United States Patent 6,842,863 Fox , et al. January 11, 2005
Certificate reissuance for checking the status of a certificate in financial transactions
Abstract
A system for using a certificate authority to first provide a customer with a digital certificate, and then having a relying party that receives that digital certificate access a status authority (the certificate authority or its designated agent) to receive a reissued certificate on that certificate. The reissued certificate has a much shorter validity period, which ensures that the information is timely. Moreover, the certificate may serve as a receipt, including an accumulated record of the signatures (digital certificates) and policy applied throughout the financial transaction. As a result, each transfer of the transaction forms a digitally-signed chain of evidence recording each step of the transaction and policy applied thereto, whereby risk may be assumed and charged for appropriately and in accordance with the risk purchaser's policy.
Inventors: Fox; Barbara L. (Seattle, WA); LaMacchia; Brian A. (Seattle, WA)
Assignee: Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA)
Filed: November 23, 1999
