Granted Patent B1

US 9,015,472 · App. 11/372,970 · Granted Apr 21, 2015

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. A computerized method, implemented on a computer system, for conveying human origination of an electronic message to at least one recipient comprising:

coupling at least one physical presence indicating mechanism to said computer system having a memory and a central processing unit (CPU) to perform processes for conveying human origination;

determining by said computer system that said message is human originated if output of said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism indicates a physical presence, wherein a biomark is used in assisting in the determining whether the message is human originated, and wherein the biomark is associated with a unique physical characteristic of an end user that originated the message;

marking said electronic message with a human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated if said electronic message was determined to be human originated by said computer system, wherein the human origination indication containing information is wrapped in a first digital signature that is included in the electronic message and that reflects an originating timestamp, and wherein the electronic message includes a second digital signature reflecting the biomark being associated with personal identity information;

receiving said electronic message and said human origination indication containing said information verifying said electronic message is human originated by at least one recipient; and

conveying to said at least one recipient of said electronic message that said electronic message is human originated by said human origination indication of said electronic message.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is comprised of at least one of a group comprising: a physical presence verification device, a biometric device, a smart card reader, a signature verification system, a magnetic keycard reader, a security token reader, an access-control device, a verification test system, a verification test system incorporating a visual test requiring a human operator to type in a few characters that appear in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said few characters, a verification test system incorporating an auditory test requiring a human operator to type in a few audio delivered characters that are in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said audio delivered a few characters, a peripheral device incorporating electric field (EF) sensing, a standalone device performing electric field (EF) sensing, an ultrasonic sensing device, an optoelectronic sensing device based on electro-magnetic reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on infrared reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on microwave reflection, a pyroelectric system, a laser system, an inductive system, a triboelectric sensing system, a fingerprint reader, a hand scanner, a retina scanner, an iris scanner, a voice recognition system, and a face recognition system.

3. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is coupled to said computer system via at least one of a group comprising: a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications bus of said computer system; a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications port of said computer system; and a coupling between said computer system and a display/keyboard/cursor control device for data display/entry by a user.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein said human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated used to mark said electronic message is associated with said electronic message via at least one of a group comprising: placing said human origination indicator within a header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a proprietary X-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Biomark-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Human Origination-header of said electronic message.

5. A computer system for conveying human origination of an electronic message to at least one recipient comprising:

at least one physical presence indicating mechanism coupled to said computer system;

a processor coupled to a memory and programmed with instructions to determine that said message is human originated if output of said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism indicate a physical presence and mark said electronic message with a human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated if said electronic message was determined to be human originated such that at least one recipient receives said electronic message and said human origination indication containing said information verifying said electronic message is human originated in order to convey to said at least one recipient that said electronic message is human originated, wherein a biomark is used in assisting to determine whether the electronic message is human originated, and wherein the biomark is associated with a unique physical characteristic of an end user that originated the electronic message, wherein the human origination indication containing information is wrapped in a first digital signature that is included in the electronic message and that reflects an originating timestamp, and wherein the electronic message includes a second digital signature reflecting the biomark being associated with personal identity information.

6. The computer system of claim 5 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is comprised of at least one of a group comprising: a physical presence verification device, a biometric device, a smart card reader, a signature verification system, a magnetic keycard reader, a security token reader, an access-control device, a verification test system, a verification test system incorporating a visual test requiring a human operator to type in a few characters that appear in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said few characters, a verification test system incorporating an auditory test requiring a human operator to type in a few audio delivered characters that are in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said audio delivered few characters, a peripheral device incorporating electric field (EF) sensing, a standalone device performing electric field (EF) sensing, an ultrasonic sensing device, an optoelectronic sensing device based on electro-magnetic reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on infrared reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on microwave reflection, a pyroelectric system, a laser system, an inductive system, a triboelectric sensing system, a fingerprint reader, a hand scanner, a retina scanner, an iris scanner, a voice recognition system, and a face recognition system.

7. The computer system of claim 5 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is coupled to said computer system via at least one of a group comprising: a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications bus of said computer system; a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications port of said computer system; and a coupling between said computer system and a display/keyboard/cursor control device for data display/entry by a user.

8. The computer system of claim 5 wherein said human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated used to mark said electronic message is associated with said electronic message via at least one of a group comprising: placing said human origination indicator within a header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a proprietary X-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Biomark-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Human Origination-header of said electronic message.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a computer program product, said computer program product containing instructions for a computer system having a central processing unit (CPU) to perform processes for conveying human origination of an electronic message to at least one recipient, said processes comprising:

determining that said message is human originated if output of said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism indicates a physical presence, wherein a biomark is used in assisting in the determining whether the message is human originated, and wherein the biomark is associated with a unique physical characteristic of an end user that originated the message;

marking said electronic message with a human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated if said electronic message was determined to be human originated, wherein the human origination indication containing information is wrapped in a first digital signature that is included in the electronic message and that reflects an originating timestamp, and wherein the electronic message includes a second digital signature reflecting the biomark being associated with personal identity information;

receiving said electronic message and said human origination indication containing said information verifying said electronic message is human originated by at least one recipient; and

conveying to said at least one recipient of said electronic message that said electronic message is human originated by said human origination indication of said electronic message.

10. The machine-readable medium that stores said computer program product of claim 9 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is comprised of at least one of a group comprising: a physical presence verification device, a biometric device, a smart card reader, a signature verification system, a magnetic keycard reader, a security token reader, an access-control device, a verification test system, a verification test system incorporating a visual test requiring a human operator to type in a few characters that appear in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said few characters, a verification test system incorporating an auditory test requiring a human operator to type in a few audio delivered characters that are in a form that prevents a computer/software robot from recognizing said audio delivered few characters, a peripheral device incorporating electric field (EF) sensing, a standalone device performing electric field (EF) sensing, an ultrasonic sensing device, an optoelectronic sensing device based on electro-magnetic reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on infrared reflection, a physical presence sensing device based on microwave reflection, a pyroelectric system, a laser system, an inductive system, a triboelectric sensing system, a fingerprint reader, a hand scanner, a retina scanner, an iris scanner, a voice recognition system, and a face recognition system.

11. The machine-readable medium that stores said computer program product of claim 9 wherein said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism is coupled to said computer system via at least one of a group comprising: a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications bus of said computer system; a coupling between said at least one physical presence indicating mechanism and a communications port of said computer system; and a coupling between said computer system and a display/keyboard/cursor control device for data display/entry by a user.

12. The machine-readable medium that stores said computer program product of claim 9 wherein said human origination indication containing information verifying that said electronic message is human originated used to mark said electronic message is associated with said electronic message via at least one of a group comprising: placing said human origination indicator within a header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a proprietary X-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Biomark-header of said electronic message, placing said human origination indicator within a standard Human Origination-header of said electronic message.

Assignments (14)