Data processing method and apparatus, and storage medium capable of being read by a computer

A data processing method for processing markup data tagged according to a markup language, said method comprising:

• a data extraction step of extracting encoded data encoded using a secret key in a public-key cryptographic system and key-reference data for referably specifying a public key corresponding to the secret key, from markup data to be processed, based on a predetermined tag;
• and
• a public-key acquisition step of acquiring the public key based on the key-reference data;
• and
• a decoding step of decoding the encoded data using the acquired public key.

A data processing apparatus for processing markup data tagged according to a markup language, said apparatus comprising:

• extraction means for extracting partial data from provided markup data;
• encoding means for generating encoded data by encoding the data extracted by said extraction means using a secret key in a public-key cryptographic system;
• key-reference-data formation means for forming key-reference data for referably specifying a public key corresponding to the secret key;
• and
• generation means for generating new markup data by identifiably describing the encoded data and the key-reference data using tags and adding the described data to the markup data remaining after extracting the partial data by said extraction means.

A data processing apparatus for processing markup data tagged according to a markup language, said apparatus comprising:

• data extraction means for extracting encoded data encoded using a secret key in a public-key cryptographic system and key-reference data for referably specifying a public key corresponding to the secret key, from markup data to be processed, based on a predetermined tag;
• and
• public-key acquisition means for acquiring the public key based on the key-reference data;
• and
• decoding means for decoding the encoded data using the acquired public key.

A storage medium storing a data processing program for processing markup data tagged according to a markup language so as to be readable by a computer, said data processing program comprising:

• an extraction step of extracting partial data from provided markup data;
• an encoding step of generating encoded data by encoding the data extracted in said extraction step using a secret key in a public-key cryptographic system;
• a key-reference-data formation step of forming key-reference data for referably specifying a public key corresponding to the secret key;
• and
• a generation step of generating new markup data by identifiably describing the encoded data and the key-reference data using tags and adding the described data to the markup data remaining after extracting the partial data in said extraction step.

A storage medium storing a data processing program for processing markup data tagged according to a markup language so as to be readable by a computer, said data processing program comprising:

• a data extraction step of extracting encoded data encoded using a secret key in a public-key cryptographic system and key reference data for referably specifying a public key corresponding to the secret key, from markup data to be processed, based on a predetermined tag;
• a public-key acquisition step of acquiring the public key based on the key-reference data;
• and
• a decoding step of decoding the encoded data using the acquired public key.