Lee L Anderson

US Patent:

63144689, Nov 6, 2001

Filed:

Dec 16, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/212208

Inventors:

John M. Murphy - Alexandria VA
Lee E. Anderson - Potomac MD

Assignee:

MCI WorldCom, Inc. - Washington DC

International Classification:

G06F 1300

US Classification:

709236

Abstract:

A method, system and computer program product for managing transmission of electronic data between network entities. Two network entities are interfaced so that Electronic Data Interchange ("EDI") data from one network entity is transmitted to the other network entity in a secure exchange using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("TCP/IP") for connectivity and Secure Sockets Layer, Version 3 ("SSL3") for security in transmission. The transmitted electronic message includes a header portion and a message data portion, and optional trailer portions, depending on a predefined format of message desired to be transmitted. The header portion includes a message format identifier and a length of a data message for a data message to be included in the message data portion. The message format identifier corresponds to one of a basic EDI message, an EDI message with message integrity, an EDI message with non-repudiation, an Interactive Agent ("IA") status, and an IA message receipt. The network entities may represent a Competitive Local Exchange Company and an Incumbent Local Exchange Company which are trading partners in the telecommunications industry.