Patent Issued for Systems and methods for facilitating digital document communication (USPTO 11411936): United Services Automobile Association

2022 AUG 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Anaruk, Andrew L. (San Antonio, TX, US), Borunda, Adrian (Celina, TX, US), Hernandez, Heather (San Antonio, TX, US), Liang, Minya (Redmond, WA, US), Pickrel, Cory S. (Austin, TX, US), Rangarajan, Sudarshan (San Antonio, TX, US), Shelton, John (San Antonio, TX, US), Vijayvergia, Gunjan C. (San Antonio, TX, US), Wright, III, William H. (Helotes, TX, US), filed on March 30, 2020, was published online on August 9, 2022.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11411936 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Identification documents may be used to verify aspects of a person’s personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card (ID or ID card). Countries which do not have formal identity documents may require identity verification using informal documents.

“In the absence of a formal identity document, driving licenses may be accepted in many countries for identity verification. Some countries do not accept driving licenses for identification, often because in those countries they do not expire as documents and can be old or easily forged. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification.

“Identification documents may also be used to verify an individual’s membership in a group. For example, student identification cards are used as proof that the individual is a student, faculty, or staff at a school. Military identification cards are used as proof that the individual is a member of the armed services.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “This specification describes technologies relating to digital identification.

“In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the act of receiving a request for a digital document from a digital wallet executing on a mobile device. The methods include the act of identifying a digital document provider capable of providing the requested document. The method includes the act of sending the request for the digital document to the identified digital document provider. The method includes the act of receiving, from the digital document provider, information that enables the mobile device to view the digital document and does not enable the computer system to view the digital document.

“Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding computer systems, apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one or more computer storage devices, each configured to perform the actions of the methods. A system of one or more computers can be configured to perform particular actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, or a combination of them installed on the system that in operation causes or cause the system to perform the actions. One or more computer programs can be configured to perform particular actions by virtue of including instructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the actions.

“The foregoing and other embodiments can each optionally include one or more of the following features, alone or in combination. The information may include a token, the token enabling the mobile device to obtain the digital document from the digital id provider. The information may include the digital document encrypted using an encryption key. A key to decrypt the digital document may be stored on the mobile device. The information may also include a token, the mobile device sends the token to the digital document provider, and the digital document provider sends the key to decrypt the encryption container to the mobile device.

“The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by at least one processor and from an application on a mobile device, a request for a digital document; receiving, by the at least one processor and from a system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document, an encrypted container and a token, the encrypted container comprising the digital document, wherein: the digital document comprises an encrypted digital document; the encrypted container cannot be decrypted by the application and the at least one processor; and the token identifies a location at the system on which an encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container is stored; and sending, by the at least one processor, the encrypted container and the token to the application, wherein the encrypted container and token are transmittable by the application to a digital document provider software development kit (SDK) on the mobile device, the digital document provider SDK being configured to: transmit the token to the identified digital document provider system for receiving the encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container; and decrypt the encrypted digital document using a second encryption key stored on the mobile device.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises a digital wallet application.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document comprises determining that the digital document provider SDK is configured to authorize the mobile device to access the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving the encrypted container and the token, authenticating, by the at least one processor, a user of the mobile device.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital document comprises a digital driver’s license.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein communications between the at least one processor and the system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document are secured using encryption.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is integral with a server.

“9. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with computer program instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, from an application on a mobile device, a request for a digital document; receiving, from a system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document, an encrypted container and a token, the encrypted container comprising the digital document, wherein: the digital document comprises an encrypted digital document; the encrypted container cannot be decrypted by the application and the at least one processor; and the token identifies a location at the system on which an encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container is stored; and sending the encrypted container and the token to the application, wherein the encrypted container and token are transmittable by the application to a digital document provider software development kit (SDK) on the mobile device, the digital document provider SDK being configured to: transmit the token to the identified digital document provider system for receiving the encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container; and decrypt the encrypted digital document using a second encryption key stored on the mobile device.

“10. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein the application comprises a digital wallet application.

“11. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 9, the operations further comprising identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“12. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document comprises determining that the digital document provider SDK is configured to authorize the mobile device to access the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“13. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 9, the operations further comprising, prior to receiving the encrypted container and the token, authenticating a user of the mobile device.

“14. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein the digital document comprises a digital driver’s license.

“15. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein communications between the at least one processor and the system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document are secured using encryption.

“16. A system, comprising: at least one processor; and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, from an application on a mobile device, a request for a digital document; receiving, from a system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document, an encrypted container and a token, the encrypted container comprising the digital document, wherein: the digital document comprises an encrypted digital document; the encrypted container cannot be decrypted by the application and the at least one processor; and the token identifies a location at the system on which an encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container is stored; and sending the encrypted container and the token to the application, wherein the encrypted container and token are transmittable by the application to a digital document provider software development kit (SDK) on the mobile device, the digital document provider SDK being configured to: transmit the token to the identified digital document provider system for receiving the encryption key capable of decrypting the encrypted container; and decrypt the encrypted digital document using a second encryption key stored on the mobile device.

“17. The system of claim 16, the operations further comprising identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“18. The system of claim 17, wherein identifying the system capable of providing the requested digital document comprises determining that the digital document provider SDK is configured to authorize the mobile device to access the system capable of providing the requested digital document.

“19. The system of claim 16, the operations further comprising, prior to receiving the encrypted container and the token, authenticating a user of the mobile device.

“20. The system of claim 16, wherein communications between the at least one processor and the system identified as being capable of providing the requested digital document are secured using encryption.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Anaruk, Andrew L. Systems and methods for facilitating digital document communication. U.S. Patent Number 11411936, filed March 30, 2020, and published online on August 9, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11411936.PN.&OS=PN/11411936RS=PN/11411936

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)