Secure flexible electronic submission acceptance system

A method for enforcing time limits in a gateway server in an electronic filing system, comprising steps of:

• receiving, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing a first message digest of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission;
• identifying a write-enabled directory for storing said first message digest and writing said first message digest in the directory, else returning a first submission rejection indication to the submitting program;
• and
• on receipt of a subsequent electronic message containing the completed submission, computing a second message digest of the completed submission, and matching the second message digest with the first message digest written in the directory, else returning a second submission rejection indication to the submitting program.

In a network, a gateway mechanism for enforcing time limits for filing electronic submissions, comprising:

• means in a server in the gateway mechanism for receiving information related to a submission time limit from a submission processing environment and for generating a storage directory in the server's file system with write access for all potential submitters within the submission time limit;
• means for
• (i) receiving, from a submitter, a first electronic message containing evidence of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission,
• (ii) verifying write access to the storage directory, and
• (iii) if the write access is verified, writing the evidence to the storage directory, else returning an error indication to the submitter;
• means for removing the write access to the storage directory on expiry of the submission time limit;
• means for computing second evidence from the completed submission upon receiving said completed submission from the submitter in a subsequent electronic message;
• and
• means for matching the second evidence with the evidence written to the storage directory, else returning an error indication to the submitter.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for enforcing time limits in an electronic filing system, the computer readable program product comprising:

• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to receive, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing evidence of a completed submission but not containing said completed submission;
• computer readable program code means for causing the computer to identify a write-enabled directory for storing said evidence and to write said evidence in the directory, else return a first submission rejection indication to the submitting program;
• and
• computer readable program code means, on receipt of a subsequent electronic message containing the completed submission, for causing the computer to compute second evidence from the completed submission and to match the second evidence with the evidence written in the directory, else return a second submission rejection indication to the submitting program.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for enforcing time limits in an electronic filing system, the computer readable program product comprising:

• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to receive, from a submitting program, a first electronic message containing a first message digest of a completed submission, wherein said first electronic message does not contain said completed submission;
• computer readable program code means for causing the computer to identify a write-enabled directory for storing said first message digest and to write said first message digest in the directory, else return a first submission rejection message to the submitting program;
• and
• computer readable program code means, on receipt of a subsequent message containing the completed submission, for causing the computer to compute a new message digest of the completed submission and to match the new message digest with the first message digest written in the directory, else return a second submission rejection message to the submitting program.