System and method for rules-based control of custody of electronic signature transactions

- DOCUSIGN, INC.

Techniques for electronic signature processes are described. Some embodiments provide an electronic signature service (“ESS”) configured to facilitate the creation, storage, and management of electronic signature documents. In one embodiment, an electronic signature document may be associated with custody transfer rules that facilitate transfers of custody of an electronic signature document from one user or party to another. A custody transfer may results in a transfer of rights or capabilities to operate upon (e.g., modify, view, send, delete) an electronic signature document and/or its associated data. A custody transfer rule may be trigged by the occurrence of a particular event, such as the receipt of an electronic signature.

Skip to: Description  ·  Claims  ·  References Cited  · Patent History  ·  Patent History
Description
PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 9,893,895, which was filed as application Ser. No. 14/986,226 on Dec. 31, 2015, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/838,233, filed Mar. 15, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,230,130, which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/614,371, filed Mar. 22, 2012, which applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for electronic signatures and, more particularly, to systems and methods for rules-based control of custody of electronic signature documents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred and alternative examples of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an example embodiment of an electronic signature service;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example rules manager process according to an example embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing an electronic signature service according to an example embodiment.

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments described herein provide enhanced computer- and network-based methods and systems for facilitating electronic signatures. Example embodiments provide an electronic signature service (“ESS”) configured to facilitate the creation, storage, and management of documents and corresponding electronic signatures. Using the ESS, a first user (a “sender”) can provide or upload a document to be signed (“a signature document”), while a second user (a “signer”) can access, review, and sign the uploaded document.

Some embodiments of the ESS facilitate rules-based control of custody of electronic signature documents. In one embodiment, an electronic signature document includes or is associated with custody transfer rules (or simply, “custody rules”) that govern, control, or facilitate transfers of custody of an electronic signature document from one user or party to another. A custody transfer typically results in a transfer of rights or capabilities to operate upon (e.g., modify, view, send, delete) an electronic signature document and/or its associated data (e.g., history, form data, signature data). In some embodiments, when an electronic signature document changes custody, a first party associated with the document (e.g., that created, edited, or sent the document) loses one or more previously held rights to the document while a second party gains those and possibly other rights. For example, upon custody transfer, a first user (e.g., the initial document sender) may lose the right to edit or delete the document, while a second user (e.g., a manager) may gain the rights to view, edit, and delete the document. The first user may in some embodiments or configurations retain some rights, such as “read only” access allowing the first user to view the document.

Custody transfer rules may also specify conditions under which transfers of custody are to take place. For example, a sales organization may have two distinct types of users: sales representatives and sales managers. A sales representative may create an electronic signature document (or clone or copy an existing one) that represents a sales contract with a customer. Such an electronic signature document may be associated with custody transfer rules that cause custody of the document to transfer from the sales representative to the sales manager upon the occurrence of one or more events, such as when a customer completes an electronic signature, thereby closing a sale or otherwise completing a transaction. Other conditions may be specified, such as when the sales representative initially sends the electronic signature document to the customer, when a customer indicates refusal to sign the electronic signature document, when a specified amount or period of time passes, or the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an example embodiment of an electronic signature service. In particular, FIG. 1 depicts an ESS 110 utilized by a sender user 10 and a signer user 11 to perform an electronic signing of a signature document 20. FIG. 1 also depicts a transferee 12 who receives custody of the signature document 20.

In the illustrated scenario, the sender 10 operates a sender client device 160 in order to provide (e.g., upload, transmit) an electronic document 20 (e.g., an invoice, contract, or agreement) to the ESS 110, where it is securely stored. The electronic document includes or is associated with custody rules 21 that are configured to cause custody of the document 20 to transfer from the sender 10 to the transferee 12, possibly upon the occurrence of one or more conditions. In some embodiments or configurations, the sender 10 and transferee 12 may be in or work for the same organization. For example, the sender 10 may be a sales representative while the transferee 12 may be a sales manager or an in-house attorney who reviews and records sales contracts. In other situations, the sender 10 and transferee 12 may work for distinct organizations or entities.

The sender 10 and/or some other user (e.g., an administrator) may configure the document 20 and/or the custody rules 21. For example, an administrator may interact with a user interface configured to facilitate the specification of custody rules and associated conditions. The custody rules 21 are then stored by the ESS 110 in association with the document 20. In this example, the custody rules 21 are configured to cause custody of the document 20 to transfer to the transferee upon signature by the signer 11. At this time, the sender 10 may further modify, configure, or customize the document 20, such as by changing price and quantity terms, party names, dates, and the like.

