

determine which person is associated with the request;

access the document visibility rights of the particular person associated with the request;

generate with an outbound document generator module an instance of the document package with only those pages that the particular person has been authorized to view, as indicated by the document visibility rights for that particular person.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

specify the pages of the document package that one or more groups of people can view.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

generate document visibility rights for each person based on which group of the one or more groups die person is a member.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one group is defined by an account established with the electronic signature service.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one group is defined by a domain name of a message address of persons to receive and/or sign a source document in the document package.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein a document visibility right for one person that is to receive or sign a source document in the document package is established as a conditional rule such that at least one or more pages are not viewable to the one person until one or more other persons have signed, with the electronic signature service, a source document of the document package.