AU2013388667A1

AU2013388667A1 - A streaming-based digital contract management method and system

Info

Publication number: AU2013388667A1
Application number: AU2013388667A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Matthew Adams; Daniel Aiello; Aniket TAPRE
Original assignee: AMT GROUP Pty Ltd
Current assignee: AMT GROUP Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2013-05-01
Filing date: 2013-05-01
Publication date: 2015-12-10
Also published as: WO2014176623A1

Abstract

Computer-implemented method, software and computer system for digital contract management are disclosed. The present disclosure comprises receiving an identifier of a digital contract client (110); receiving a request for a digital contract from the digital contract client (110); streaming, in response to the request, the digital contract to be temporarily stored and completed at the digital contract client (110); receiving a completed digital contract from the digital contract client (110); and storing the completed digital contract.

Description

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 1 A streaming-based digital contract management method and system Technical Field [01] The present invention generally relates to document management. Aspects of the invention include computer-implemented methods, software and computer systems for digital contract management. Background (02] Contract management is becoming an increasingly important aspect for companies with thousands or even millions of customers for example insurance or telecommunication companies, which is implemented physically or electrically or in combination in terms of generation, transmission, signing, modification, submission and review of the contracts. (03] Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application. Summary [04] In a first aspect there is provided a computer-implemented method for digital contract management, comprising: receiving an identifier of a digital contract client; receiving a request for a digital contract from the digital contract client; streaming, in response to the request, the digital contract to be temporarily stored and completed at the digital contract client; receiving a completed digital contract from the digital contract client; and storing the completed digital contract.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 2 [05] It is an advantage that the invention streams the digital contract to the digital contract client for completion and the digital contract client does not store the digital contract locally, which improves security level of digital contract management. [06] The digital contract may be streamed to the digital contract client in a digital document format, for example Acrobat PDF. [07] The identifier may indicate type of the digital contract client. [08] The computer-implemented method may further comprise streaming one or more interface elements to the digital contract client based on the identifier of the digital contract client to be displayed and temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [09] The one or more interface elements may vary with the type of the digital contract client. [10] The interface elements may include logos, colours, fonts. [11] The computer-implemented method may further comprise streaming an identity verification rule set to the digital contract client that is used to verify identity of a contracting party to the digital contract with one or more identity documents associated with the contracting party, the identity verification rule set being temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [12] The identity verification rule set may be an algorithm indicating how to prove the identity of the contracting party to the digital contract. [13] The contracting party may selectively provide at least one of the one or more identity documents. [14] The identity verification rule set may comprise one or more of the following: a name of each of the one or more identity documents; size of each of the one or more identity documents; meta data in relation to each of the one or more identity documents; a weighting point for each of the one or more identity documents; WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 3 dependency of the one or more identity documents; and mask information in relation to the one or more identity documents. [15] The identity verification rule set may further comprise a point threshold representing a minimum requirement for a sum of the weighting points for at least one identity document selectively provided by the contracting party. [16] If the sum is equal to or greater than the point threshold, then the at least one identity document selectively provided by the contracting party is sufficient to prove the identity of the contracting party to the digital contract. [17] The computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving a masked version of an image of the at least one identity document selectively provided by the contracting party from the digital contract client. [18] The at least one identity document may be masked at the digital contract client where appropriate for security reasons. [19] The computer-implemented method may further comprise streaming the completed digital contract to another party for a review of the completed digital contract, the completed digital contract being temporarily stored at the other party. [20] The other party may be a different computing device from the digital contract client. [21] The computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving status of the review of the completed digital contract from the other party.. [22] The status may indicate for example to-be-reviewed, approval, denial, in-review, resubmission, etc. [23] The computer-implemented method may further comprise streaming text information to the digital contract client, the text information being temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [24] The text information may represent terms and conditions and privacy policy based on for example location of the digital contract client.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 4 [25] The text information may also represent the status of the review of the digital contract. [26] In a second aspect there is provided a computer software program, including machine-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method described above where appropriate. [27] In a third aspect there is provided a computer system for digital contract management, the system comprising a processor that is adapted to: receive an identifier of a digital contract client; receive a request for a digital contract from the digital contract client; stream, in response to the request, the digital contract to be temporarily stored and completed at the digital contract client; receive a completed digital contract from the digital contract client; and store the completed digital contract. [28] In a fourth aspect there is provided a computer-implemented method for digital contract management, comprising: sending an identifier of a digital contract client to a digital contract server; sending a request for a digital contract to the digital contract server; receiving, at the digital contract client, the digital contract, the digital contract being streamed from the digital contract server; storing the digital contract in temporary storage of the digital contract client; receiving, at the digital contract client, digital information to complete the digital contract; sending the completed digital contract to the digital contract server; and automatically removing the completed digital contract from the temporary storage of the digital contract client.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 5 [29] It is an advantage that the invention receives streamed digital contract to complete the digital contract without actually storing the digital contract, which improves security level of digital contract management. [30] The streamed digital contract may be in a digital document format, for example Acrobat PDF. [31] The computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving, from the digital contract server, streamed one or more interface elements to be displayed and temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [32] The computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving, from the digital contract server, a streamed identity verification rule set to verify.identity of a contracting party to the digital contract with one or more identity documents associated with the contracting party, the streamed identity verification rule set being temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [33] The digital information may comprise a digital image of at least one identity document in the one or more identity documents selectively provided by the contracting party. [34] The digital information may comprise a digital signature of the contracting party. [35] The identity verification rule set may comprise one or more of the following: a name of each of the one or more identity documents; size of each of the one or more identity documents; meta data in relation to each of the one or more identity documents; a weighting point for each of the one or more identity documents; dependency of the one or more identity documents; and mask information in relation to the one or more identity documents.