After the sender 10 configures the document 20 to his satisfaction, the signer 11 may access the document 20. In one embodiment, the sender 10 notifies the signer 11, such as by causing the ESS 110 to send to the signer 11 a message (e.g., an email) that includes a reference (e.g., a URL) to the document 20 stored by the ESS 110. As another example, the sender 10 may directly include the document 20 in an email or other message transmitted to the signer 11. As a further example, the document 20 may be automatically presented to the signer 11 as part of a transaction. For example, an e-commerce system may cause the document 20 to be presented or transmitted to the signer 11 during or as part of a transaction for a good/service purchased via the e-commerce system.

Typically, the signer 11 operates a Web browser or other client module executing on the signer client device 161 to access and review the document 20 via the ESS 110. For example, if the signer 11 receives an email that includes a link to the document 20, the signer can click the link to visit the ESS 110 in order review and sign the document 20. If instead the signer 11 receives the document 20 itself directly from the sender 10, opening the document will also cause the user to visit the ESS 110 to provide the required signature information. When the document 20 and related data have been reviewed (and possibly modified) to the satisfaction of the signer 11, the signer attaches (or provides an indication or instruction to attach) his electronic signature to the document 20.

Once the signing has been completed, the ESS 110 causes custody of the document 20 to change from the sender 10 to the transferee 12. At this time, the sender 10 may lose one or more rights, such as the right to view, modify, or delete the document 20. In addition, the transferee 12 may gain one or more rights, such as the right to view, modify, or delete the document 20. The transferee 12 can access and perform various operations (e.g., view, modify, delete) via the transferee client device 162. Custody transfer rules may specify custody chains or sequences of arbitrary length (e.g., more than the two parties shown in this example). For example, custody of a document may transfer from a sales representative to a sales manager and thence to an in-house attorney.

In some embodiments, the document 20 may be associated with an envelope or other data structure that functions as a container that includes the document 20 (or a reference thereto) along with meta-information, including signature information, sender information (e.g., names, addresses), recipient/signer information (e.g., email addresses, names), and the like. Custody rules may be configured to manage access to an envelope and its related information. For example, one custody rule may specify that once the sender 10 has transferred control to the transferee 12, the sender 10 may view but not modify envelope information including the document 20. The transferee 11, in turn, may receive additional rights, such as to delete the document 20, view information added to a form associated with the document 20, clone the document 20, or the like. In some embodiments, a user may upload a file that contains information about multiple documents for which custody is to be transferred, so as to effect a bulk transfer from one party to another.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example rules manager process 200 according to an example embodiment. The process of FIG. 2 may be performed by the ESS 110.

The illustrated process begins at block 202, where it associates a custody transfer rule with an electronic signature document. Associating a custody rule may include storing data structure or record that relates the custody rule with the document. The custody rule itself may be a data structure or record that includes indications of the document, users impacted by the custody rule, conditions or events that trigger custody transfers, access rights impacted by the rule, or the like.

At block 204, the process, in response to occurrence of an event, transfers custody of the document based on the custody transfer rule. Transferring custody may include removing one or more access rights from the first user, and in turn, granting those access rights to a second user. Different kinds of events may trigger the transfer operation, including the presentation (e.g., viewing), receipt, signature, or other operation upon or with respect to a signature document. Some events may be time based, so that custody transfers are triggered upon a passage of time or on a specified calendar day.

At block 206, the process stores information about the transfer of custody of the electronic signature document. Storing information about custody transfer may include updating a data structure or record to reflect a new document owner, to remove rights from one user, to grant rights to another user, or the like. After block 206, the process ends.

The process may perform additional or different operations. In some embodiments, the process may also enforce access rules governed by the custody rule. For example, when the process receives an indication that a user is attempting to perform some operation (e.g., view, edit, delete) with respect to the signature document or its metadata, the process may allow or disallow the operation based on a determination whether the user has the appropriate access rights to perform the indicated operation.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing an electronic signature service according to an example embodiment. In particular, FIG. 3 shows a computing system 100 that may be utilized to implement an ESS 110.

Note that one or more general purpose or special purpose computing systems/devices may be used to implement the ESS 110. In addition, the computing system 100 may comprise one or more distinct computing systems/devices and may span distributed locations. Furthermore, each block shown may represent one or more such blocks as appropriate to a specific embodiment or may be combined with other blocks. Also, the ESS 110 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or in some combination to achieve the capabilities described herein.

