Patent ID: 7653809
Filing Date: 2010-01-26
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of controlling supply of at least one of a digital product to, and access of a service by, a purchaser, from a repository computer which holds said digital product and hosts said service comprising the steps of: a) the purchaser authenticating himself over a communications link to an intermediary computer, in order to prepare for a purchasing session with a vendor computer which controls user rights in said product and said service said purchasing session comprising at least one purchasing transaction for said at least one of said digital product, b) the intermediary computer assigning an anonymous client identifier to the purchaser for the purposes of this session, and supplying to the purchaser said anonymous client identifier, c) the purchaser submitting to the vendor computer over a communications link, a purchase order comprising a purchase request for said at least one of said product and said service, said anonymous client identifier, and an a network address of the intermediary computer), d) the vendor computer communicating with the intermediary computer to request authentication data for the purchasing transaction, by submitting said anonymous client identifier to the intermediary computer in order to identify the session, the intermediary computer selecting authentication data for association in the intermediary computer with the transaction, and said intermediary computer supplying the authentication data to the vendor computer, e) the vendor computer creating a credential, the credential comprising data relating to identification data of the vendor, data relating to identification data of said at least one of said product and said service and data relating to the authentication data, and f) the vendor computer making the credential available for subsequent inspection by or on behalf of the repository computer, f) the vendor computer making the credential available for subsequent inspection by or on behalf of the repository computer.