Classifications

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• • H—ELECTRICITY
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  • H04L9/32—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
  • H04L9/3297—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
  • G06F2221/2137—Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
  • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
  • G06F2221/2141—Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
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  • H04L2209/00—Additional information or applications relating to cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
  • H04L2209/60—Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
  • H04L2209/603—Digital right managament [DRM]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L2463/00—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00
  • H04L2463/101—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00 applying security measures for digital rights management

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for electronic signatures and, more particularly, to systems and methods for rules-based control of custody of electronic signature documents.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an example embodiment of an electronic signature service
• FIGURE 2 is a flow diagram of an example rules manager process according to an example embodiment.
• FIGURE 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing an electronic signature service according to an example embodiment.
• Embodiments described herein provide enhanced computer- and network-based methods and systems for facilitating electronic signatures.
• Example embodiments provide an electronic signature service ("ESS") configured to facilitate the creation, storage, and management of documents and corresponding electronic signatures.
• ESS electronic signature service
• a first user a "sender”
• a signature document a document to be signed
• a second user a "signer”
• an electronic signature document includes or is associated with custody transfer rules (or simply, "custody rules") that govern, control, or facilitate transfers of custody of an electronic signature document from one user or party to another.
• a custody transfer typically results in a transfer of rights or capabilities to operate upon (e.g., modify, view, send, delete) an electronic signature document and/or its associated data (e.g., history, form data, signature data).
• a first party associated with the document e.g., that created, edited, or sent the document
• a first user e.g., the initial document sender
• a second user e.g. , a manager
• the first user may in some embodiments or configurations retain some rights, such as "read only" access allowing the first user to view the document.
• Custody transfer rules may also specify conditions under which transfers of custody are to take place.
• a sales organization may have two distinct types of users: sales representatives and sales managers.
• a sales representative may create an electronic signature document (or clone or copy an existing one) that represents a sales contract with a customer.
• Such an electronic signature document may be associated with custody transfer rules that cause custody of the document to transfer from the sales representative to the sales manager upon the occurrence of one or more events, such as when a customer completes an electronic signature, thereby closing a sale or otherwise completing a transaction.
• Other conditions may be specified, such as when the sales representative initially sends the electronic signature document to the customer, when a customer indicates refusal to sign the electronic signature document, when a specified amount or period of time passes, or the like.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an example embodiment of an electronic signature service.
• FIGURE 1 depicts an ESS 1 10 utilized by a sender user 10 and a signer user 1 1 to perform an electronic signing of a signature document 20.
• FIGURE 1 also depicts a transferee 12 who receives custody of the signature document 20.
• the sender 10 operates a sender client device 160 in order to provide (e.g., upload, transmit) an electronic document 20 (e.g., an invoice, contract, or agreement) to the ESS 110, where it is securely stored.
• the electronic document includes or is associated with custody rules 21 that are configured to cause custody of the document 20 to transfer from the sender 10 to the transferee 12, possibly upon the occurrence of one or more conditions.
• the sender 10 and transferee 12 may be in or work for the same organization.
• the sender 10 may be a sales representative while the transferee 12 may be a sales manager or an in-house attorney who reviews and records sales contracts. In other situations, the sender 10 and transferee 12 may work for distinct organizations or entities.
• the sender 10 and/or some other user may configure the document 20 and/or the custody rules 21.
• an administrator may interact with a user interface configured to facilitate the specification of custody rules and associated conditions.
• the custody rules 21 are then stored by the ESS 1 10 in association with the document 20.
• the custody rules 21 are configured to cause custody of the document 20 to transfer to the transferee upon signature by the signer 1 1.
• the sender 10 may further modify, configure, or customize the document 20, such as by changing price and quantity terms, party names, dates, and the like.
• the signer 1 1 may access the document 20.
• the sender 10 notifies the signer 1 1 , such as by causing the ESS 1 10 to send to the signer 1 1 a message (e.g., an email) that includes a reference (e.g., a URL) to the document 20 stored by the ESS 110.