In the embodiment shown, computing system 100 comprises a computer memory (“memory”) 101, a display 102, one or more Central Processing Units (“CPU”) 103, Input/Output devices 104 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, CRT or LCD display, and the like), other computer-readable media 105, and network connections 106 connected to a network 150. The ESS 110 is shown residing in memory 101. In other embodiments, some portion of the contents, some or all of the components of the ESS 110 may be stored on and/or transmitted over the other computer-readable media 105. The components of the ESS 110 preferably execute on one or more CPUs 103 and manage electronic signature processes including custody transfers as described herein. Other code or programs 130 (e.g., an administrative interface, a Web server, and the like) and potentially other data repositories, such as data repository 120, also reside in the memory 101, and preferably execute on one or more CPUs 103. Of note, one or more of the components in FIG. 3 may not be present in any specific implementation. For example, some embodiments may not provide other computer readable media 105 or a display 102.

The ESS 110 includes a service manager 111, a user interface (“UI”) manager 112, an electronic signature service application program interface (“API”) 113, a rules manager 114, and an electronic signature service data store 115.

The ESS 110, via the service manager 111 and related logic, generally performs electronic signature-related functions for or on behalf of users operating a sender client device 160, a signer client device 161, and a transferee client device 162. In one embodiment, a sender operating the sender client device 160 provides (e.g., transmits, uploads, sends) a document to be electronically signed to the ESS 110. The ESS 110 stores the document securely in data store 115. Secure document storage may include using cryptographic techniques to detect document tampering, such as generating hashes, message digests, or the like. In some embodiments, the document is stored as part of (or in association with) an “envelope” that is used to track and record information about the document as it progresses through its lifecycle of creation, transfer, signature, completion, and the like.

A signer operating the signer client device 161 then accesses, reviews, and signs the document stored by the ESS 110. In some embodiments, the ESS 110 transmits images or some other representation of the document to the signer client device 161, which in turn transmits signature data including an indication of the signer's signature (or intent to sign) to the ESS 110. The ESS 110 then securely stores the provided signature data in association with the document in the data store 115.

The rules manager 114 facilitates custody transfers of electronic signature documents as discussed herein. Initially, a sender or other user operating the sender client device 160 may associate custody transfer rules with an electronic signature document stored in the data store 115. The rules manager 114 tracks and executes the specified rules as appropriate. For example, if a rule indicates custody transfer upon document signature, the rules manager 114 monitors the document and, in response to a received signature, modifies (or causes to be modified) data structures or other records that specify or control access rights or operations associated with the document. In particular, access rights may be removed or disassociated from a first user. In addition or instead, the same or different access rights may be granted or otherwise associated with a second user. In some embodiments, custody transfers may occur between groups of users.

A custody transfer rule may be represented as a data structure, record in a database, or similar. The custody transfer rule may include indications of users that are impacted by the rule, events that trigger the rule, and access rights (e.g., view, modify, delete) that are shifted based on the rule and one or more events.

The UI manager 112 provides a view and a controller that facilitate user interaction with the ESS 110 and its various components. For example, the UI manager 112 may provide interactive access to the ESS 110, such that users can upload or download documents for signature, create and/or configure custody rules associated with or incorporated into signature documents, and the like. In some embodiments, access to the functionality of the UI manager 112 may be provided via a Web server, possibly executing as one of the other programs 130. In such embodiments, a user operating a Web browser (or other client) executing on one of the client devices 160-162 can interact with the ESS 110 via the UI manager 112.

The API 113 provides programmatic access to one or more functions of the ESS 110. For example, the API 113 may provide a programmatic interface to one or more functions of the ESS 110 that may be invoked by one of the other programs 130 or some other module. In this manner, the API 113 facilitates the development of third-party software, such as user interfaces, plug-ins, news feeds, adapters (e.g., for integrating functions of the ESS 110 into Web applications), and the like. In addition, the API 113 may be in at least some embodiments invoked or otherwise accessed via remote entities, such as a third-party system (not shown), to access various functions of the ESS 110. For example, a customer relationship management system may push or otherwise import customer data and/or agreements into the ESS via the API 113.

The data store 115 is used by the other modules of the ESS 110 to store and/or communicate information. The components of the ESS 110 use the data store 115 to record various types of information, including documents, signatures, custody rules, and the like. Although the components of the ESS 110 are described as communicating primarily through the data store 115, other communication mechanisms are contemplated, including message passing, function calls, pipes, sockets, shared memory, and the like.

The ESS 110 interacts via the network 150 with client devices 160-162. The network 150 may be any combination of one or more media (e.g., twisted pair, coaxial, fiber optic, radio frequency), hardware (e.g., routers, switches, repeaters, transceivers), and one or more protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, WiMAX) that facilitate communication between remotely situated humans and/or devices. In some embodiments, the network 150 may be or include multiple distinct communication channels or mechanisms (e.g., cable-based and wireless). The client devices 160-162 include personal computers, laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and the like.

