Identity management user experience

• US 20060224611A1
• Filed: 03/29/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dunn, Melissa W., Harvey, Marcus
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes

Abstract

Example embodiment of the present invention provide for assisting a user in managing the user'"'"'s shared persona on a request-by-request basis. Upon requesting to share one or more types of identity information, the user is automatically presented with an interface through which the user can interact in selecting an amount of identity items to share. A subset of the total identity items selected may then be shared with specified entities. In another embodiment, the present invention assists a user in managing identity information that has been shared with others by providing the user with a visual list of entities for which the user has shared specified identity information. Other embodiments of the present invention use shared information about an entity to automatically provide the user with the ability to update identity information that has subsequently been edited.

Claims

1. At a computing device in a distributed system, a method of assisting a user in managing the user'"'"'s shared persona on a request-by-request basis by automatically presenting the user with an interface through which the user can interact with to select an amount of identity information the user is willing to share with a specified entity, the method comprising acts of:

receiving a request to share a user'"'"'s identity information with one or more entities, the identity information including one or more available types of identity information including one or more of the user'"'"'s personal contact information, the user'"'"'s business contact information, the user'"'"'s legal information, or a digital identity for the user;

based on the request to share the user'"'"'s identity information, automatically displaying a user interface that includes a list of identity items corresponding to the one or more available types of identity information; and

receiving user input;

that selects or deselects one or more identity items from the list of identity items for sharing a subset of the list of identity items with the one or more entities; and

based on the user input, sending the subset of the list of identity items to the one or more entities.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to automatically displaying the user interface that includes the list of identity items, the method further comprises acts of:

presenting the user with a visual display of the available types of identity information the user can select from; and

receiving user input selecting one or more of the types of identity information for sharing with the one or more entities, and wherein the automatic display of the user interface that includes a list of identity items is further based on the selection of the one or more types of identity information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the list of identity items for the user'"'"'s personal contact information include one or more of a name, home address, telephone number, email address, instant messaging address, birthday, likes, dislikes, a picture, and wherein the list of identity items for the user'"'"'s business contact information include one or more of the user'"'"'s name, a company name, company address, email alias, fax number, telephone number, job title for the user, and wherein the list of identity items for the user'"'"'s legal information includes one or more of a credit card number, a social security number, state identification number, or some other sensitive information that a user would be unwilling or uncomfortable to share publicly.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the legal information is encrypted and the user must use one or more of a password, user name, or smartcard to decrypt the legal information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the encrypted legal information is stored on a server.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the available types of identity information is the digital identity for the user, and wherein the digital identity information includes a plurality of identity items corresponding to different digital identities for the user, and wherein the user selects one or more of the different digital:

identities for sharing with the one or more entities.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of identity items have a default setting selecting an automatic subset of the list of identity items, and wherein a template created from the user is used to identity the default settings.

8. At a computing device in a distributed system, a method of assisting a user in managing identity information shared with other entities by providing the user with a visual list of entities for which the user has shared specified identity information, the method comprising acts of:

receiving a request for determining one or more entities for which one or more specified identity items from identity information about a user has been shared, the identity information including one or more available types of information including one or more of the user'"'"'s personal contact information, the user'"'"'s business contact information, the user'"'"'s legal information, or a digital identity for the user;

accessing a log file that includes shared information about the one or more entities for which the one or more specified identity items have been shared; and

based on the shared information about the one or more entities, automatically generating a user interface that includes a list of the one or more entities for allowing the user to perform such tasks as revocation, updating, and other tasks associated with the identity information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more specified identity items for the user'"'"'s personal contact information include one or more of a name, home address, telephone number, email address, instant messaging address, birthday, likes, dislikes, a picture, and wherein the one or more specified identity items for the user'"'"'s business contact information include one or more of the user'"'"'s name, a company name, company address, email alias, fax number, telephone number, job title for the user, and wherein the one or more specified identity items for the user'"'"'s legal information includes one or more of a credit card number, a social security number, state identification number, or some other sensitive information that a user would be unwilling or uncomfortable to share publicly.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the available types of information is the digital identity for the user, and wherein the digital identity information includes a plurality of contact items corresponding to different digital identities for the user, and wherein the user selects one or more of the different digital identities for determining the one or more entities for which the selected one or more different digital identities were shared.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user interface that includes a list of the one or more entities is further automatically generated based on the user'"'"'s request to update the one or more identity items.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the user interface that includes a list of the one or more entities is further automatically generated based on the user'"'"'s request to revoke the one or more identity items.

13. At a computing device in a distributed system, a method of assisting a user to update identity information by automatically providing the user the ability to update identity information shared upon editing the identity information, the method comprising acts of:

receiving a request to edit a user'"'"'s identity information, which includes one or more available types of identity information including one or more of the user'"'"'s personal contact information, the user'"'"'s contact business information, the user'"'"'s legal information, or a digital identity for the user;

receiving user input changing at least one identity item within the one or more available types of information;

identifying that the at least one identity item has changed;

accessing a log for determining one or more entities that the at least one identity item was shared with; and

based on the determined one or more entities, automatically updating the identity information on the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices in accordance with the changes from the user input.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein prior to automatically updating the identity information, the user is presented with a prompt asking the user if the identity information should be updated the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the identity information on at least one of the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices cannot be automatically updated due to access restrictions, and wherein a message is sent to the user informing them of the access restriction.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a message is also sent to the one or more entities indicating to them that the identity information has changed.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the message sent to the one or more entities includes an update of the identity information.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the legal information is encrypted and the user must enter a password, user name, or both, to decrypt the legal information before being allowed to edit one or more identity items for the legal information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least a portion of the encrypted legal information is stored on a server.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein at least a portion of the encrypted legal information is stored on the user'"'"'s computing device.