• the sender 10 may directly include the document 20 in an email or other message transmitted to the signer 1 1.
• the document 20 may be automatically presented to the signer 1 1 as part of a transaction.
• an e-commerce system may cause the document 20 to be presented or transmitted to the signer 1 1 during or as part of a transaction for a good/service purchased via the e-commerce system.
• the signer 1 1 operates a Web browser or other client module executing on the signer client device 161 to access and review the document 20 via the ESS 1 10. For example, if the signer 1 1 receives an email that includes a link to the document 20, the signer can click the link to visit the ESS 1 10 in order review and sign the document 20. If instead the signer 1 1 receives the document 20 itself directly from the sender 10, opening the document will also cause the user to visit the ESS 1 10 to provide the required signature information. When the document 20 and related data have been reviewed (and possibly modified) to the satisfaction of the signer 1 1 , the signer attaches (or provides an indication or instruction to attach) his electronic signature to the document 20.
• the ESS 1 10 causes custody of the document 20 to change from the sender 10 to the transferee 12.
• the sender 10 may lose one or more rights, such as the right to view, modify, or delete the document 20.
• the transferee 12 may gain one or more rights, such as the right to view, modify, or delete the document 20.
• the transferee 12 can access and perform various operations (e.g., view, modify, delete) via the transferee client device 162.
• Custody transfer rules may specify custody chains or sequences of arbitrary length (e.g., more than the two parties shown in this example). For example, custody of a document may transfer from a sales representative to a sales manager and thence to an in-house attorney.
• the document 20 may be associated with an envelope or other data structure that functions as a container that includes the document 20 (or a reference thereto) along with meta-information, including signature information, sender information (e.g., names, addresses), recipient/signer information (e.g., email addresses, names), and the like.
• Custody rules may be configured to manage access to an envelope and its related information. For example, one custody rule may specify that once the sender 10 has transferred control to the transferee 12, the sender 10 may view but not modify envelope information including the document 20. The transferee 1 1 , in turn, may receive additional rights, such as to delete the document 20, view information added to a form associated with the document 20, clone the document 20, or the like.
• a user may upload a file that contains information about multiple documents for which custody is to be transferred, so as to effect a bulk transfer from one party to another.
• FIGURE 2 is a flow diagram of an example rules manager process 200 according to an example embodiment. The process of FIGURE 2 may be performed by the ESS 1 10.
• the illustrated process begins at block 202, where it associates a custody transfer rule with an electronic signature document.
• Associating a custody rule may include storing data structure or record that relates the custody rule with the document.
• the custody rule itself may be a data structure or record that includes indications of the document, users impacted by the custody rule, conditions or events that trigger custody transfers, access rights impacted by the rule, or the like.
• the process in response to occurrence of an event, transfers custody of the document based on the custody transfer rule.
• Transferring custody may include removing one or more access rights from the first user, and in turn, granting those access rights to a second user.
• Different kinds of events may trigger the transfer operation, including the presentation (e.g., viewing), receipt, signature, or other operation upon or with respect to a signature document.
• Some events may be time based, so that custody transfers are triggered upon a passage of time or on a specified calendar day.
• the process stores information about the transfer of custody of the electronic signature document. Storing information about custody transfer may include updating a data structure or record to reflect a new document owner, to remove rights from one user, to grant rights to another user, or the like. After block 206, the process ends.
• the process may perform additional or different operations.
• the process may also enforce access rules governed by the custody rule. For example, when the process receives an indication that a user is attempting to perform some operation (e.g., view, edit, delete) with respect to the signature document or its meta-data, the process may allow or disallow the operation based on a determination whether the user has the appropriate access rights to perform the indicated operation.
• some operation e.g., view, edit, delete
• FIGURE 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing an electronic signature service according to an example embodiment.
• FIGURE 3 shows a computing system 100 that may be utilized to implement an ESS 1 10.
