Method and apparatus for managing an interactive network session

• US 20070180122A1
• Filed: 11/30/2004
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Barrett, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,346,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

Methods for controlling online session inactivity timeouts between a user terminal and a server involves the server polling the user'"'"'s local terminal to determine whether the user presence at the terminal can be confirmed if there is a period of inactivity within the session. If so, or if the server can otherwise confirm that the terminal is secured from use by other users, then the user session is maintained. Otherwise, the user session is allowed to timeout due to inactivity. The server may issue an alert to the user whenever a timeout is imminent, and may restore any information entered by the user prior to the timeout, if the user later returns and validates his identification.

Claims

1. A method for managing an interactive network session, performed by a computer, the method comprising:

establishing an interactive session over a computer network with a computing device of a user;

receiving, from the user, a request to transmit information;

initiating a timer of the interactive session; and

when the timer reaches a predetermined threshold before the information is transmitted by the user;

determining, by polling an operating system of the computing device, whether the user is present at the computing device and whether the computing device is secured from use by other users; and

terminating the interactive session only when the user is not present at the computing device and the computing device is not secured from use by other users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said request to transmit information comprises a request to transmit confidential information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to transmit information comprises a request to open a financial account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold comprises a time period between ten minutes and twenty minutes, inclusive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the timer is initiated at the start of the interactive session.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resetting the timer upon receipt of any portion of the information from the user.

7. The method of claim 1, said polling further comprising:

transmitting programming code for installation on the user'"'"'s computer, the programming code for enabling the server to interact with the operating system of the user'"'"'s computing device to determine whether the user is present at the computing device and whether the computing device is secured from use by other users.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the programming code comprises at least one of:

ACTIVE-X code, JAVA code and JAVASCRIPT code.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether the user is present at the computing device further comprises:

transmitting an alert to the user requiring a user response.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the alert is transmitted before the predetermined threshold is reached and the user response must be received prior to the predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user is present at the computing device further comprises:

confirming that the user is present at the computing device when at least one of the following events has occurred at the computing device;

an update to an input device queue of the operating system, an opening of an application registered in a registry of the operating system, a closing of an application registered in the registry, an insertion of media in the computing device, a removal of media from the computing device, and an activation of any component in communication with the computing device, a deactivation of any component in communication with the computing device, an expansion of any window of the operating system and a collapse of any window of the operating system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user is present at the computing device further comprises:

determining whether a valid identification has recently occurred on a biometric device in communication with the computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user is present at the computing device further comprises:

determining whether a proximity sensor in communication with the computing device registers a presence of the user.

14. The method of claim 1, said determining whether the computing device is secured from use by other users further comprising:

determining whether a password protection scheme has been activated by the operating system, the password protection scheme requiring an entry of a valid password to continue using the computing device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

resetting the timer when the valid password is entered.

16. The method of claim 1, said terminating the user session further comprising:

storing any information received from the user prior to terminating the interactive session; and

retrieving the stored information during a subsequent interactive session with the user, whereby the user does not have to re-enter any of the stored information.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resetting the timer of the interactive session when at least one of the conditions is confirmed.

18. An apparatus for managing an interactive network session, comprising:

a processor

a network communication interface; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor, in conjunction with the network communication interface, to;

establish an interactive session over a computer network with a user;

receive, from the user, a request to transmit information;

initiate a timer of the interactive session; and

when the timer reaches a predetermined threshold before the information is transmitted by the user;

determine, by polling an operating system of the computing device, whether the user is present at the computing device and whether the computing device is secured from use by other users; and

terminate the interactive session only when the user is not present at the computing device and the computing device is not secured from use by other users.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to manage an interactive network session, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to establish an interactive session over a computer network with a user;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to initiate a timer for timing the interactive session;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to determine whether the user is present at the computing device and whether the computing device is secured from use by other users, when the timer reaches a predetermined threshold after a period of inactivity by the user; and

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to terminate the interactive session after the predetermined threshold is reached, only when the user is not confirmed as being at the computing device and the computing device is not confirmed to be secured against use by other users.