In an example embodiment, components/modules of the ESS 110 are implemented using standard programming techniques. For example, the ESS 110 may be implemented as a “native” executable running on the CPU 103, along with one or more static or dynamic libraries. In other embodiments, the ESS 110 may be implemented as instructions processed by a virtual machine that executes as one of the other programs 130. In general, a range of programming languages known in the art may be employed for implementing such example embodiments, including representative implementations of various programming language paradigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java, C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada, Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript, and the like), and declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and the like).

The embodiments described above may also use either well-known or proprietary synchronous or asynchronous client-server computing techniques. Also, the various components may be implemented using more monolithic programming techniques, for example, as an executable running on a single CPU computer system, or alternatively decomposed using a variety of structuring techniques known in the art, including but not limited to, multiprogramming, multi-threading, client-server, or peer-to-peer, running on one or more computer systems each having one or more CPUs. Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously, and communicate using message passing techniques. Equivalent synchronous embodiments are also supported. Also, other functions could be implemented and/or performed by each component/module, and in different orders, and by different components/modules, yet still achieve the described functions.

In addition, programming interfaces to the data stored as part of the ESS 110, such as in the data store 118, can be available by standard mechanisms such as through C, C++, C#, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files, databases, or other data repositories; through scripting languages such as XML; or through Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of servers providing access to stored data. The data store 118 may be implemented as one or more database systems, file systems, or any other technique for storing such information, or any combination of the above, including implementations using distributed computing techniques.

Different configurations and locations of programs and data are contemplated for use with techniques described herein. A variety of distributed computing techniques are appropriate for implementing the components of the illustrated embodiments in a distributed manner including but not limited to TCP/IP sockets, RPC, RMI, HTTP, Web Services (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC, SOAP, and the like). Other variations are possible. Also, other functionality could be provided by each component/module, or existing functionality could be distributed amongst the components/modules in different ways, yet still achieve the functions described herein.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the components of the ESS 110 may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to one or more application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), standard integrated circuits, controllers executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers, field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), complex programmable logic devices (“CPLDs”), and the like. Some or all of the system components and/or data structures may also be stored as contents (e.g., as executable or other machine-readable software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium (e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computer network or cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) so as to enable or configure the computer-readable medium and/or one or more associated computing systems or devices to execute or otherwise use or provide the contents to perform at least some of the described techniques. Some or all of the system components and data structures may also be stored as data signals (e.g., by being encoded as part of a carrier wave or included as part of an analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, which are then transmitted, including across wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of this disclosure may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . . and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring one or more elements from the set {A, B, C, . . . N}, and not N in addition to one or more elements from the set {A, B, C}.

All of the above-cited references, including U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/614,371, filed Mar. 22, 2012, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RULES-BASED CONTROL OF CUSTODY OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE TRANSACTIONS” are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent with or contrary to the definition or use of that term provided herein, the definition or use of that term provided herein governs.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing, by an Electronic Signature Service System (ESS) computing device, an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user;
accessing, by the ESS computing device, a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user and a second user of a second client computing device, the set of custody rules including a custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to the second user based on occurrence of at least one event, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization;
processing, by the ESS computing device, a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users;
detecting, by the ESS computing device, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and
in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring, by the ESS computing device, custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the response includes one of:

a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or
a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the access right comprises at least one of:

a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and
a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.

8. An Electronic Service System (ESS) computing device comprising:

a processor; and
memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the ESS computing device to perform operations comprising: accessing an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user;
accessing a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user and a second user of a second client computing device, the set of custody rules including a custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to a second user of the plurality of users based on occurrence of at least one event;
processing a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users;
detecting, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and
in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the response includes one of:

a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or
a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.

11. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the access right comprises at least one of:

a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and
a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.

12. The computing system of claim 8, wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document.

13. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing system to perform an operation including storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user.

14. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing system to perform an operation including:

transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on an Electronic Service System (ESS) computing device, cause the ESS computing device to perform operations including:

accessing an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user;
accessing a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user, the set of custody rules including a first custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to a second user of the plurality of users based on occurrence of at least one event;
processing a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users;
detecting, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and
in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the response includes one of:

a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or
a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the access right comprises at least one of:

a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and
a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing device to perform an operation including storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing device to perform an operation including:

transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.

22. A computer-implemented method comprising:

processing, by a server, a transaction associated with an electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of a plurality of users, a first user and a second user of the plurality of users having respective access rights via first and second client computing devices to the electronic document, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization, wherein client computing devices of the plurality of users operate independently of the server;
detecting, by the server, an occurrence of at least one event based at least in part on an operation performed by the third client computing device; and
in response to detecting the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring, by the server, custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, wherein transferring custody comprises modifying the respective access rights of the first user and second user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the response includes a signing of the electronic document by the third user or a refusal by the third user to sign the electronic document.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the respective access rights comprises at least one of:

a right to modify contents of the electronic document and
a right to delete the electronic document from the server.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein after transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user retains a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to a signature of the electronic document.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing data indicating a transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent the first user from accessing the electronic document and to allow access to the electronic document by the second user.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link to access the electronic document, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has selected the link to access the electronic document.