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 6 [36] The computer-implemented method may further comprise computing a sum of the weighting points for the at least one identity document in the one or more identity documents selectively provided by the contracting party. [37] If the sum is equal to or greater than the point threshold, then the at least one identity document provided by the contracting party is sufficient to prove the identity of the contracting party to the digital contract. [38] The computer-implemented method may further comprise masking a portion of the digital image of the at least one identity documents based on the identity verification rule set. [39] The computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving streamed text information from the digital contract server, the text information being temporarily stored at the digital contract client. [40] In a fifth aspect there is provided a computer software program, including machine-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method described above where appropriate. [41] In a sixth aspect there is provided a digital contract client for digital contract management, the digital contract client comprising one or more ports, memory, and a processor that is adapted to: send an identifier of the digital contract client to a digital contract server; send a request for a digital contract to the digital contract server; receive the digital contract, the digital contract being streamed from the digital contract server; store the digital contract in temporary storage; receive digital information to complete the digital contract; send the completed digital contract to the digital contract server; and automatically remove the completed digital contract from the temporary storage. Brief Description of Drawings WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 7 [42] At least one example of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a diagram of a digital contract management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram of a digital contract client according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a diagram of a digital contract server according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing steps performed by a digital contract client to manage digital contracts according to an embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing steps performed by a digital contract server to manage digital contracts according to an embodiment of the present invention. [43] It should be noted that the same numeral represents the same or similar elements throughout the drawings. Description of Embodiments [44] A digital contract management system 100 will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. The digital contract management system 100 includes digital contract clients 110, a contract management cloud 130 including digital contract servers 120, and a contract management cloud interface 140. [45] In this embodiment, the digital contract clients 110 are normally installed at locations where digital contracts are completed, including but not limited to, retail shops. The contract management cloud 130 including the digital contract servers 120 is typically located remotely to the digital contract clients 110. The digital contract servers 120 in the contract management cloud 130 are individual computing devices interconnected through links therebetween (not shown in FIG.1). Alternatively, the digital contract servers 120 are virtual machines formed on demand with computing resources contained in the contract management cloud 130. The contract management cloud interface 140 is a software and/or hardware interface to connect the contract management cloud 130 with the digital contract clients 110.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 8 [46] The digital contract management system 100 provides secure contract management services in that digital contracts are stored at the contract management cloud 130 before and after they are completed by a contracting party for example a consumer with the digital contract clients 110. [47] When a digital contract needs to be viewed and completed with the digital contract client 110, the digital contract is streamed to the digital contract client I 10 from the digital contract server 120 that has access to the digital contract. The digital contract client 110 then temporarily stores the digital contract in its temporary storage and receives digital information for example a digital signature and identity documents to complete the digital contract. Once the digital contract is completed, it is sent to the digital contract sever 120 to be securely stored and the digital contract is removed from the temporary storage of the digital contract client 110. The digital contract clients 110 and the digital contract servers 120 are described below in detail. Digital contract client [48] The digital contract client 110 shown in FIG. I will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. The digital contract client 110 includes a processor 1101, memory 1102, and ports 1103-1106. [49] The processor 1101 may be for example a general purpose processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. The processor 1101 fetches and performs instructions stored in the memory 1102 to manage digital contracts by interacting with the digital contract server 120 via the contract management cloud interface 140. [50] As shown in FIG. 2, the port 1103 is an information collection port that interfaces with for example a camera/scanner/touch sensor to capture digital information for completion of the digital contract for example the digital signature of the contracting party to the digital contract and images of identity documents of the contracting party. Additionally or alternatively, the port 1103 may interface with a digital information datastore to receive the digital information for completion of the digital contract. [51] The port 1104 is a communication port that communicates with the digital contract server 120 through the contract management cloud interface 140 via existing communication protocols for example TCP/IP, 3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE 802.x, etc.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 9 [52] The port 1105 is a display port interfacing with a display 210 to control the display 210 to display text and graphic information. The display 210 may for example be a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) display, organic LED (OLED) display or a touch screen display. [53) The port 1106 is a control port that interfaces with control devices (not shown in FIG. 2), for example a keyboard, a mouse, a touch sensor, a microphone, etc., to receive control instructions and/information for example login information from outside, for example, a consumer or a salesperson in a retail shop where the digital contract client 110 is installed. The control instructions received from outside are then sent to the processor 1101 to perform respective functions. Digital contract server [54] The digital contract server 120 shown in FIG. I will now be described with reference to FIG. 3. The digital contract server 120 includes a processor 1201, memory 1202, and ports 1203 and 1204. [55] The processor 1201 may for example be a general purpose processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. The processor 1201 fetches and performs instructions stored in the memory 1202 to manage digital contracts by interacting with the digital contract client 110 via the contract management cloud interface 140. [56] The port 1203 is a communication port that communicates with the digital contract client I10 through the contract management cloud interface 140 over existing communication protocols for example TCP/IP, 3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE 802.x, etc. [57) The port 1204 is a data port that interfaces with a contract datastore 310 from which the digital contract server 120 obtains digital contracts and streams them to the digital contract client 110. The digital contract sever 120 also stores the completed digital contracts received from the digital contract client 110 in the contract datastore 310 via the port 1204. Stream-based digital contract management process [58] The stream-based digital contract management process will now be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGs. