Patent · US Expired

Method and system for dynamic server document encryption

US6061448A · kind A · utility

508Cited by
40References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 1, 1997
Grant dateMay 9, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 1, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2209/76
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and system are provided for secure document delivery over a wide area network, such as the Internet. A sender directs a Delivery Server to retrieve an intended recipient's public key. The Delivery Server dynamically queries a certificate authority and retrieves the public key. The public key is transmitted from the Delivery Server to the sender. The sender encrypts the document using a secret key and then encrypts the secret key using the public key. Both encrypted document and encrypted secret key are uploaded to the Delivery Server, and transmitted to the intended recipient. The intended recipient then uses the private key associated with the public key to decrypt the secret key, and uses the secret key to decrypt the document. In an alternative, equally preferred embodiment of the invention, the sender uses the public key to encrypt the document. In yet another embodiment, the server transmits the document to the Delivery Server for encryption.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.