Method and system to automatically evaluate a participant in a trust management infrastructure

Abstract

A system, to establish a trustworthy supplier in an online commerce environment, includes an aggregated service provider represents a buyer to source and evaluate a seller. The aggregated service provider collects the requirements from the buyer, whereby the requirements include product specification and qualifications of the seller. The aggregated service provider presents the requirements to a trusted service provider. At the same time, the aggregated service provider grants the trusted service provider a permit to issue bound property. A bound property is an award given to a seller in recognition for his qualifications. The trusted service provider first provides the seller with a Request For Invitation and requests the seller to submit a property certificate. The property certificate contains qualifications of the seller which are affirmed by a trusted agent. The trusted service provider evaluates the qualifications of the sellers based on the submitted property certificate and awards a bound property. In addition, the permit is forwarded to the seller. The seller then submits the bound property and the permit to the aggregated service provider. Therefore, the seller returns the permit to the aggregated service provider who is the original issuer of the permit. The aggregated service provider authenticates the seller based on the permit. The aggregated service provider translates the properties into access rights to certain transaction documents, such as Requests For Quotation (RFQ).