Signed Document Validity Service via Intermediary Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital signature systems do not provide a mechanism to revoke or update the validity of signed documents, leading to potential security issues and misuse when the document's validity needs to be changed.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for managing signed documents that includes generating a signed document with a signature and using validity services to track its validity, allowing for revocation and updating of the document's status through a certificate authority, validity services, and a maintenance service.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional digital signature systems are used, then document verification is simple and persistent, but the ability to revoke or update document validity is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces validity services as intermediary components that mediate between the signature verification system and the document lifecycle management. These validity services act as intermediaries that handle revocation and validity updates, allowing the core verification mechanism to remain relatively simple while adding sophisticated validity management capabilities through intermediate services.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the verification system into distinct components: signature verification services and validity services. This segmentation allows the verification function to remain simple and persistent while the validity management (revocation, updates) is handled by separate validity services, thus improving adaptability without significantly complicating the core verification mechanism.
2Reliability
If multiple validity services are consulted, then document verification reliability is improved, but verification time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by requiring only a subset of validity services to respond to a verification request rather than all validity services. The verification can proceed with partial responses from multiple services, balancing reliability (consulting multiple services) with time efficiency (not waiting for all services). This allows the system to achieve sufficient reliability without the full time cost of consulting every validity service.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing documents includes obtaining, from a first computing device, a first signed document, and in response to obtaining the first signed document: identifying a first plurality of validity services associated with the signed document, sending a verification request to the first plurality of validity services, wherein each of the plurality of verification requests specifies the first signed document, obtaining a plurality of verification responses from the first plurality of validity services, and making a determination, based on the plurality of verification responses, that the first signed document is valid.