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is the flow chart showing steps performed by the digital contract client 110 and FIG. 5 is the flow chart WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 10 showing steps performed by the digital contract server 120. It should be noted that although the stream-based digital contract management process in this specification is described with respect to a digital contract management system for a business entity with retail shops that offer products and/or services that require a written contract agreed between the business entity and a consumer, it can also be applied to other scenarios with minimum modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as broadly described. [59] In practice, before the digital contract client 110 is used by a salesperson in a retail shop, the salesperson needs to enter login information via the port 1106 of the digital contract client 110, which may typically include a user name and a password, to login the contract management cloud 130. Once the login information is received 402 at the digital contract client 110, the login information is sent 404 by the digital contract client 110 to the contract management cloud interface 140, which in turn checks if the login information matches its record and returns an indicator to the digital contract client 110 indicating if the login information matches 406. If not match, the digital contract client I10 prompts the salesperson to enter login information again until the login information matches. Then the digital contract client 110 sends 408 its identifier including type of the digital contract client 110 to the digital contract server 120. [601 Upon receipt 502 of the identifier of the digital contract client 110, the digital contract server 120 streams 504 corresponding interface elements to the digital contract client 110 based on the identifier of the digital contract client 110. The interface elements are pre-configured at the digital contract server 120 and can be changed and updated by an administrator of the contract management cloud 130. The interface elements include for example colours, login splash screen, fonts and logos specially designed for the digital contract client 110, and also include positions where the interface elements will be displayed on the display 210 connected to the digital contract client 110. The interface elements further include a version number. The interface elements will be received and temporarily stored on the digital contract client 110. [61] Upon receipt of the interface elements at the port 1104 of the digital contract client 110, the processor 1101 of the digital contract client 110 temporarily stores 410 these interface elements in its temporary storage for example the memory 1102. If the version number of the received interface elements represents a newer version than the WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 11 interface elements being used, the received interface elements are displayed on the display 210 connected to the digital contract client I10 via the port 1105. [62] At the same time, the digital contract server 120 streams 506 text information to the digital contract client 110 to be temporarily stored on the digital contract client 110. The text information includes typically terms, conditions, and privacy policy for the stream-based digital contract management system 100. The text information is pre configured at the digital contract server 120 and may vary with location of the retail shop where the digital contract client 110 is installed in terms of both contents and format for example fonts, colours, etc. Alternatively, the text information may be streamed to the digital contract client I 10 on request. [63] Upon receipt 412 of the text information at the port 1104 of the digital contract client 110, the digital contract client 110 presents the text information and provides "agree" and "disagree" options on the display 210 via the port 1105. The digital contract client 110 then receives 414 a response to the options via the port 1106 indicating the terms, conditions and privacy policy are agreed or not by the consumer, and sends 416 the response to the digital contract server 120. [64] If it is determined 418 that the response is "disagree", the process exits 420; otherwise, the digital contract client 110 is ready to receive a name list of digital contracts from the digital contract server 120. [65] Upon receipt 508 of the response to the terms, conditions and privacy policy at the digital contract server 120, if it is determined 510 that the response is "disagree", the process exits 512; otherwise, the digital contract sends 514 the name list of digital contracts to the digital contract client 110. [66] After receiving 422 the name list of digital contracts at the digital contract client 110, the digital contract client 110 presents the name list on the display 210 for the consumer from which the consumer or the salesperson can choose a digital contract corresponding to the product or service the consumer intends to purchase. If the consumer has decided the product or service he or she is going to purchase, the consumer or the salesperson chooses the corresponding digital contract from the name list to complete. As a result, the digital contract client 110 receives 424 an indicator via the port 1106 indicating the digital contract the consumer is going to complete.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 12 [67] The digital contract client I 10 sends 426 a request for the digital contract to the digital contract server 120. The request is received 516 at the digital contract server 120. Upon receipt of the request, the digital contract client 120 retrieves a pending digital contract corresponding to the request from the digital contract datastore 310 and streams 518 the pending digital contract in a certain digital format for example PDF document to the digital contract client 110. Meanwhile, an identity verification rule set associated with the pending digital contract is also streamed 520 to the digital contract client I10. [68] The identity verification rule set contains criteria used to verify identity of the consumer who will complete the pending digital contract. These criteria may include for example: a name of each of the one or more identity documents, indicating which types of identify document are acceptable, and the consumer may selectively provide at least one identity document in the one or more identity documents; size of each of the one or more identity documents; meta data in relation to each of the one or more identity documents for dynamic searching on the digital contract client 110; a weighting point for each of the one or more identity documents; dependency of the one or more identity documents, which indicates for example one or more primary identity documents are required; mask information in relation to the, one or more identity documents, which indicates a portion of an image of an identify document to be masked and may include position and size of the portion of the image; and a point threshold, indicating a minimum requirement for the sum of the weighting points for the at least -one identity document selectively provided by the consumer. [69] Additionally or alternatively, other criteria may be included that for example, a front and back picture are required for a driver license if there is a change of address sticker, and only a front picture is required for a Medicare card.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 13 [70] As the identity verification rule set may be updated by the administrator of the contract management cloud 130, it is streamed from the digital contract server 120 on request and only temporarily stored at the digital contract client I 10 to guarantee identity verification with the latest identity verification rule set. [71] After the digital contract client 110 receives and temporarily stores the pending digital contract and the identify verification rule set 428, 430, the pending digital contract is presented 432 on the display 210, and the identify documents that can be used to verify identity of the consumer and their respective weighing points are also displayed 434 on the display 210 according to the identify verification rule set for the consumer to verify his or her identity. [72] The digital contract client 110 then receives 436 digital information via the port 1103 to complete the digital contract. '[he digital information includes a digital signature of the consumer and an image of at least one identity document selectively provided by the consumer according to the identify verification rule set. A sum of the weighting points for the at least one identity document selectively provided by the consumer is computed to compare with the point threshold required. If the sum is equal to or greater than the point threshold, then the at least one identity document selectively provided by the consumer is sufficient to prove the identity of the consumer; otherwise, the digital contract client 110 prompts the consumer to provide more identity documents to meet requirements set by the identity verification rule set. If the identify verification rule set requires that a portion of an image of the at least one identity document be masked, the digital contract client 110 masks the portion of the image based on the mask information in the identify verification rule set. [73] Once the pending digital contract is completed appropriately, the digital contract client 110 sends 438 to the digital contract server 120 the completed digital contract including the digital signature and the image of the at least one identity document selectively provided by the consumer or its masked version if it is masked and removes 440 the completed digital contract from its temporary storage for security reasons. [74] Upon receipt 522 of the completed digital contract including the digital signature and the image of the at least one identity document selectively provided by the consumer or its masked version if it is masked, the digital contract server 120 stores 524 it in the contract datastore 310.

WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 14 [75] Additionally, the digital contract server 120 streams the completed digital contract to another party for a review of the completed digital contract. The other party may be a computing device different from the digital contract client 110. [76] The digital contract server 120 then receives 528 status of the review from the other party. The status may indicate for example to-be-reviewed, approval, denial, in review, resubmission, etc. [77] Upon receipt of the status of the review of the completed digital contract, the digital contract server 120 streams 530 the status to the digital contract client 110 for further processing according to the status of the review. [78] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as broadly described. [79] It should be understood that the techniques of the present disclosure might be implemented using a variety of technologies. For example, the methods described herein may be implemented by a series of computer executable instructions residing on a suitable computer readable medium. Suitable computer readable media may include volatile (e.g. RAM) and/or non-volatile (e.g. ROM, disk) memory, carrier waves and transmission media. Exemplary carrier waves may take the form of electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals conveying digital data streams along a local network or a publically accessible network such as the Internet. [80] It should also be understood that, unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "sending" or "streaming" or "obtaining" or "computing" or "storing" or "receiving" or "determining" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that processes and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for digital contract management, comprising: receiving an identifier of a digital contract client; receiving a request for a digital contract from the digital contract client; streaming, in response to the request, the digital contract to be temporarily stored and completed at the digital contract client; receiving a completed digital contract from the digital contract client; and storing the completed digital contract.

2. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 1, further comprising: streaming one .or more interface elements to the digital contract client based on the identifier of the digital contract client to be displayed and temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

3. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of preceding claims, further comprising: streaming an identity verification rule set to the digital contract client that is used to verify identity of a contracting party to the digital contract with one or more identity documents associated with the contracting party, the identity verification rule set being temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

4. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 3, wherein the identity verification rule set comprises one or more of the following: a name of each of the one or more identity documents; size of each of the one or more identity documents; meta data in relation to each of the one or more identity documents; a weighting point for each of the one or more identity documents; WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 16 dependency of the one or more identity documents; and mask information in relation to the one or more identity documents.

5. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 4, wherein the identity verification rule set further comprises a point threshold representing a minimum requirement for a sum of the weighting points for at least one identity document selectively provided by the contracting party.

6. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of preceding claims, further comprising: receiving a masked version of an image of the at least one identity document selectively provided by the contracting party from the digital contract client.

7. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of preceding claims, further comprising: streaming the completed digital contract to another party for a review of the completed digital contract, the completed digital contract being temporarily stored at the other party.

8. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 7, further comprising: receiving status of the review of the completed digital contract from the other party.

9. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of preceding claims, further comprising: streaming text information to the digital contract client, the text information being temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

10. A computer software program, including machine-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of any one of the preceding claims. WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 17

11. A computer system for digital contract management, the system comprising a processor that is adapted to: receive an identifier of a digital contract client; receive a request for a digital contract from the digital contract client; stream, in response to the request, the digital contract to be temporarily stored and completed at the digital contract client; receive a completed digital contract from the digital contract client; and store the completed digital contract.

12. A computer-implemented method for digital contract management, comprising: sending an identifier of a digital contract client to a digital contract server; sending a request for a digital contract to the digital contract server; receiving, at the digital contract client, the digital contract, the digital contract being streamed from the digital contract server; storing the digital contract in temporary storage of the digital contract client; receiving, at the digital contract client, digital information to complete the digital contract; sending the completed digital contract to the digital contract server; and automatically removing the completed digital contract from the temporary storage of the digital contract client.

13. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 12, further comprising: receiving, from the digital contract server, streamed one or more interface elements to be displayed and temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

14. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of claims 12-13, further comprising: WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 18 receiving, from the digital contract server, a streamed identity verification rule set to verify identity of a contracting party to the digital contract with one or more identity documents associated with the contracting party, the streamed identity verification rule set being temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

15. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the digital information comprises a digital image of at least one identity document in the one or more identity documents selectively provided by the contracting party.

16. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the digital information comprises a digital signature of the contracting party.

17. . The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of claims 14-16, wherein the identity verification rule set comprises one or more of the following: a name of each of the one or more identity documents; size of each of the one or more identity documents; meta data in relation to each of the one or more identity documents; a weighting point for each of the one or more identity documents; dependency of the one or more identity documents; and mask information in relation to the one or more identity documents.

18. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to claim 17, further comprising: computing a sum of the weighting points for the at least one identity document in the one or more identity documents selectively provided by the contracting party.

19. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any of claims 17-18, further comprising: WO 2014/176623 PCT/AU2013/000447 19 masking a portion of the digital image of the at least one identity documents based on the identity verification rule set.

20. The computer-implemented method for digital contract management according to any one of claims 12-19, further comprising: receiving streamed text information from the digital contract server, the text information being temporarily stored at the digital contract client.

21. A computer software program, including machine-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 12-20.

22. A digital contract client for digital contract management, the digital contract client comprising one or more ports, memory, and a processor that is adapted to: send an identifier of the digital contract client to a digital contract server; send a request for a digital contract to the digital contract server; receive the digital contract, the digital contract being streamed from the digital contract server; store the digital contract in temporary storage; receive digital information to complete the digital contract; send the completed digital contract to the digital contract server; and automatically remove the completed digital contract from the temporary storage.