Mapping account information to server authentication

• US 10,067,925 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2017
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Seto, Julie, Stavrou, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bucknor, Olanrewaju J.
• Application Number:
  US15/485,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20180024980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

An authorization prompt issued from a server is detected, and previously-entered account information, is accessed on a user device. A selectable display element corresponding to each set of entered account information is displayed. User selection or actuation of a given display element is received, and the corresponding account information is retrieved and used to log onto the server that issued the authentication prompt.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to;

detect an authentication prompt from a server;

access a collection of authentication information associated with a user; and

in response to a determination that the authentication information in the collection is not associated with the server,

generate a filter criterion based on the authentication prompt from the server;

identify one or more sets of authentication information by filtering the collection of authentication information based on the filter criterion, wherein the one or more sets comprise some, but not all, of the collection of authentication information;

for each particular set of authentication information in the one or more sets, generate a selectable display element corresponding to the particular set of authentication information;

generate a user interface display that displays the one or more selectable display elements;

receive a user selection input selecting one of the display elements; and

automatically respond to the authentication prompt from the server using the set of authentication information that corresponds to the selected display element.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the server comprises a target server, and the one or more sets of authentication information are associated with one or more other servers, other than the target server.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

in response to a determination that a single set of authentication information in the collection is associated with the server, automatically respond to the authentication prompt using the single set of account information.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

identify an authentication protocol corresponding to the authentication prompt, wherein the filter criterion is based on the authentication protocol.

5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the authentication prompt is associated with an item on the server, and the filter criterion is based on a type of the item.

6. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

generate a user interface display with a user input mechanism that represents the set of authentication information that corresponds to the selected display element; and

based on actuation of the user input mechanism, associate the set of authentication information with the server.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the collection comprises sets of previously-entered authentication information, and wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

access mapping information that maps each set of the previously-entered authentication information to a particular server; and

determine whether any of the authentication information in the collection is associated with the server based on the mapping information.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

generate a user interface display with a new information input mechanism;

based on actuation of the new information input mechanism, define new authentication information; and

modify the mapping information to map the defined new authentication information to the server.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

generate an encrypted representation of the new authentication information;

generate a map entry mapping the new authentication information to the server, using the encrypted representation; and

store the map entry in a data store.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

detecting an authentication prompt from a server;

accessing account information associated with a user;

identifying, from the account information, a plurality of sets of the account information that are associated with the server;

based on the authentication prompt, identifying a filter criterion;

based on the filter criterion, filtering the plurality of sets of account information to select one or more of the sets, the one or more sets comprising some, but not all, of the plurality of sets;

for each particular set of account information in the one or more sets, generating a selectable display element corresponding to the particular set of account information;

generating a user interface display that displays the one or more selectable display elements;

receiving a user selection input selecting one of the display elements; and

automatically responding to the authentication prompt from the server using the set of account information that corresponds to the selected display element.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the filter criterion is based on at least one of:

an authentication protocol corresponding to the authentication prompt;

or

an item on the server for which access is requested.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein accessing account information comprises:

accessing mapping information that maps the account information to one or more servers; and

based on the mapping information, identify the plurality of sets of account information mapped to the server.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, and further comprising:

displaying an association user input mechanism; and

based on actuation of the association user input mechanism, modifying the mapping information to associate a set of previously-entered account information with the server.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, and further comprising:

generating a user interface display with a new information input mechanism; and

based on actuation of the new information input mechanism, defining new authentication information; and

modifying the mapping information to map the defined new authentication information to the server.

15. A computing system comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions configure computing system to;

detect an authentication prompt from a server;

access a collection of authentication information associated with a user;

determine whether any authentication information in the collection is associated with the server;

in response to a determination that only a single set of authentication information in the collection is associated with the server, automatically respond to the authentication prompt using the single set of authentication information; and

in response to a determination that a plurality of sets of authentication information in the collection are associated with the server,

generate a filter criterion based on the authentication prompt from the server;

apply the filter criterion to the plurality of sets to identify one or more sets of filtered authentication information;

for each particular set in the one or more sets of filtered authentication information, generate a selectable display element representing the particular set;

generate a user interface display that displays the selectable display elements;

receive a user selection input selecting one of the display elements; and

automatically respond to the authentication prompt from the server using the set of authentication information that corresponds to the selected display element.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the filter criterion is based on at least one of:

an authentication protocol corresponding to the authentication prompt;

or

an item on the server for which access is requested.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the collection comprises sets of previously-entered authentication information, and wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

access mapping information that maps each set of the previously-entered authentication information to a particular server; and

determine whether any authentication information in the collection is associated with the server based on the mapping information.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

generate a user interface display with a new information input mechanism; and

based on actuation of the new information input mechanism, define new authentication information; and

modify the mapping information to map the defined new authentication information to the server.

19. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the instructions configure the computing system to:

generate a new account entry display with a user input mechanism that is actuated to enter authentication information for a new account and map it to the server;

encrypt the authentication information for the new account to obtain encrypted authentication information; and

generate a mapping between the new account and the server using the encrypted authentication information.

20. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the server comprises a target server, and the one or more sets of authentication information are associated with one or more other servers, other than the target server.