Patent ID: 8787581

Claim:
A method for managing transmission of encrypted electronic documents over a network between a content provider and a subscriber through a trusted resource, comprising: encrypting, at a content provider station, an electronic document that is to be sent to a particular subscriber using a symmetric key securely retained at the content provider; receiving, at a transaction management station, a key request from the content provider station that includes at least a respective identifier associated with the content provider and a respective identifier associated with the particular subscriber; using the respective identifiers, at the transaction management station, to determine a stored record of a relationship between the content provider and the particular subscriber; in response to determining the relationship, providing at the transaction management station an asymmetrically-encrypted, symmetric key (AESK); receiving, at the content provider station, the AESK that is provided by the transaction management station and that comprises the trusted resource in relation to the particular subscriber and the content provider; constructing, at the content provider station, a transaction that includes the encrypted electronic document, the AESK, and publicly inspectable metadata; distributing the transaction to the transaction management station; determining, at the transaction management station, a routing for the transaction using the publicly inspectable metadata; routing the transaction to at least one client station based on the determined routing; and unbundling the transaction, at the client station, by applying a private portion of an asymmetric key pair utilized to create the AESK, said private portion being associated with the particular subscriber and the content provider, wherein the content provider station, the transaction management station, and the client station are each machines having processors executing code so as to be configured to perform the steps set forth above.