29. A server comprising:

a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform operations comprising: processing a transaction associated with an electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of a plurality of users, a first user and a second user of the plurality of users having respective access rights via first and second client computing devices to the electronic document, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization, wherein client computing devices of the plurality of users operate independently of the server; detecting an occurrence of at least one event based at least in part on an operation performed by the third client computing device; and in response to detecting the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, wherein transferring custody comprises modifying the respective access rights of the first user and second user.

30. The server of claim 29, wherein the at least one event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user.

31. The server of claim 30, wherein the response includes a signing of the electronic document by the third user or a refusal by the third user to sign the electronic document.

32. The server of claim 29, wherein the respective access rights comprises at least one of:

a right to modify contents of the electronic document and
a right to delete the electronic document from the server.

33. The server of claim 29, wherein after transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user retains a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to a signature of the electronic document.

34. The server of claim 29, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform further operations comprising: storing data indicating a transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent the first user from accessing the electronic document and to allow access to the electronic document by the second user.

35. The server of claim 29, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform further operations comprising:

transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link to access the electronic document, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has selected the link to access the electronic document.
Referenced Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
5040142 August 13, 1991 Mori et al.
5220675 June 15, 1993 Padawer et al.
5222138 June 22, 1993 Balabon et al.
5337360 August 9, 1994 Fischer
5390247 February 14, 1995 Fischer
5465299 November 7, 1995 Matsumoto et al.
5544255 August 6, 1996 Smithies et al.
5553145 September 3, 1996 Micali
5615268 March 25, 1997 Bisbee et al.
5629982 May 13, 1997 Micali
5689567 November 18, 1997 Miyauchi
5748738 May 5, 1998 Bisbee et al.
5813009 September 22, 1998 Johnson et al.
5832499 November 3, 1998 Gustman
5872848 February 16, 1999 Romney et al.
5898156 April 27, 1999 Wilfong
6021202 February 1, 2000 Anderson et al.
6067531 May 23, 2000 Hoyt et al.
6085322 July 4, 2000 Romney et al.
6092080 July 18, 2000 Gustman
6119229 September 12, 2000 Martinez et al.
6128740 October 3, 2000 Curry et al.
6161139 December 12, 2000 Win et al.
6185587 February 6, 2001 Bernardo et al.
6185683 February 6, 2001 Ginter et al.
6199052 March 6, 2001 Mitty et al.
6210276 April 3, 2001 Mullins
6237096 May 22, 2001 Bisbee et al.
6289460 September 11, 2001 Hajmiragha
6321333 November 20, 2001 Murray
6327656 December 4, 2001 Zabetian
6367010 April 2, 2002 Venkatram et al.
6367013 April 2, 2002 Bisbee et al.
6446115 September 3, 2002 Powers
6470448 October 22, 2002 Kuroda et al.
6584466 June 24, 2003 Serbinis et al.
6615348 September 2, 2003 Gibbs
6658403 December 2, 2003 Kuroda et al.
6671805 December 30, 2003 Brown et al.
6728762 April 27, 2004 Estrada et al.
6751632 June 15, 2004 Petrogiannis
6754829 June 22, 2004 Butt et al.
6796489 September 28, 2004 Slater et al.
6807633 October 19, 2004 Pavlik
6829635 December 7, 2004 Townshend
6912660 June 28, 2005 Petrogiannis
6931420 August 16, 2005 Silvester et al.
