MARKET DATA DOMAIN AND ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED BY A MASTER ENTITLEMENT PROCESSOR

• US 20030055989A1
• Filed: 02/08/1999
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Refinitiv US Organization, LLC (Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Reuters Limited (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: FARRY, MOHSEN, ZAMANZADEH, BEHZAD, SHALLENBERGER, ROBERT D., MAIHOTRA, HARIAH
• Granted Patent: US 6,535,917 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2113 Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A computer system including a master entitlement processor for storing user information, such as user passwords and access permissions, and a user computer system for allowing a user to operate an application in accordance with the user information corresponding to the user. The user computer system preferably includes a plurality of server computers organized into an enterprise including a plurality of domains. Two-way communication between the master entitlement processor and the server computers facilitates accurate storage, reliable access and easy modification of the user information. Organization of the server computers into domains allows good fault tolerance and robust failover and failback operations through static and dynamic loadbalancing.

Claims

1. A master entitlement processor system comprising:

a master entitlement processor (MEP);

a user computer system (UCS);

communication means for providing two-way communication between the MEP and the UCS; and

MEP code located in the MEP, the MEP code comprising;

an MEP database of user information; and

MEP database modification instructions for receiving database modification data from the UCS through the communication means, and for causing modifications to the MEP database according to the database modification data; and

UCS code located in the UCS, the UCS code comprising;

an application for utilization by a user, wherein the application is controlled at least in part by a portion of the user information which corresponds to the user, and

MEP data-send instructions for sending the database modification data to the MEP through the communication means.

2. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein the MEP comprises a plurality of MEP computers, with the MEP code being redundantly stored on at least two of the MEP computers.

3. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein the UCS comprises a server and a personal computer.

4. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein the communication means comprises a network of telephone lines.

5. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein the application is a market data application for providing the user with current financial information.

6. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein:

the user information comprises user identification numbers and associated user passwords; and

a user password can be changed in the MEP database by the MEP data-send instructions causing database modification data to be sent to the MEP through the communication means to thereby cause the MEP database modification instructions to modify the user password in the MEP database.

7. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 1, wherein the user information comprises access permission lists for each user which control each user'"'"'s access to various features of the application.

8. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 7, wherein the access permission list is stored in the MEP database and sent to the UCS in a table-driven form, and wherein the UCS code further comprises:

a dynamic table; and

expansion instructions for expanding the table-driven access permission list using the dynamic table into permission information in a predetermined format which can be utilized by the application program.

9. The master entitlement processor according to claim 1, wherein the UCS further comprises means for storing at least a portion of the user information.

10. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 9, wherein the means for storing comprises a cache memory.

11. The master entitlement processor system according to claim 9, wherein the means for storing comprises a magnetic storage medium.

12. A computer system for storing permission information which controls a user'"'"'s access to various features of an application, the computer system comprising:

means for storing a table-driven access permission list in the form of a variable-length string of bits wherein each bit represents the status of a specific permission for the user;

means for storing a dynamic table; and

means for expanding the table-driven permission list into expanded permission information in a predetermined format using the dynamic table, which expanded permission information can be directly utilized by the application.

13. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the table-driven access permission list relates to the extent of the user'"'"'s permitted access to a market data database comprising financial information.

14. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the dynamic table comprises fields for hard numeric code, a hard alphanumeric code, a service name, a service group code and a long name.

15. A computer system comprising:

a domain comprising a plurality of server computers;

a user workstation; and

program code located in each of the plurality of server computers, the program code comprising login instructions which control operations allowing a user to log into any one of the plurality of server computers in the domain through the user workstation, and thereafter to receive data from the server computer which the user is logged into through the user workstation.

16. The computer system according to claim 15, and further comprising:

a master entitlement processor structured and programmed store user information relating to the user; and

communication means for communicating the user information from the master entitlement processor to all of the server computers of the domain.

17. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein the login instructions designate one of the server computers in the domain as a primary server computer, and provide that the user will preferably be logged into the primary server computer.

18. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein the server computer which the user is logged into sends market data through the user workstation.

19. The computer system according to claim 18, wherein the domain receives market data from a financial exchange.

20. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein the program code comprises user-tracking instructions which cause each server computer in the domain to keep track of whether the user is logged into any of the server computers.

21. The computer system according to claim 20, wherein the program code comprises duplicative-login instructions which prevent the user from logging into more than one server computer.

22. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein the program code comprises failover instructions which switch the user from a first server computer of the plurality of server computers to a second server computer of the plurality of server computers upon a failure condition.

23. The computer system according to claim 22, wherein the failure condition is the failure of the first server computer.

24. The computer system according to claim 22, wherein the failure condition is a failure in a flow of information from a financial exchange to the first server computer.

25. An enterprise computer system comprising:

a first domain comprising a plurality of first-domain server computers;

a second domain comprising a plurality of second-domain server computers;

a user workstation; and

program code located in each of the server computers comprising login instructions which control operations allowing a user to log into any one of the server computers in at least one of the first and second domains, and thereafter to receive data from the server computer which the user is logged into through the user workstation.

26. The computer system according to claim 25, further comprising:

a master entitlement processor structured and programmed to store user information relating to the user; and

communication means for communicating the access permissions from the master entitlement processor to the server computers in the first domain and the second domain.

27. The computer system according to claim 25, wherein the user receives market data from the server computer which the user is logged into through the user workstation.

28. The computer system according to claim 25, wherein the program code further comprises static-loadbalancing instructions which designate the first domain as the primary domain, whereby the user will preferably be logged into one of the first-domain server computers.

29. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the program code further comprises domain-failover instructions which switch the user from the primary domain to the second domain upon a failure condition of every first-domain server computer.

30. The computer system according to claim 29, wherein the second domain is an enterprise-wide server farm.

31. The computer system according to claim 29, wherein the program code further comprises dynamic-loadbalancing instructions for determining which first-domain server computer the user will preferably be logged into at the time of login.

32. The computer system according to claim 31, wherein the program code comprises server-failover instructions which will switch which first-domain server the user is logged into upon a failure condition.