Patent ID: 6671805
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A computer-implemented method for digitally signing an electronic document by a plurality of signers, each signer having a signing role and a unique private key for applying a digital signature, each signing role corresponding to a to-be-signed portion of the document, at least two signing roles corresponding to different to-be-signed portions, the method comprising:determining the signing role of each signer; identifying the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of each signer; receiving an indication from each signer to digitally sign the document; and applying the digital signature of each signer to the corresponding to-be-signed portion in response to the indication from each signer, wherein the document comprises at least one delimiter for indicating the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of a signer, the identifying step comprising: locating within the document the at least on delimiter corresponding to the signing role of the signer; and using the at least one delimiter to identify the to-be-signed portion of the document corresponding to the signing role of the signer.