6938157 August 30, 2005 Kaplan
6944648 September 13, 2005 Cochran et al.
6947911 September 20, 2005 Moritsu et al.
6959382 October 25, 2005 Kinnis et al.
6961854 November 1, 2005 Serret-avila et al.
6973569 December 6, 2005 Anderson et al.
6990684 January 24, 2006 Futamura et al.
7039805 May 2, 2006 Messing
7059516 June 13, 2006 Matsuyama et al.
7069443 June 27, 2006 Berringer et al.
7093130 August 15, 2006 Kobayashi et al.
7100045 August 29, 2006 Yamada et al.
7103778 September 5, 2006 Kon et al.
7130829 October 31, 2006 Banerjee
7162635 January 9, 2007 Bisbee et al.
7167844 January 23, 2007 Leong et al.
7197644 March 27, 2007 Brewington
7237114 June 26, 2007 Rosenberg
7340608 March 4, 2008 Laurie
7360079 April 15, 2008 Wall
7395436 July 1, 2008 Nemovicher
7424543 September 9, 2008 Rice, III
7437421 October 14, 2008 Bhogal et al.
7523315 April 21, 2009 Hougaard et al.
7533268 May 12, 2009 Catorcini et al.
7554576 June 30, 2009 Erol
7562053 July 14, 2009 Twining et al.
7568101 July 28, 2009 Catorcini et al.
7568104 July 28, 2009 Berryman et al.
7581105 August 25, 2009 Dietl
7657832 February 2, 2010 Lin
7660863 February 9, 2010 De Boursetty et al.
7660981 February 9, 2010 Hunt
7743248 June 22, 2010 Bisbee
7788259 August 31, 2010 Patterson et al.
7822690 October 26, 2010 Rakowicz
7934098 April 26, 2011 Hahn et al.
7953977 May 31, 2011 Maruyama et al.
8103867 January 24, 2012 Spitz
8132013 March 6, 2012 Meier
8286071 October 9, 2012 Zimmerman et al.
8442884 May 14, 2013 Haberstroh
8588483 November 19, 2013 Hicks et al.
8612349 December 17, 2013 Ledder et al.
8627500 January 7, 2014 Rogel
8924302 December 30, 2014 Bisbee
9230130 January 5, 2016 Peterson et al.
20010002485 May 31, 2001 Bisbee
20010018739 August 30, 2001 Anderson et al.
20010034739 October 25, 2001 Anecki et al.
20010034835 October 25, 2001 Smith
20020004800 January 10, 2002 Kikuta et al.
20020019937 February 14, 2002 Edstrom et al.
20020026427 February 28, 2002 Kon et al.
20020026582 February 28, 2002 Futamura et al.
20020040431 April 4, 2002 Kato et al.
20020069179 June 6, 2002 Slater et al.
20020069358 June 6, 2002 Silvester
20020129056 September 12, 2002 Conant et al.
20020138445 September 26, 2002 Laage et al.
20020143711 October 3, 2002 Nassiri
20020162000 October 31, 2002 Benzler
20020169640 November 14, 2002 Freeland
20020178187 November 28, 2002 Rasmussen et al.
20020184485 December 5, 2002 Dray, Jr. et al.
20020194219 December 19, 2002 Bradley et al.
20020196478 December 26, 2002 Struble
20030048301 March 13, 2003 Menninger
20030051016 March 13, 2003 Miyoshi et al.
20030078880 April 24, 2003 Alley et al.
20030120553 June 26, 2003 Williams
20030120930 June 26, 2003 Simpson et al.
20030131073 July 10, 2003 Lucovsky et al.
20030140252 July 24, 2003 Lafon et al.
20030217264 November 20, 2003 Martin et al.
20030217275 November 20, 2003 Bentley et al.
20040054606 March 18, 2004 Broerman
20040078337 April 22, 2004 King et al.
20040107352 June 3, 2004 Yui et al.
20040117627 June 17, 2004 Brewington
20040133493 July 8, 2004 Ford et al.
20040181756 September 16, 2004 Berringer et al.
20040225884 November 11, 2004 Lorenzini et al.
20040230891 November 18, 2004 Pravetz et al.
20040250070 December 9, 2004 Wong
20040255114 December 16, 2004 Lee et al.
20040255127 December 16, 2004 Arnouse
20050033811 February 10, 2005 Bhogal et al.
20050049903 March 3, 2005 Raja
20050071658 March 31, 2005 Nath et al.
20050076215 April 7, 2005 Dryer
20050091143 April 28, 2005 Schmidt et al.
20050120217 June 2, 2005 Fifield et al.
20050165626 July 28, 2005 Karpf
20050182684 August 18, 2005 Dawson et al.
20050182956 August 18, 2005 Ginter et al.
20050192908 September 1, 2005 Jorimann et al.
20050231738 October 20, 2005 Huff et al.
20060047600 March 2, 2006 Bodenheim et al.
20060129809 June 15, 2006 Battagin et al.
20060153380 July 13, 2006 Gertner
20060161780 July 20, 2006 Berryman et al.
20060161781 July 20, 2006 Rice et al.
20060174199 August 3, 2006 Soltis et al.
20060205476 September 14, 2006 Jubinville
