Consent mechanism for online entities

• US 20040003072A1
• Filed: 01/15/2003
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jones, Brian, Paya, Cem, Mathew, Ashvin J., Dunn, Melissa, Vetrivel, Puhazholi, Zhang, Danpo, Abbott, Laurel S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium are provided for managing consent between online entities to perform tasks. The consent mechanism uses an asynchronous protocol for submitting consent requests, managing consent requests, and resolving consent requests. An application that requires consent to perform a task submits a request for consent to the consent mechanism. The resolving authority obtains pending request information from the consent mechanism and sends the consent mechanism request resolution information. The application obtains resolved request information from the consent mechanism. If the resolved request is approved, the consent mechanism allows the application to perform the task. If the resolved request is denied, the consent mechanism does not allow the application to perform the task.

Claims

1. A computer system for resolving online requests to perform tasks comprising:

(a) a consent component for;

(i) receiving requests from applications for consent to perform tasks requested by users (“

task requests”

);

(ii) requesting instructions from a resolving authority component regarding how to respond to task requests (“

instruction requests”

); and

(iii) consenting or not consenting to the performance of particular tasks based on replies to instruction requests received from said resolving authority component; and

(b) a resolving authority component for;

(i) receiving instruction requests from said consent component;

(ii) determining an authority authorized to resolve particular instruction requests;

(iii) obtaining authorization to consent or not consent to the performance of a task or tasks associated with particular instruction requests; and

(iv) replying to said instruction requests in accordance with the authorization to consent or not consent received from the authority authorized to resolve particular instruction requests.

2. The computer system claimed in claim 1, wherein said consent component also evaluates task requests to determine if automatic determination rules apply to particular task requests and, if automatic determination rules apply to a particular task request, consenting or not consenting to the performance of particular tasks based on the applicable automatic determination rules.

3. The computer system claimed in claim 1, wherein the authority authorized to resolve a particular request can allow or deny the request and wherein the resolving authority component reply to instruction requests:

(i) consents to the requests if the authority authorized to resolve a particular request allows the request, and (ii) does not consent to the request if the authority authorized to resolve a particular request denies the request.

4. A computer system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the authority authorized to resolve a particular request can also delete the request and wherein the resolving authority component reply to instruction requests does not consent to the request if the authority authorized to resolve a particular request deletes the request.

5. The computer system claimed in claim 1, including at least one server for providing consent component and resolving authority component services and at least one related database.

6. The computer system claimed in claim 5, wherein:

(i) said consent component and resolving authority component services include an association service for associating tasks requests with authorities authorized to resolve particular instruction requests; and

(ii) said at least one database includes an association database that associates task requests with authorities authorized to resolve particular instruction requests.

7. The computer system claimed in claim 6, wherein said consent component and resolving authority component services also include a consent service and a consent database.

8. The computer system claimed in claim 7, wherein at least one said server also includes a consent engine.

9. A computer system as claimed in claim 8, wherein at least one said database also includes a profile database and a login credential database.

10. A computer-implementable method of resolving online requests generated by applications to perform tasks comprising:

in response to the receipt of a request from an application that requires consent to perform a task, identifying an authority authorized to resolve the request;

requesting the identified authority to resolve the request; and

allowing or denying the application to perform the task based on the resolution of the request.

11. The method claimed in claim 10, wherein identifying the authority authorized to resolve the request comprises identifying the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task and determining if the user is associated with an authority authorized to resolve the request.

12. The method claimed in claim 11 wherein identifying the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task comprises obtaining a profile of the user and searching a profile database.

13. The method claimed in claim 12 wherein identifying the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task also comprises obtaining security credential data from the user and searching a login credential database.

14. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein determining if the user is associated with an authority authorized to resolve the request comprises searching a database to identify an authority authorized to resolve the request.

15. The method claimed in claim 10, further comprising determining if a request from an application that requires consent to perform a task can be automatically resolved without identifying an authority authorized to resolve the request and if the request can be automatically resolved, automatically resolving the request and allowing or denying the application to perform the task based on the automatic resolution of the request.

16. A computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for resolving online request generated by applications to perform tasks that when executed by a computer system causes the computer system to:

in response to the receipt of a request from an application that requires consent to perform task, identify an authority authorized to resolve the request;

request the identified authority to resolve the request; and

allow or deny the application to perform the task based on the resolution of the request.

17. The computer-readable medium claimed in claim 16, wherein the authority authorized to resolve the request is identified by causing the computer system to obtain the online identity of the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task and determine if the user is associated with an authority authorized to resolve the request.

18. The computer-readable medium claimed in claim 17 wherein causing the computer system to obtain the online identity of the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task comprises causing the computer system to obtain a profile of the user and search a profile database.

19. The computer-readable medium claimed in claim 18 wherein causing the computer system to obtain the online identity of the user of the application requesting consent to perform the task also comprises causing the computer system to obtain security credential data from the user and search a login credential database.

20. The computer-readable medium claimed in claim 17 wherein causing the computer system to determine if the user is associated with an authority authorized to resolve the request comprises causing the computer system to search a database to identify an authority authorized to resolve the request.

21. The computer-readable medium claimed in claim 16, further comprising causing the computer system to determine if a request from an application that requires consent to perform a task can be automatically resolved without identifying an authority authorized to resolve the request and if the request can be automatically resolved, causing the computer system to automatically resolve the request and allow or deny the application to perform the task based on the automatic resolution of the request.

22. A consent mechanism for resolving consent requests received from applications that require consent to perform a task on behalf of a first user comprising:

first means for submitting a consent request in response to receiving a request for an application to perform a task on behalf of a first user;

second means for providing consent request information to a second user who has authority to resolve consent requests received from said first user; and

third means for resolving consent requests in response to receiving consent request resolution information from said second means.

23. A computer-readable medium having a data structure stored thereon suitable for creating an entry in a consent database for a request from an application that requires consent from a task on behalf of a first user, said data structure comprising:

a data element containing requested an identification information;

a data element containing first user identification information;

a data element containing second user identification information, said second user identification information identifying a user that has authority to resolve requests received from said first user;

a data element containing task description information; and

a data element containing request status information.