Authenticated Document Vault for Tamper-Proof Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing document sharing systems are vulnerable to document tampering, leading to inaccurate information being provided to receiving entities, which can result in negative consequences.
Innovation Solution
A secure document storage vault that allows users to store documents from third-party providers, ensuring authenticity through fingerprinting, and prevents modification, enabling verified document sharing with receiving entities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users manually download and upload documents to receiving entities, then document sharing is flexible and user-controlled, but documents become vulnerable to tampering and modification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a document storage vault as an intermediary system between users and receiving entities. The vault automatically retrieves documents from third-party providers and stores them in a secure, immutable format. When users share documents through the vault, the system guarantees authenticity by preventing any modification of the stored document data, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically retrieving and storing documents in the vault before the user needs to share them. The documents are pre-processed and stored in an authenticated state, so when sharing occurs, the user simply needs to select documents from the vault rather than manually downloading and uploading them, maintaining convenience while ensuring authenticity.
2Reliability
If documents are stored in a secure vault with authentication, then document integrity is guaranteed, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses digital fingerprints (hashes) as copies of document metadata to verify integrity. Instead of storing the entire document in multiple formats or using complex encryption schemes, the system creates a simplified digital fingerprint that represents the document's contents. This fingerprint is stored with the document in the vault and used for verification, significantly reducing system complexity while maintaining integrity guarantees.
Solution Approach 2:
The document storage vault serves multiple functions within a single system: it stores documents, generates digital fingerprints, authenticates users, verifies document integrity, and facilitates sharing with receiving entities. By consolidating these functions into one unified platform, the patent reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate systems for each function.
3Ease of operation
If automatic document retrieval from third-party providers is implemented, then document authentication is simplified, but user control over document selection is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides dynamic control over document retrieval based on user needs. Users can configure the vault to automatically retrieve specific document types from third-party providers, or manually select documents when needed. The system adapts its behavior based on user preferences and requirements, maintaining both convenience and flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A document storage system enables users to send documents received from third-party document providers to a secure vault and subsequently allow the users to provide stored documents to receiving entities in a manner that guarantees that the provided documents have not been modified. Responsive to receiving a user request for a specified document, a providing entity automatically sends the requested document to the document storage system, along with metadata representative of the document, the user, and the providing entity. The document storage system generates a first document fingerprint using the received metadata and stores the document and fingerprint in the vault. When a user requests to share the stored document with a receiving entity, the document storage system generates a second document fingerprint based on document metadata stored in the vault and sends the document and first and second fingerprints to the receiving entity.