Patent ID: 6971017

Claim:
A method for a first user to provide secure access to electronic documents or services stored on a document server located on a network to a second user, where the first user is a registered user of the document server and the second user is not a registered user of the document server, and where both the first user, the second user, and the document server have each associated therewith a public key that is associated with a corresponding private key, the method performed on the document server comprising: exchanging public keys with the first user to establish a first secure session; receiving from the first user a request to list a file directory; authenticating the first user's access to the file directory using credentials provided by the first user when the first secure session is established; transmitting to the first user a listing of the file directory over the first secure session; the listing identifying a set of paths to content available on the document server; exchanging public keys with the second user to establish a second secure session; receiving from the second user a request for access to selected content on the document server; the request for access including a token identifier that is recorded at the document server and associated with a path from the set of paths to the selected content available on the document server; authenticating the request for access using: (a) the public key of the second user received from the second user while establishing the second secure session, and (b) a digital signature signed using the private key of the first user that is a signed cryptographic digest of the public key of the second user and other information relating to the request for access to the selected document content on the document server; and providing the second user with access to the selected content over the second secure session if the request for access is authenticated.