Apparatus and method for certifying the delivery of information

A computer implemented method of verifying the accurate delivery of N pieces of information, where N is an integer, comprising the steps of:

• a. generating N checksums, one checksum for each of the pieces of information;
• b. combining the N checksums into a release vector having M elements, where M is an integer less than N, by assigning each of the N checksums to a respectively different subset of the elements of the release vector;
• c. delivering the pieces of information to a recipient;
• d. delivering the release vector, an announcement of the pieces of information, and a program to the recipient, the program being adapted to obtain the N checksums from the N delivered pieces of information and to assign each of the N obtained checksums to elements representing a respectively different subset of M elements of a current vector;
• e. generating the current vector for the delivered pieces of information using the delivered program;
• and
• f. comparing each of the elements of the release vector to a respective one of the elements of the current vector to determine which of the pieces of information are missing or corrupted.

A computer implemented method of verifying the accurate delivery of a plurality of modules of revised computer code comprising the steps of:

• a. generating a checksum for each of the modules;
• b. using a first program to combine the checksums into a release vector having elements which are fewer in number than the pieces of information, the first program being adapted to assign the checksums to the elements based on the values of the numbers according to a predetermined criteria;
• c. delivering the modules to a recipient;
• d. delivering the release vector, an announcement of the revised modules, and a second program to the recipient, the second program adapted to produce a current vector having elements which are fewer in number than the delivered pieces of information by assigning further checksums, derived from the delivered modules, to the elements of the current vector according to the predetermined criteria;
• e. producing a current vector for the delivered modules using the delivered program;
• and
• f. comparing the elements of the release vector to the respective elements of the current vector to determine mismatches between the elements of the current vector and the respective elements of the release vector and, based on this determination, to identify missing or corrupted pieces of the delivered revised modules.

Apparatus for verifying the accurate delivery of a plurality of pieces of electronically encoded information comprising:

• processing means for generating a certificate for each of the pieces of information;
• processing means for combining the generated certificates into a release vector having plurality of elements;
• processing means for delivering the pieces of information to a recipient;
• program means for obtaining the certificates from the delivered pieces of information and for combining the obtained certificates to produce a current vector;
• processing means for delivering the release vector and the program to the recipient;
• and
• processing means for executing the program means to produce the current vector and for comparing respective elements of the current vector to the delivered release vector to identify missing or corrupted ones of the pieces of the delivered information based on difference between the current vector and the release vector.