Universal registration system

• US 20040177254A1
• Filed: 03/23/2004
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allan Havemose
• Original Assignee: Allan Havemose
• Inventors: Havemose, Allan
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for implementing universal registration in an information appliance network. The method includes providing user registration information of a user to a universal registration resource, the user registration information accessible by providers of resources via the information appliance network. The method further includes requesting use of a provider resource which requires the user registration information, wherein the provider resource automatically retrieves the user registration information from the universal registration resource to enable the user to access the provider resource. Additionally, the present invention provides a method for providing universal registration, including accessing a resource, passing a registration interface dynamic base object to the resource, and interrogating the registration interface dynamic base object for registration information. The registration interface dynamic base object transfers the interrogation for registration information to a registration implementation dynamic base object, the registration implementation dynamic base object capable of providing registration information.

Claims

1. A method for providing universal registration in an information appliance network, comprising:

providing user registration information of a user to a universal registration resource, said user registration information accessible by providers of resources via said information appliance network; and

requesting use of a provider resource which requires said user registration information, wherein said provider resource automatically retrieves said user registration information from said universal registration resource to enable said user to access said provider resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said user registration information is contained in a program object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said program object is embedded in a request for accessing said provider resource.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said program object is included in a universal register.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said program object includes data formatted in a string naming convention.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said convention includes data formatted as <

generalname>

.<

objectname>

.<

method/property>

.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said registration information includes at least one of name, address, credit card, expiration date of said credit card, phone number, and email address of said user.

8. A method for accessing contents of a resource by a user, comprising:

accessing a resource which requires registration by a user;

when said resource supports universal registration and said user is universally registered, obtaining registration information from a registration dynamic object; and

allowing said user to access contents of said resource.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

when said resource fails to support universal registration and said user utilizes a registration dynamic base object, registering said user by said registration dynamic base object per pre-registered user data.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

when said resource supports universal registration and said user is not universally registered, entering registration information by said user.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said registration information includes at least one of name, address, credit card, expiration date of said credit card, phone number, and email address of said user.

12. A system for universal registration, comprising:

a digital information appliance for sending a registration interface dynamic base object;

a universal register for hosting a registration implementation dynamic base object, said registration implementation dynamic base object corresponding to said registration interface dynamic base object;

a resource, communicatively coupled to said digital information appliance and said universal register via a network, requiring user registration; and

wherein, using said registration implementation dynamic base object to provide user registration information, a user of said digital information appliance gains access to contents of said resource.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said digital information appliance is a thin appliance with a limited amount of memory.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said user registration information includes at least one of name, address, credit card, expiration date of said credit card, phone number, and email address of said user.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for accessing contents of a resource by a user, said method comprising:

accessing a resource which requires registration by a user;

when said resource supports universal registration and said user is universally registered, obtaining registration information from a registration dynamic object; and

allowing said user to access contents of said resource.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said method further comprising:

when said resource fails to support universal registration and said user utilizes a registration dynamic base object, registering said user by said registration dynamic base object per pre-registered user data.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said method further comprising:

when said resource supports universal registration and said user is not universally registered, entering registration information by said user.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said registration information includes at least one of name, address, credit card, expiration date of said credit card, phone number, and email address of said user.