System and method for secure electronic commerce transaction

An electronic system comprising:

• an first computing unit at a first participant;
• a second computing unit at a second participant;
• a third computing unit at a third participant;
• at least one communication system interconnecting the first computing unit, the second computing unit, and the third computing unit;
• an encryption device provided at the first computing unit to encrypt a document related to a transaction and an instrument describing a mode of payment for the transaction;
• the first computing unit sending the encrypted document and the encrypted instrument over the communication system to the second computing unit at the second participant;
• a first decrypting device provided at the second computing unit to decrypt one of the document or the instrument;
• the second computing unit passing the other of the document or the instrument over the communication system to the third computing unit at the third participant;
• and
• a second decrypting device provided at the third computing unit to decrypt the other of the document or the instrument;
• wherein communication among the first and second computing units is conducted using a tag-length-value data structure, the tag-length-value data structure comprising:
• a fixed-sized identifier field to define commerce data contained in the data structure;
• a variable-sized length field containing a length of the commerce data in the data structure;
• and
• a variable-sized value field containing the commerce data.

An electronic 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 application executing on each of the computing units to facilitate transfer of a document related to a commerce transaction and an instrument describing a mode of payment for the commerce transaction;
• each of the computing units having a cryptography system to support the application, the cryptography system comprising:
• a cryptographic application program interface (CAPI) to interface with the application when the application requests encryption/decryption of the document and the instrument;
• at least one cryptography service provider (CSP) dynamically accessible by the CAPI, the CSP receiving the document and the 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 non-encrypted form to the CAPI;
• the originating computing unit using its cryptography system to encrypt the document and the instrument and then sending the encrypted document and the encrypted 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 document or the instrument;
• the first recipient computing unit passing the other of the document or the 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 document or the instrument.

A computer program product comprising:

• code for encrypting a document related to a transaction and an instrument describing a mode of payment for the transaction in a manner which enables a recipient to decrypt one of the document or the instrument, but not the other of the document or the instrument;
• code for sending both the encrypted document and the encrypted instrument to the recipient;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium for holding the codes.

A computer program product comprising:

• code for receiving an encrypted document related to a transaction and an encrypted instrument describing a mode of payment for the transaction from an originator;
• code for decrypting one of the document or the instrument, but not the other of the document or the instrument;
• code for sending the other of the document or the instrument in encrypted form to another party;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium for holding the codes.

For execution in an electronic system having multiple computing units interconnected by a network, a computer program product having computer-executable instructions for execution at the computing units, said product comprising:

• code for encrypting, at an originating computing unit, a document related to a transaction and an instrument describing a mode of payment for the transaction in a manner which enables a first recipient computing unit to decrypt one of the document or the instrument and a second recipient computing unit to decrypt the other of the document or the instrument;
• code for sending the encrypted document and the encrypted instrument from the originating computing unit to the first recipient computing unit;
• code for decrypting, at the first recipient computing unit, said one of the document or the instrument;
• code for sending the other of the document or the instrument from the first recipient computing unit onto the second recipient computing unit;
• code for decrypting, at the second recipient computing unit, said other of the document or the instrument;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium for holding the codes.