Digital Document Ownership Verification via Biometric Timestamping

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for providing evidence of ownership of digital documents are inadequate, as they cannot definitively prove ownership and can be easily forged, and require pre-registration or trusted third parties that may not be feasible in asynchronous scenarios.

Innovation Solution

A method involving acquiring first and second data, linked by a digital timestamp, to identify an individual's access to a digital document, which can be verified without pre-registration or reliance on a trusted third party, using biometric, physical, or environmental characteristics, and secured with hash functions or blockchain.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If digital signatures are used to prove document access, then document access verification is enabled, but ownership evidence cannot be provided and signatures can be forged

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveownership evidence reliabilityVSAvoidverification system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The verification system is segmented into two independent components: (1) a digital timestamp that provides authoritative time-stamped evidence of document possession, and (2) biometric data that provides unique individual identification. This segmentation eliminates the need for complex pre-registration systems while maintaining high reliability for ownership evidence.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The digital timestamp is obtained in advance as a preliminary action, creating an immutable time-stamped record of document possession before any verification occurs. This preliminary timestamping action provides the foundation for later ownership verification without requiring the owner or verifier to be available simultaneously or to pre-register.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If pre-registration is required for ownership verification, then identity verification can be performed, but asynchronous verification scenarios cannot be supported

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveasynchronous verification capabilityVSAvoidverification process simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses self-service verification where the owner simply needs to present the digital timestamp and biometric data when verification is needed. No pre-registration or trusted third party is required at verification time. The digital timestamp itself serves as self-contained evidence that can be verified independently, making the system highly adaptable to asynchronous scenarios while maintaining operational simplicity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If identity information is disclosed for verification, then ownership can be confirmed, but sensitive information is exposed to the public

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveownership verification reliabilityVSAvoidinformation disclosure risk

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential verification elements (digital timestamp and biometric data) from the owner's identity information. The digital timestamp contains only time and document hash information, while biometric data is used for identification without exposing the owner's full identity. This extraction approach enables reliable verification while minimizing information disclosure and protecting sensitive personal information from public exposure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS20250209210A1System and method to provide evidence of ownership of a digital document

Publication Date: 2025.06.26 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

There is provided a method and a system to provide evidence of authorship of a digital document. The method includes obtaining the digital document. The method further includes acquiring first data and second data, wherein a combination of the first data and the second data provides information to identify an individual, and obtaining a digital timestamp associated to the digital document, the acquired first data and second data together.