The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 21, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 23, 2000
Radia J. Perlman, Acton, MA (US);
Stephen R. Hanna, Bedford, MA (US);
Yassir K. Elley, Waltham, MA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that performs content screening on a message that is protected by end-to-end encryption. The system operates by receiving an encrypted message and an encrypted message key at a destination from a source; the encrypted message having been formed by encrypting the message with a message key; the encrypted message key having been formed by encrypting the message key. The destination forwards the message to a content screener in a secure manner, and allows the content screener to screen the message to determine whether the message satisfies a screening criterion. If the message satisfies the screening criterion, the destination receives a communication from the content screener that enables the destination to process the message. In one embodiment of the present invention, the system decrypts the encrypted message key at the destination to restore the message key, and forwards the message key along with the encrypted message to the content screener. This enables the content screener to decrypt the encrypted message using the message key. In one embodiment of the present invention, the system decrypts the encrypted message key at the destination to restore the message key, and then decrypts the encrypted message with the message key to restore the message before sending the message to the content screener.