• the computing system 100 may comprise one or more distinct computing systems/devices and may span distributed locations.
• each block shown may represent one or more such blocks as appropriate to a specific embodiment or may be combined with other blocks.
• the ESS 1 10 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or in some combination to achieve the capabilities described herein.
• computing system 100 comprises a computer memory (“memory”) 101 , a display 102, one or more Central Processing Units (“CPU”) 103, Input/Output devices 104 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, CRT or LCD display, and the like), other computer-readable media 105, and network connections 106 connected to a network 150.
• the ESS 1 10 is shown residing in memory 101. In other embodiments, some portion of the contents, some or all of the components of the ESS 1 10 may be stored on and/or transmitted over the other computer-readable media 105.
• the components of the ESS 1 10 preferably execute on one or more CPUs 103 and manage electronic signature processes including custody transfers as described herein.
• code or programs 130 e.g., an administrative interface, a Web server, and the like
• data repositories such as data repository 120
• code or programs 130 also reside in the memory 101 , and preferably execute on one or more CPUs 103.
• one or more of the components in FIGURE 3 may not be present in any specific implementation. For example, some embodiments may not provide other computer readable media 105 or a display 102.
• the ESS 1 10 includes a service manager 1 1 1 , a user interface (“UI") manager 1 12, an electronic signature service application program interface ("API") 1 13, a rules manager 1 14, and an electronic signature service data store 115.
• the ESS 1 10 via the service manager 1 11 and related logic, generally performs electronic signature-related functions for or on behalf of users operating a sender client device 160, a signer client device 161 , and a transferee client device 162.
• a sender operating the sender client device 160 provides (e.g., transmits, uploads, sends) a document to be electronically signed to the ESS 1 10.
• the ESS 1 10 stores the document securely in data store 1 15.
• Secure document storage may include using cryptographic techniques to detect document tampering, such as generating hashes, message digests, or the like.
• the document is stored as part of (or in association with) an "envelope" that is used to track and record information about the document as it progresses through its lifecycle of creation, transfer, signature, completion, and the like.
• a signer operating the signer client device 161 accesses, reviews, and signs the document stored by the ESS 1 10.
• the ESS 1 10 transmits images or some other representation of the document to the signer client device 161 , which in turn transmits signature data including an indication of the signer's signature (or intent to sign) to the ESS 1 10.
• the ESS 1 10 then securely stores the provided signature data in association with the document in the data store 1 15.
• the rules manager 1 14 facilitates custody transfers of electronic signature documents as discussed herein.
• a sender or other user operating the sender client device 160 may associate custody transfer rules with an electronic signature document stored in the data store 1 15.
• the rules manager 114 tracks and executes the specified rules as appropriate. For example, if a rule indicates custody transfer upon document signature, the rules manager 1 14 monitors the document and, in response to a received signature, modifies (or causes to be modified) data structures or other records that specify or control access rights or operations associated with the document. In particular, access rights may be removed or disassociated from a first user. In addition or instead, the same or different access rights may be granted or otherwise associated with a second user. In some embodiments, custody transfers may occur between groups of users.
• a custody transfer rule may be represented as a data structure, record in a database, or similar.
• the custody transfer rule may include indications of users that are impacted by the rule, events that trigger the rule, and access rights (e.g., view, modify, delete) that are shifted based on the rule and one or more events.
• the UI manager 1 12 provides a view and a controller that facilitate user interaction with the ESS 1 10 and its various components.
• the UI manager 1 12 may provide interactive access to the ESS 1 10, such that users can upload or download documents for signature, create and/or configure custody rules associated with or incorporated into signature documents, and the like.
• access to the functionality of the UI manager 1 12 may be provided via a Web server, possibly executing as one of the other programs 130.
• a user operating a Web browser (or other client) executing on one of the client devices 160-162 can interact with the ESS 1 10 via the UI manager 1 12.
• the API 1 13 provides programmatic access to one or more functions of the ESS 1 10.
