Patent ID: 8479003

Claim:
An electronic signature validation system, said system comprising: at least one onboard computer system (OCS), wherein the OCS is a subsystem removable from at least one control system configured as part of a mobile vehicle the OCS including: a signature generator module configured to assist in generating a digital signature for a communication being sent by the OCS to at least one central computer system (CCS) located remotely from the at least one OCS, wherein the signature generator module receives user information; a cryptographic module in communication with the signature generator module configured to: receive the user information from the signature generator module; generate a cryptographic hash; create the digital signature by signing the cryptographic hash based on the user information received from the signature generator module; and receive a dynamic certificate that is supplied to the OCS by an entity remote from the OCS that is operating the system, and that uniquely identifies the OCS that has generated the communication and the mobile vehicle that the OCS is located on; the at least one remote CCS configured to receive the signed cryptographic hash that forms the digital signature, and to receive the dynamic certificate from the at least one OCS via a wireless, asynchronous communications link, the at least one CCS comprising: a user database having stored thereon user account information for all users authorized to digitally sign messages transmitted from the at least one OCS to the at least one CCS, via the asynchronous communications link; and a signature validator module configured to check the dynamic certificate against a certificate authority to validate the dynamic certificate and to validate the digital signature against all authorized users stored in the user database.