Enabling transfer of digital assets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9411982-B1
Application number	US-201313961725-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 7, 2013
Priority date	Aug 7, 2013
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

Techniques for managing digital assets are described that enable a principal to designate a plurality of users that will gain access and ownership of the principal's account that contains the various digital assets of the principal in the event of a transfer of assets. The account may be a network accessible account that maintains various digital assets of the principal, such as multimedia, applications, virtual machines, data, and others. In the event of a transfer, access to the account can be controlled by a cryptographic secret, where each of the designated users has been provided with a distinct share (part) of the cryptographic secret. A minimum number of shares of the secret are required before access to the principal's account will be granted. The minimum number may be configured by the principal in advance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions executed by one or more processors to:
maintain, for a principal, an account containing one or more digital assets, the one or more digital assets being accessible over a network connection, wherein the principal includes a user that is an owner of the account;
generate a cryptographic secret for controlling access to the account of the principal, the cryptographic secret divided into a plurality of distinct shares;
receive configuration information, the configuration information specifying a minimum number of the distinct shares of the cryptographic secret that are required to grant access to the account;
distribute the distinct shares to a plurality of recipients, each recipient receiving at least one distinct share of the cryptographic secret;
revoke a share of the plurality of distinct shares without re-issuing the cryptographic secret;
determine that a transfer event has occurred associated with the account of the principal, wherein the transfer event is a determination that the user is at least one of deceased or incapacitated;
receive one or more distinct shares from the plurality of recipients; and
in response to verifying that the minimum number of the distinct shares of the cryptographic secret have been received from the plurality of recipients, grant access to the account of the principal containing the one or more digital assets.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein distributing the distinct shares to a plurality of recipients further comprises:
encrypting at least one distinct share with a private key of at least one recipient of the at least one distinct share; and
distributing the encrypted at least one distinct share to the at least one recipient.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sequences of instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to:
distribute at least one of the distinct shares to an additional party responsible for monitoring access by the plurality of recipients, the at least one of the distinct shares needed for access to be granted to the account of the principal.

4. A computer implemented method, comprising:
electronically storing for a principal associated with an account containing one or more digital assets, the one or more assets being accessible over a network connection, wherein the principal includes a business entity that is an owner of the account;
generating a cryptographic secret for controlling access to the one or more assets, the cryptographic secret divided into a plurality of shares;
receiving configuration information specified by the principal, the configuration information indicating a minimum number of the plurality of shares required to grant access to the one or more assets;
distributing the distinct shares to a plurality of recipients, each recipient receiving at least one distinct share of the cryptographic secret;
revoking a share of the plurality of shares without re-issuing the cryptographic secret;
determining that a transfer event associated with the one or more assets has occurred, wherein the transfer event is one of an acquisition or dissolution of the business entity;
receiving, from one or more parties, a request to access the one or more digital assets, the request including one or more shares of the plurality of shares;
verifying that the minimum number of the shares has been received; and
granting access to the one or more digital assets in response to verifying that at least the minimum number of shares has been received.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the configuration information corresponds to information provided by the principal, specified in a will, or specified in a transfer agreement.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
distributing each share of the cryptographic secret to an individual recipient, wherein the individual recipient receives at least one share of the cryptographic secret.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
revoking a share of the cryptographic secret while maintaining the same minimum number of the shares to grant access to the one or more assets.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more digital assets are associated with an account of the principal, and wherein granting access to the one or more assets further comprises transferring ownership of the account to one or more users in possession of the minimum number of shares.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , wherein receiving the request to access the one or more assets further comprises:
initiating a timeout period;
notifying the principal with a message indicating that the request to access the one or more assets has been received from the one or more parties; and
in response to determining that no response has been received from the principal within the timeout period, granting access to the one or more assets if the minimum number of the shares has been received.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
attempting to perform a financial transaction for at least one account associated with the principal during the timeout period; and
in response to determining that the financial transaction has failed, granting access to the one or more digital assets if the minimum number of the shares has been received.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
encrypting each share with a private key; and
distributing the encrypted share to the recipient hat owns the private key.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
enabling at least one of the principal or a related party to perform at least one of changing the number of shares or changing the minimum number.

13. A computing device, comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:
electronically store one or more digital assets for a principal, the one or more assets being accessible over a network connection, wherein the principal includes a business entity that is an owner of the account;
generate a cryptographic secret for controlling access to the one or more assets, the cryptographic secret divided into a plurality of shares;
receive configuration information specified by the principal, the configuration information indicating a minimum number of the shares required to grant access to the one or more assets;
distribute the distinct shares to a plurality of recipients, each recipient receiving at least one distinct share of the cryptographic secret;
revoke a share of the plurality of shares without re-issuing the cryptographic secret;
determine that a transfer event associated with the one or more assets has occurred, wherein the transfer event is one of an acquisition or dissolution of the business entity;
receive, from one or more users, at least one request to access the one or more digital assets, the at least one request including one or more shares of the plurality of shares;
verify that at least the minimum number of the shares has been received; and
grant access to the one or more digital assets in response to verifying that at least the minimum number of shares has been received.

14. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more assets are associated with an account of the principal, and wherein granting access to the one

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Dippenaar Andries Petrus Johannes
• Lategan Frans Adriaan

Classifications

• G06F21/6218 Primary

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• G06F21/6245 Primary

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title

• G06F2221/2107

  File encryption · CPC title

• H04L9/085

  Secret sharing or secret splitting, e.g. threshold schemes · CPC title