Automatic E-signatures in response to conditions and/or events

• US 9,544,149 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2013
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Follis, Benjamin D.
• Primary Examiner(s): HENNING, MATTHEW T
• Application Number:
  US14/107,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed that allow for automatic signing of a digital document in response to some event and/or when the document satisfies some predefined condition. The document may be, for example, an agreement, a technical paper for publication, a press release or marketing materials, or any other digital document that might need to be assented to, approved by, and/or attributed to one or more persons or representatives. The techniques may further provide support for automatic signature tracking and notification in order to assist with auditability. In one example embodiment, the techniques are implemented in the context of an e-signature application or service, which may be installed locally on the user'"'"'s computer or provided to the user via a network from a server. In one example embodiment, the e-signature service is configured to automatically impress a signer'"'"'s signature into a given document, if the signer'"'"'s pre-established auto-sign criteria is met.

Claims

1. An electronic signature method implemented at an electronic signature application server device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from a document sender, a document containing a fixed document term and a variable document term, wherein the document sender has indicated that a document recipient is not allowed to modify the fixed document term, while the variable document term is associated with a parameter that can be set by the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document sender, a condition on the variable document term, wherein satisfaction of the condition depends on the parameter set by the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, a recipient'"'"'s signature block at a first location in the document that is configured to receive a signature of the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatic signature block at a second location in the document that is configured to receive an automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device to the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient, the document, wherein the document received from the document recipient includes the signature of the document recipient positioned in the recipient'"'"'s signature block;

making a first determination, by the electronic signature application server device, and after the document is received from the document recipient, that the fixed document term has not been modified from its state when the document was sent to the document recipient;

making a second determination, by the electronic signature application server device, and after the document is received from the document recipient, that the parameter set by the document recipient satisfies the condition;

in response to making the first and second determinations, applying, by the electronic signature application server device, the automatically generated electronic signature to the automatic signature block without user intervention; and

transmitting the document that includes both the signature of the document recipient and the automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender, from the electronic signature application server device to the document sender.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising locating, by the electronic signature application server device, the variable document term in the document received from the document sender.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein satisfaction of the condition further depends on occurrence of a specified event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification reporting a document status from the electronic signature application server device to at least one of the document sender and the document recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, from the electronic signature application server device to at least one of the document sender and the document recipient, a notification indicating that the automatically generated electronic signature was applied to the automatic signature block.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording, in an audit record administered by the electronic signature application server device, an audit entry indicating that the automatically generated electronic signature was applied to the automatic signature block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic signature application server device is selected from a group consisting of a mobile computing device and a desktop computer.

8. An electronic signature application server device that comprises a memory device and a processor that is operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory device that, when executed, cause the processor to carry out an electronic signature process that comprises:

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from a document sender, a document containing a fixed document term and a variable document term, wherein the document sender has indicated that a document recipient is not allowed to modify the fixed document term, while the variable document term is associated with a parameter that can be set by the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document sender, a condition on the variable document term, wherein satisfaction of the condition depends on the parameter set by the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, a recipient'"'"'s signature block at a first location in the document that is configured to receive a signature of the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatic signature block at a second location in the document that is configured to receive an automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device to the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient, the document, wherein the document received from the document recipient includes the signature of the document recipient positioned in the recipient'"'"'s signature block;

making, by the electronic signature application server device, after the document is received from the document recipient, at least one of (a) a first determination that the fixed document term has been modified from its state when the document was sent to the document recipient, and (b) a second determination that the parameter set by the document recipient does not satisfy the condition; and

in response to making at least one of the first and second determinations, sending a notification from the electronic signature application server device to the document sender that the document is at least partially unsigned.

9. The electronic signature system of claim 8, wherein the notification is also sent from the electronic signature application server device to the document recipient.

10. The electronic signature system of claim 8, wherein:

satisfaction of the condition further depends on occurrence of a specified event; and

the electronic signature process further comprises making, by the electronic signature application server device, at least one of the first determination, the second determination, and a third determination that the specified event has not occurred.

11. The electronic signature system of claim 8, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises generating, in an audit record administered by the electronic signature application server device, an audit entry indicating that at least one of (a) the fixed document term has been modified, and (b) the condition is unsatisfied.

12. The electronic signature system of claim 8, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises recording, in an audit record administered by the electronic signature application server device, an audit entry indicating that the document is at least partially unsigned.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an electronic signature process to be carried out, the electronic signature process comprising:

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from a document sender, a document containing a fixed document term and a variable document term, wherein the document sender has indicated that the document recipient is not allowed to modify the fixed document term, while the variable document term is associated with a parameter that can be set by the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document sender, a condition on the variable document term, wherein satisfaction of the condition depends on the parameter set by the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, a recipient'"'"'s signature block at a first location in the document that is configured to receive a signature of the document recipient;

defining, by the electronic signature application server device, an automatic signature block at a second location in the document that is configured to receive an automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender;

sending the document from the electronic signature application server device to the document recipient;

receiving, by the electronic signature application server device, from the document recipient, the document, wherein the document received from the document recipient includes the signature of the document recipient positioned in the recipient'"'"'s signature block;

making a first determination, by the electronic signature application server device, and after the document is received from the document recipient, that the fixed document term has not been modified from its state when the document was sent to the document recipient;

making a second determination, by the electronic signature application server device, and after the document is received from the document recipient, that the parameter set by the variable document recipient satisfies the condition;

in response to making the first and second determinations, applying, by the electronic signature application server device, the automatically generated electronic signature to the automatic signature block without user intervention; and

transmitting the document that includes both the signature of the document recipient and the automatically generated electronic signature authorized by the document sender, from the electronic signature application server device to the document sender.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises locating, by the electronic signature application server device, the variable document term in the document received from the document sender.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the document received from the document recipient further includes the parameter set by the document recipient.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein:

satisfaction of the condition further depends on occurrence of a specified event;

the electronic signature process further comprises making a third determination, by the electronic signature application server device, that the specified event has occurred; and

the electronic signature application server device applies the automatically generated electronic signature to the automatic signature block without user invention in response to making the first, second, and third determinations.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises sending a notification reporting a document status from the electronic signature application server device to at least one of the document sender and the document recipient.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises sending, from the electronic signature application server device to at least one of the document sender and the document recipient, a notification indicating that the automatically generated electronic signature was applied to the automatic signature block.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the electronic signature process further comprises recording, in an audit record administered by the electronic signature application server device, an audit entry indicating that the automatically generated electronic signature was applied to the automatic signature block.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein:

the signature of the document recipient is a graphical representation of a handwritten signature of the document recipient; and

the automatically generated electronic signature is a graphical representation of a handwritten signature of the document sender.