Patent ID: 8103867

Claim:
A method of digitally signing a document with a digital signature using at least one computer programmed to perform at least the following steps: receiving a signature request from a requestor, the signature request requesting that a document be signed; determining a type and at least one attribute associated with the document, wherein the type and at least one attribute are determined by: breaking the document into a plurality of smaller portions based on a document class associated with the document; applying lexical analysis to the plurality of smaller portions; and recognizing patterns of the smaller portions to determine the type and at least one attribute associated with the document; accessing one or more signing policies of an organization, the one or more signing policies identifying a plurality of authorized users of the organization, the one or more signing policies identifying one or more document types that an authorized user is authorized to sign; determining whether the requestor is an authorized user authorized to sign the document according to the one or more signing policies and the determined type and at least one attribute of the document; and signing the document with an organization digital signature generated using an organization private key associated with the organization, if the requestor is an authorized user authorized to sign the document.