• the API 1 13 may provide a programmatic interface to one or more functions of the ESS 1 10 that may be invoked by one of the other programs 130 or some other module.
• the API 1 13 facilitates the development of third-party software, such as user interfaces, plug-ins, news feeds, adapters (e.g., for integrating functions of the ESS 1 10 into Web applications), and the like.
• the API 1 13 may be in at least some embodiments invoked or otherwise accessed via remote entities, such as a third-party system (not shown), to access various functions of the ESS 110.
• a customer relationship management system may push or otherwise import customer data and/or agreements into the ESS via the API 1 13.
• the data store 1 15 is used by the other modules of the ESS 1 10 to store and/or communicate information.
• the components of the ESS 1 10 use the data store 1 15 to record various types of information, including documents, signatures, custody rules, and the like.
• the components of the ESS 1 10 are described as communicating primarily through the data store 1 15, other communication mechanisms are contemplated, including message passing, function calls, pipes, sockets, shared memory, and the like.
• the ESS 1 10 interacts via the network 150 with client devices 160-162.
• the network 150 may be any combination of one or more media (e.g., twisted pair, coaxial, fiber optic, radio frequency), hardware (e.g., routers, switches, repeaters, transceivers), and one or more protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, WiMAX) that facilitate communication between remotely situated humans and/or devices.
• the network 150 may be or include multiple distinct communication channels or mechanisms (e.g., cable-based and wireless).
• the client devices 160-162 include personal computers, laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and the like.
• components/modules of the ESS 1 10 are implemented using standard programming techniques.
• the ESS 1 10 may be implemented as a "native" executable running on the CPU 103, along with one or more static or dynamic libraries.
• the ESS 1 10 may be implemented as instructions processed by a virtual machine that executes as one of the other programs 130.
• a range of programming languages known in the art may be employed for implementing such example embodiments, including representative implementations of various programming language paradigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java, C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada, Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript, and the like), and declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and the like).
• object-oriented e.g., Java, C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like
• functional e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like
• procedural e.g., C, Pascal, Ada, Modula, and the like
• scripting e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript, and
• the embodiments described above may also use either well-known or proprietary synchronous or asynchronous client-server computing techniques.
• the various components may be implemented using more monolithic programming techniques, for example, as an executable running on a single CPU computer system, or alternatively decomposed using a variety of structuring techniques known in the art, including but not limited to, multiprogramming, multithreading, client-server, or peer-to-peer, running on one or more computer systems each having one or more CPUs.
• Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously, and communicate using message passing techniques. Equivalent synchronous embodiments are also supported.
• other functions could be implemented and/or performed by each component/module, and in different orders, and by different components/modules, yet still achieve the described functions.
• programming interfaces to the data stored as part of the ESS 1 10, such as in the data store 1 18, can be available by standard mechanisms such as through C, C++, C#, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files, databases, or other data repositories; through scripting languages such as XML; or through Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of servers providing access to stored data.
• the data store 1 18 may be implemented as one or more database systems, file systems, or any other technique for storing such information, or any combination of the above, including implementations using distributed computing techniques.
• some or all of the components of the ESS 1 10 may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to one or more application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs”), standard integrated circuits, controllers executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers, field-programmable gate arrays ("FPGAs”), complex programmable logic devices (“CPLDs”), and the like.
• ASICs application-specific integrated circuits
• FPGAs field-programmable gate arrays
• CPLDs complex programmable logic devices
• system components and/or data structures may also be stored as contents (e.g., as executable or other machine-readable software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium (e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computer network or cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) so as to enable or configure the computer-readable medium and/or one or more associated computing systems or devices to execute or otherwise use or provide the contents to perform at least some of the described techniques.
• a computer-readable medium e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computer network or cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device
• system components and data structures may also be stored as data signals (e.g., by being encoded as part of a carrier wave or included as part of an analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, which are then transmitted, including across wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames).
• Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of this disclosure may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

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