20060230282 October 12, 2006 Hausler
20060259440 November 16, 2006 Leake et al.
20060261545 November 23, 2006 Rogers
20060294152 December 28, 2006 Kawabe et al.
20070026927 February 1, 2007 Yaldoo et al.
20070079139 April 5, 2007 Kim
20070088958 April 19, 2007 Qa'im-maqami
20070100765 May 3, 2007 Naganuma
20070118732 May 24, 2007 Whitmore
20070130186 June 7, 2007 Ramsey et al.
20070136361 June 14, 2007 Lee et al.
20070143085 June 21, 2007 Kimmel
20070165865 July 19, 2007 Talvitie
20070198533 August 23, 2007 Foygel et al.
20070208944 September 6, 2007 Pavlicic
20070220260 September 20, 2007 King
20070271592 November 22, 2007 Noda et al.
20070289022 December 13, 2007 Wittkotter
20080016357 January 17, 2008 Suarez
20080034213 February 7, 2008 Boemker et al.
20080097777 April 24, 2008 Rielo
20080141033 June 12, 2008 Ginter et al.
20080209313 August 28, 2008 Gonser
20080209516 August 28, 2008 Nassiri
20080216147 September 4, 2008 Duffy
20080235577 September 25, 2008 Veluchamy et al.
20080260287 October 23, 2008 Berryman et al.
20080313723 December 18, 2008 Naono et al.
20090024912 January 22, 2009 Mccabe et al.
20090025087 January 22, 2009 Peirson, Jr. et al.
20090044019 February 12, 2009 Lee et al.
20090099881 April 16, 2009 Hanna et al.
20090132351 May 21, 2009 Gibson
20090138730 May 28, 2009 Cook et al.
20090145958 June 11, 2009 Stoutenburg et al.
20090164488 June 25, 2009 Katsurabayashi
20090185241 July 23, 2009 Nepomniachtchi
20090268903 October 29, 2009 Bojinov et al.
20090292786 November 26, 2009 Mccabe et al.
20100088364 April 8, 2010 Carter et al.
20100122094 May 13, 2010 Shima
20100153011 June 17, 2010 Obrea et al.
20100217987 August 26, 2010 Shevadex
20100235727 September 16, 2010 Ashton et al.
20100242085 September 23, 2010 Dutta et al.
20100274863 October 28, 2010 Foygel et al.
20100287260 November 11, 2010 Peterson et al.
20100293094 November 18, 2010 Kolkowitz et al.
20110093769 April 21, 2011 Dunn et al.
20110119165 May 19, 2011 Zee
20110126022 May 26, 2011 Sieberer
20110153560 June 23, 2011 Bryant
20110238510 September 29, 2011 Rowen et al.
20110264907 October 27, 2011 Betz et al.
20110314371 December 22, 2011 Peterson et al.
20120072837 March 22, 2012 Triola
20120180135 July 12, 2012 Hodges et al.
20120209970 August 16, 2012 Scipioni et al.
20120271882 October 25, 2012 Sachdeva et al.
20120304265 November 29, 2012 Richter et al.
20130019156 January 17, 2013 Gonser
20130019289 January 17, 2013 Gonser et al.
20130050512 February 28, 2013 Gonser et al.
20130060661 March 7, 2013 Block
20130067243 March 14, 2013 Tamayo-Rios et al.
20130159720 June 20, 2013 Gonser et al.
20130179676 July 11, 2013 Hamid
20130254111 September 26, 2013 Gonser et al.
20130263283 October 3, 2013 Peterson et al.
20140019761 January 16, 2014 Shapiro
Foreign Patent Documents
101299256 November 2008 CN
104412276 March 2015 CN
1238321 September 2002 EP
2828784 January 2015 EP
2000048072 February 2000 JP
2003271529 September 2003 JP
2004200740 July 2004 JP
2005135072 May 2005 JP
2005267438 September 2005 JP
2007109182 April 2007 JP
2008117258 May 2008 JP
2008225527 September 2008 JP
2009157422 July 2009 JP
2015515677 May 2015 JP
20000049674 August 2000 KR
1020020092595 December 2002 KR
1020070059931 June 2007 KR
100929488 December 2009 KR
20090122657 December 2009 KR
2291491 January 2007 RU
2300844 June 2007 RU
2400811 September 2010 RU
WO-9607156 March 1996 WO
WO-03091834 November 2003 WO
WO-2007075235 July 2007 WO
WO-2008124627 October 2008 WO
WO-2009012478 January 2009 WO
WO-2010105262 September 2010 WO
WO-2013142438 September 2013 WO
WO-2013142438 September 2013 WO
Other references
  • “U.S. Appl. No. 13/838,233, Examiner Interview Summary dated May 15, 2015”, 4 pgs.
  • “U.S. Appl. No. 13/838,233, Non Final Office Action dated Feb. 17, 2015”, 36 pgs.
  • “U.S. Appl. No. 13/838,233, Notice of Allowability dated Dec. 9, 2015”.
  • “U.S. Appl. No. 13/838,233, Notice of Allowance dated Aug. 21, 2015”, 10 pgs.
  • “U.S. Appl. No. 13/838,233, Response filed May 18, 2015 to Non Final Office Action dated Feb. 17, 2015”, 17 pgs.
