System and method for secure electronic commerce transactions

A method comprising the following steps:

• (A) performing a registration process between multiple participants and a trusted credential authority according to the following steps:
• generating a registration packet at the participants;
• sending the registration packets from the participants to the trusted credential authority;
• generating a credential for each of the participants at the trusted credential authority;
• digitally signing the credentials with a digital signature from the trusted credential authority;
• sending the signed credentials from the trusted credential authority to the associated participants;
• (B) performing a transaction process among at least three participants without interaction between any one participant and the trusted credential authority according to the following steps:
• initiating from an originating participant a request for the credentials of intended recipient participants;
• sending the requested credentials from the intended recipient participants to the originating participant;
• verifying the authenticity of the intended recipient participants based upon their credentials;
• encrypting a commerce document which defines the transaction and a commerce instrument which defines a payment for the transaction at the originating participant;
• sending the commerce document and the commerce instrument from the originating participant to a first recipient participant;
• decrypting one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument at the first recipient participant;
• passing the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument in its encrypted state onto a second recipient participant;
• and
• decrypting the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument at the second recipient participant.

An electronic commerce system comprising:

• an originating computing unit at an originating participant;
• a first recipient computing unit at a first recipient participant;
• a second recipient computing unit at a second recipient participant;
• at least one communication system interconnecting the originating computing unit, the first recipient computing unit, and the second recipient computing unit;
• an encryption device provided at the originating computing unit to encrypt a commerce document which defines a transaction and a commerce instrument which defines a payment for the transaction;
• the originating computing unit sending the encrypted commerce document and the encrypted commerce instrument over the communication system to the first recipient computing unit at the first recipient participant;
• a first decrypting device provided at the first recipient computing unit to decrypt one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument;
• the first recipient computing unit passing the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument over the communication system to the second recipient computing unit at the second recipient participant;
• and
• a second decrypting device provided at the second recipient computing unit to decrypt the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument.

An electronic commerce system involving at least one commerce document defining the transaction and at least one commerce instrument defining a payment for the transaction, the electronic commerce system comprising:

• a credential binding server at a trusted credential authority;
• multiple computing units at associated participants, the multiple computing units including an originating computing unit and at least two recipient computing units;
• wherein during a registration phase, each of the computing units are programmed to generate and send a registration packet to the credential binding server, and the credential binding server is programmed to produce credentials based upon the registration packets and to send the credentials back to the multiple computing units;
• and
• wherein during a transaction phase, the originating computing unit is programmed to request, receive, and verify the credentials of expected recipient computing units and to encrypt and send the commerce document and the commerce instrument to a first recipient computing unit, the first recipient computing unit is programmed to decrypt one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument and to pass the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument to a second recipient computing unit, and the second computing unit is programmed to decrypt the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument.

An electronic commerce system comprising:

• an originating computing unit at an originating participant;
• a first recipient computing unit at a first recipient participant;
• a second recipient computing unit at a second recipient participant;
• at least one commerce application executing on each of the computing units to facilitate transfer of a commerce document which defines a transaction and a commerce instrument which defines a payment for the transaction;
• each of the computing units having a cryptography system to support the commerce application, the cryptography system comprising:
• a cryptographic application program interface (CAPI) to interface with the commerce application when the commerce application requests encryption/decryption of the commerce document and the commerce instrument;
• at least one cryptography service provider (CSP) dynamically accessible by the CAPI, the CSP receiving the commerce document and the commerce instrument from the CAPI and encrypting or decrypting the messages using encryption keys, the CSP managing and protecting the encryption keys to prevent exposure of the encryption keys in a nonencrypted form to the CAPI;
• the originating computing unit using its cryptography system to encrypt the commerce document and the commerce instrument and then sending the encrypted commerce document and the encrypted commerce instrument to the first recipient computing unit at the first recipient participant;
• the first recipient computing unit using its cryptography system to decrypt one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument;
• the first recipient computing unit passing the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument to the second recipient computing unit at the second recipient participant;
• and
• the second recipient computing unit using its cryptography system to decrypt the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument.

An electronic commerce system for use on an interactive television system, the electronic commerce system comprising:

• a headend;
• multiple computing units located at subscribers to the interactive television system, including a purchaser computing unit at a purchaser subscriber and a merchant computing unit at a merchant subscriber;
• an interactive distribution network interconnecting the headend and the multiple computing units;
• each computing unit having an executable commerce application that permits creation of a commerce document and a commerce instrument wherein during a transaction, the subscriber computing unit encrypts the commerce document and the commerce instrument and sends them both to the merchant computing unit over the interactive distribution network, the merchant computing unit decrypting one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument and passing the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument still in its encrypted form onto another party.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the following steps:

• receiving an encrypted commerce document and an encrypted commerce instrument from an originator;
• decrypting one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument, but not the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument;
• and
• sending the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument in encrypted form to another party.

For execution in an electronic commerce system having multiple computing units interconnected by a network, computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for execution at the computing units for performing the following steps:

• encrypting, at an originating computing unit, a commerce document and a commerce instrument in a manner which enables a first recipient computing unit to decrypt one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument and a second recipient computing unit to decrypt the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument;
• sending the encrypted commerce document and the encrypted commerce instrument from the originating computing unit to the first recipient computing unit;
• decrypting, at the first recipient computing unit, said one of the commerce document or the commerce instrument;
• sending the other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument from the first recipient computing unit onto the second recipient computing unit;
• and
• decrypting, at the second recipient computing unit, said other of the commerce document or the commerce instrument.