Electronic negotiable documents
OwnerPeter Landrockinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of electronically issuing an electronic negotiable document (END) includes the steps of creating as data an END and storing this in tamper-resistant document carrier hardware containing a unique public-secret key pair for signing and verifying, and a unique document-carrier identifier; signing the unique document-carrier identifier; the END and an END identifier using the secret key of the public-secret key pair; and storing a result of that signing in the tamper-resistant document-carrier hardware, such that the secret key is not accessible to an owner of the tamper-resistant document carrier hardware.
Claims14
A method of electronically issuing an electronic negotiable document (END), the method comprising:
- creating as data an END and storing this in tamper-resistant document carrier hardware, the document carrier hardware containing a unique public-secret key pair for signing and verifying, and a unique document-carrier identifier;
- signing the unique document-carrier identifier, the END and an END identifier using the secret key of the public-secret key pair;
- and
- storing a result of said signing in said tamper-resistant document-carrier hardware, such that said secret key is not accessible to an owner of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware.
A method of electronically negotiating an END between a seller and a buyer, said seller and said buyer each possessing tamper-resistant document carrier hardware having its own public-secret key pair, the method comprising:
- providing an END stored in tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of a seller in the form of END data with a signature generated by a secret key of a document carrier of the issuer of the END, and with a negotiability status flag indicative of whether the END is currently negotiable from said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller, said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller having its own public-secret key and being configured such that said secret key of said public-secret key pair is not accessible to said seller;
- establishing mutual recognition between said seller and a buyer using one or more predetermined protocols between said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller and tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer, said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer having its own public-secret key and being configured such that said secret key of said public-secret key pair is not accessible to said buyer;
- verifying in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller that said negotiability status flag is “negotiable” and aborting the negotiation if not;
- sending said public key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer to said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller;
- using said public key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller to encrypt a message comprising said signature, said END and said negotiability status flag;
- sending said encrypted message to said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer;
- decrypting said encrypted message in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer using said secret key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer;
- and
- setting a negotiability status flag for said END in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer and said seller respectively to “negotiable” and “non-negotiable”.
A method of electronically negotiating an END between a seller and a buyer, said seller and said buyer each possessing tamper-resistant document carrier hardware having its own public-secret key pair, the method comprising:
- providing an END stored in tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of a seller in the form of END data with a signature generated by a secret signing-key of a document carrier of the issuer of said END, and a serial number counter indicative of a number of times that said END has been negotiated since issue, said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller having its own public-secret key and being configured such that said secret key of said public-secret key pair is not accessible to said seller;
- establishing mutual recognition between said seller and said buyer using one or more predetermined protocols between said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller and tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer, said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer having its own public-secret key and being configured such that said secret key of said public-secret key pair is not accessible to said buyer;
- verifying in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller that said END, if it has been stored previously in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller, has a different counter value this time and is therefore negotiable;
- sending said public key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer to said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller;
- using said public key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said seller to encrypt a message comprising said signature, said END and a value of said counter;
- sending said encrypted message to said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer;
- decrypting said encrypted message in said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer using said secret key of said tamper-resistant document carrier hardware of said buyer;
- and
- incrementing said counter by one.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.