  • “Chinese Application Serial No. 201380026480.2, Office Action dated Aug. 31, 2016”, W/English Translation, 10 pgs.
  • “eLynx Adds Workftow Management to Electronic Document Platform—new Workflow Capabilities Provide for Enhanced Electronic Loan Processing”, [Online]. Retrieved from the Internet: <URL: http://www.elynx.com/news/view/82, (Jan. 2009), 2 pgs.
  • “European Application Serial No. 13764546.1, Extended European Search Report dated Oct. 30, 2015”, 6 pgs.
  • “European Application Serial No. 13764546.1, Office Action dated Oct. 31, 2014”, 3 pgs.
  • “European Application Serial No. 13764546.1, Response filed Apr. 22, 2015 to Office Action dated Oct. 31, 2014”, 1 pg.
  • “International Application Serial No. PCT/US2013/032853, International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Oct. 2, 2014”, 4 pgs.
  • “International Application Serial No. PCT/US2013/032853, International Search Report dated Jul. 25, 2013”, 2 pgs.
  • “International Application Serial No. PCT/US2013/032853, Written Opinion dated Jul. 25, 2013”, 3 pgs.
  • Borozdin, “DocuSign Connect Service Guide”, DocuSign, Inc, (2008), 1-9.
  • Brown, et al., “Digital Signatures: Can They Be Accepted as Legal Signatures in EID?”, ACM, (Dec. 1993), 86-92.
  • Du, Timon C, et al., “Document access control in organisational workflows”, International Journal of Information and Computer Security, vol. 1, No. 4, (2007), 437-454.
  • Harold, Elliotte Rusty, “XML Bible”, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.,, (1999), 191-192.
  • Herzberg, et al., “SurfN'Sign: Client Signatures on Web Documents”, IEEE, vol. 37 Issue 1,, (1998), 61-71.
  • Kamara, et al., “Cryptographic Cloud Storage”, Published in “Financial Cryptography and Data Security” Springer,, (2010), 136-149.
  • Kwok, et al., “An Automatic Electronic Contract Document Signing System in a Secure Environment”, IEEE, (2005), 497-502.
  • Laurens, Leurs, “The history of PDF”, Prepressure.com, (Feb. 14, 2010), 1-12.
  • Su, et al., “Signature-In-Signature Verification via a Secure Simple Network Protocol”, IEEE, (2010), 1-4.
  • Wheeler, et al., “DocuSign Unveils new Scalable Product and Support Offerings of Electronic Signature and Electronic Contract Execution”, DocuSign the Fastest Way to Get a Signature, (Jan. 2008), 1 pg.
  • Zefferer, et al., “An Electronic-Signature Based Circular Resolution Database System”, ACM, (Mar. 2010), 1840-1845.
  • “Australian Application Serial No. 2013235309, First Examination Report dated Jun. 29, 2017”, 4 pgs.
  • “Chinese Application Serial No. 201380026480.2, Office Action dated May 25. 2017”, W/English Translation, 11 gps.
  • “Chinese Application Serial No. 201380026480.2, Response filed Jan. 16, 2017 to Office Action dated Aug. 31, 2016”, w/English Claims, 19 pgs.
  • “Japanese Application Serial No. 2015-501837, Office Action dated Mar. 21, 2017”, w/English Claims, 8 pgs.
  • “Singapore Application Serial No. 11201405878X, Written Opinion dated May 2, 2017”, w/English Translation, 6 pgs.
  • “Chinese Application Serial No. 201380026480.2, Response filed Aug. 8, 2017 to Office Action dated May 25, 2017”, W/ English Claims, 17 pgs.
  • “Japanese Application Serial No. 2015-501837, Response filed Aug. 17, 2017 to Office Action dated Mar. 21, 2017”, W/ English Claims, 19 pgs.
Patent History
Patent number: RE49119
Type: Grant
Filed: Feb 7, 2020
Date of Patent: Jun 28, 2022
Assignee: DOCUSIGN, INC. (San Francisco, CA)
Inventors: Donald G. Peterson (Kirkland, WA), Douglas P. Rybacki (Seattle, WA), Duane E. Wald (Kent, WA)
Primary Examiner: Colin M Larose
Application Number: 16/785,080
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Usage Protection Of Distributed Data Files (705/51)
International Classification: G06F 7/04 (20060101); H04L 29/06 (20060101); H04L 9/32 (20060101); G06F 21/60 (20130101); G06F 21/62 (20130101); G06F 21/64 (20130101); G06Q 10/06 (20120101); G06Q 10/10 (20120101); G11B 20/00 (20060101); H04L 9/40 (20220101);