# US 10,873,453 B2 · Document meta-data repository > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,873,453 B2 - Document ID: US10873453B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/526,241 - Filed: 2019-07-30 - Published: 2019-11-21 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2014-05-28 - Assignees: ESI Laboratory, LLC - Applicants: ESI Laboratory, LLC - Inventors: Michael Alistair Will - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10873453B2 ## CPC - H04L 9/0861: {Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords} - G06F 16/93: Document management systems - G06F 21/606: {by securing the transmission between two devices or processes} - H04L 9/0643: {Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC} - H04L 63/0245: {Filtering by information in the payload} - H04L 63/1408: {by monitoring network traffic (monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00)} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A computer based method of protecting sensitive documents is provided, the method comprising identifying a first document, generating a registration key associated with the first document, identifying a second document, generating a production key associated with the second document, and producing an alert if a segment of the production key is identical to a segment of the registration key. For example, the registration key may comprise a digital fingerprint and registration metadata and the production key may comprise a digital fingerprint and production metadata, and the method may produce an alert of the digital fingerprint of the production key matches the digital fingerprint of the registration key. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer based method of protecting sensitive documents, the method comprising: providing a first user interface for identifying a first document; generating, by way of the first user interface, a registration key associated with the first document; providing a second user interface for identifying a second document; generating, by way of the second user interface, a production key associated with the second document; receiving, at a server, the registration key and the production key but not the first or second document; producing an alert if a segment of the production key is identical to a segment of the registration key; wherein a method implemented at the first user interface to generate the segment of the registration key and a method implemented at the second user interface to generate the segment of the production key generate identical results when applied to identical documents. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the first document is a member of a first set of documents and the second document is a member of a second set of documents. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The computer based method of claim 2 wherein the first set of documents comprises documents that have been identified as sensitive, and wherein the second set of documents comprises documents that have been identified as not sensitive. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The computer based method of claim 3 wherein a first user has identified the first set of documents as sensitive at the first user interface and a second user has identified the second set of documents as not sensitive at the second user interface. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The computer based method of claim 2 further comprising: generating, by way of the first user interface, a registration key associated with each member of the first set of documents; generating, by way of the second user interface, a production key associated with each member of the second set of documents, and producing the alert if any of the segments of the production keys is identical to any of the segments of the registration key. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The computer based method of claim 5 wherein the alert is a listing of any documents having the segment of its production key matching the segment of any registration key. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The computer based method of claim 6 wherein the alert includes identifying information for identifying each document having the segment of its production key matching the segment of any registration key or having the segment of its registration key matching the segment of any production key in both the first set of documents and the second set of documents. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the segment of the registration key is a registration digital fingerprint generated from at least a portion of the first document, and wherein the segment of the production key is a production digital fingerprint generated from at least a portion of the second document. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 Further comprising: associating each document with an event, and transmitting the alert to a user associated with the event associated with the second document. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the segment of the registration key is generated by a cryptographic hash function that takes as input a portion of the first document and the segment of the production key is created by the cryptographic hash function that takes as input a corresponding portion of the second document. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the registration key contains less information than the first document. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 further comprising associating the first document with a first action key identifying a first legal action and associating the second document with a second action key identifying a second legal action and producing an alert only if the first legal action is associated with the second legal action. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the first document is a member of a first set of documents marked as sensitive and the second document is a document being modified or distributed. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computer based method of claim 13 wherein the generation of the production key is triggered as a result of one of: transferring the second document to a flash drive; uploading the second document to a website; transmitting the second document by email; or downloading the document to a personal computer. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The computer based method of claim 1 wherein the first user interface and the second user interface are the same user interface. ### Claim 16 A system for protecting sensitive documents comprising: a server; a database; a first user interface device; and a second user interface device, wherein a first document is identified at the first user interface device, the first user interface device generates a registration key comprising a digital fingerprint and metadata for the first document, and transmits the registration key to the server, and wherein the first document is not transmitted to the server, the server stores the registration key and the metadata for the first document at the database, a second document is identified at the second user interface device, the second user interface device generates a production key comprising a digital fingerprint and metadata for the second document and transmits the production key to the server, and wherein the second document is not transmitted to the server, and the server produces an alert if the digital fingerprint of the production key is identical to any digital fingerprint of a registration key stored in the database, wherein the alert comprises the registration key for the first document or the production key of the second document. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16 wherein the first document is identified as a member of a first set of documents and the second document is identified as a member of a second set of documents. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17 wherein the first set of documents comprises documents that have been identified as sensitive, and wherein the second set of documents comprises documents that have been identified as not sensitive. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16 wherein the second document is identified at the second user interface device as a document to be modified or distributed. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system of claim 19 wherein the second user interface device is configured to generate the production key when performing one of: transferring the second document to a flash drive; uploading the second document to a website; transmitting the second document by email; or downloading the document to a personal computer.