Credential interface

• US 20060242427A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Guzak, Chris J., Ruzyski, David M., Stephens, John, Wentz, Brian D., Ilac, Cristian, Flo, Eric R., Reasor, Sterling M., Hong, James H., Schutz, Klaus U., Richards, Stefan, Perlin, Eric C., Hutz, Benjamin A., McNeil, Brian K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,810,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231

Abstract

Systems and/or methods are described that enable a credential interface. These systems and/or methods may build a credential user interface enabling a user to choose between multiple credentials and submit an authenticator for a chosen credential. These systems and/or methods may also gather information about arbitrary credentials and build a user interface for submission of authenticators for these arbitrary credentials.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts comprising:

receiving multiple sets of credential information for multiple credentials and from multiple credential providers;

receiving a request to authenticate a user; and

enabling submission of an authenticator for one of the credentials, the authenticator capable of authenticating the user.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multiple credentials comprises a biometric type of credential.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of receiving the request comprises receiving the request from an operating system of the computing device, the operating system'"'"'s request made in order to determine whether or not to log the user onto the operating system.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein the user is logged onto an operating system of the computing device and the act of receiving the request comprises receiving the request from controlled-access software, the controlled-access software'"'"'s request made in order to determine whether or not to permit a currently prohibited task.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of enabling submission comprises presenting a graphical user interface tailored to the multiple sets of credential information.

6. The media of claim 1, further comprising receiving submission of the authenticator for one of the credentials from the user and tendering that credential to an entity capable of authenticating the user using that credential.

7. The media of claim 1, further comprising enabling selection of the credential.

8. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of receiving the request is performed prior to the act of receiving multiple sets of credential information.

9. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts comprising:

gathering sets of information associated with two or more credentials, each of the credentials capable of authenticating users;

tailoring a graphical user interface to the sets of information associated with the two or more credentials; and

presenting the graphical user interface, the graphical user interface enabling selection of at least one of the two credentials.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the act of gathering sets of information comprises requesting sets of information from credential providers and having a particular format.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein the act of gathering sets of information comprises receiving sets of information from two or more credential providers.

12. The media of claim 9, wherein the act of gathering sets of information comprises gathering a set of information associated with one of the credentials, this set of information indicating that enabling submission of an authenticator for that credential requires a data-entry field and textual instructions.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein the act of tailoring the graphical user interface to the sets of information comprises adding the data-entry field and the textual instructions.

14. The media of claim 9, wherein the act of tailoring the graphical user interface is performed without the sets of information comprising localization, keyboard accessibility, and scrolling instructions.

15. The media of claim 9, wherein one of the credentials requires two or more authenticators and further comprising enabling submission of the authenticators, receiving submission of the authenticators, and packaging the submitted authenticators with the credential requiring the authenticators effective to enable authentication of the credential.

16. The media of claim 9, further comprising, prior to the act of 8 tailoring the graphical user interface, receiving a request to authenticate a user, the request received from an operating system of the computing device.

17. The media of claim 9, further comprising, responsive to receiving a selection of one of the credentials, altering the graphical user interface to enable submission of an authenticator for the selected credential.

18. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts comprising:

presenting, responsive to receiving a first set of information from a first set of credential providers, a first graphical user interface displaying a first set of credentials usable to authenticate a user and based on the first set of information; and

presenting, responsive to receiving a second set of information from a second set of credential providers, a second graphical user interface displaying a second set of credentials usable to authenticate the user and based on the second set of information,

wherein the first graphical user interface and the second graphical user interface are different if the first set of information and the second set of information are also different.

19. The media of claim 18, wherein the first graphical user interface and the second graphical user interface are both capable of enabling the user to submit an authenticator.

20. The media of claim 19, further comprising tendering a credential associated with an authenticator submitted by the user to an entity capable of authenticating that credential, the credential comprising the submitted authenticator and the act of tendering effective to permit the user to log on to an operating system if the entity authenticates the credential.