US 6,807,277 B1 · Secure messaging system with return receipts

Abstract

A method and system for electronic messaging in which a sender of an electronic message receives a return receipt, without having to send the message contents to a third party. The sender contacts a server to obtain an encryption key to encrypt the message. The server returns an encryption key along with key retrieval information to the sender. The key retrieval information can be used to obtain from the server the decryption key corresponding to the returned encryption key. The sender encrypts the message using the encryption key and sends the message, along with the key retrieval information, to the recipient. The recipient sends the key retrieval information to the server to retrieve the corresponding decryption key. The recipient then decrypts the encrypted message received from the sender using the decryption key. When the recipient sends a request to obtain the decryption key, the server notifies the sender when the key has been successfully retrieved. The fact that the decryption key was retrieved by the recipient indicates to the sender that the recipient received the message.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An electronic messaging system having a return receipt feature, the system comprising a sender computer, a server computer and a recipient computer, wherein:

the sender computer is configured to send to the server computer, an issue request to have an encryption key issued;
the server computer is configured to receive the issue request, issue a first encryption key and key retrieval information to the sender computer in response to the issue request, and store a first decryption key corresponding to the first encryption key in an associated memory whose location is referenced by said key retrieval information;
the sender computer is further configured to encrypt a message using the first encryption key to thereby form an encrypted message, and send the encrypted message along with the key retrieval information to the recipient computer;
the recipient computer is configured to receive the encrypted message and the key retrieval information, and send to the server computer a retrieval request including the key retrieval information to obtain the corresponding first decryption key;
and
the server computer is further configured to receive the retrieval request from the recipient computer, send to the recipient computer the corresponding first decryption key, as indicated by the key retrieval information sent by the recipient computer, and notify the sender computer that the corresponding first decryption key was retrieved by the recipient.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Secure messaging system with return receipts

Life of this patent

Secure messaging system with return receipts

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13