METHOD FOR PERFORMING DISTRIBUTED ADMINISTRATION

• US 20080208954A1
• Filed: 05/06/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Maynard, Thomas Dean
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,179 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/30 Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A master defines properties for a resource. The master assigns the properties to an owner. The owner associates the properties to an administrator object, the administrator object being an administrator of a company. The administrator can then associate the property to other objects associated with the company, thereby granting other company users access to the resource property.

Claims

1. An apparatus to perform distributed administration, comprising:

a computer;

a container hierarchy defined in the computer;

a master object in the container hierarchy;

an owner object in the container hierarchy;

a first object in the container hierarchy;

a resource;

a property for the resource, defined by a master user identified by the master object; and

an associator to associate the property with the first object by an owner user identified by the owner object.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an administrator object in the container hierarchy, the administrator object flagged as an administrator of a company identified by the first object;

a second object in the container hierarchy; and

an associator to associate the property with the second object by an administrator user identified by the administrator object.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a message generator to send a message to the administrator user if a user associated with the second object attempts to access the resource.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the associator is operative to associate a right to (associate the property) with the owner object by the master user.

5. An apparatus for performing distributed administration, comprising:

a computer;

a container hierarchy defined in the computer;

a resource;

a property defined for the resource;

an administrator object in the container hierarchy, the administrator object associated with a right to (associate the property to a second object) in the container hierarchy; and

an owner object in the container hierarchy, the owner object responsible for associating the right to (associate the property) to the administrator object.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a master object in the container hierarchy, the master object responsible for defining the property.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the master object is responsible for defining the property and for associating a right to (associate the right to (associate the property)) to the owner object.

8. An apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a client, the client responsible for using the resource; and

a network connecting the resource, the computer, and the client.

9. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the administrator object includes a company object; and

the apparatus further comprises an administrator user object associated with the company object.

10. A computer-implemented method for performing distributed administration, comprising:

identifying a resource;

defining a property on the resource by a master of the resource; and

associating the property with a first object in a container hierarchy by an owner of the resource.

11. A computer-implemented method according to claim 10, wherein associating the property includes associating the property with a company object in the container hierarchy.

12. A computer-implemented method according to claim 11, further comprising associating the property with a second object in the container hierarchy by an administrator of a company associated with the company object.

13. A computer-implemented method according to claim 11, further comprising associating the company object with a user object by an administrator.

14. A computer-implemented method for controlling access to a resource, comprising:

authenticating a user;

accessing a user object in a container hierarchy;

checking the user object for a property of the resource;

if the user object lacks the property;

identifying an association with a company object in the container hierarchy by the user object; and

checking the company object for the property.

15. A computer-implemented method according to claim 14, further comprising, if the company object includes the property, permitting the user to access the resource.

16. A computer-implemented method according to claim 14, further comprising, if the company object lacks the property, requesting permission to access the resource from an administrator for a company associated with the company object.

17. A computer-implemented method according to claim 14, further comprising, if the company object lacks the property, sending a message to an owner of the resource about the attempt to access.

18. A computer-implemented method for performing distributed administration, comprising:

identifying a property for a resource;

associating a right to (associate a right to (associate the property for the resource)) to an owner object in a container hierarchy; and

associating the right to (associate the property for the resource) to an administrator object in the container hierarchy.

19. A computer-implemented method according to claim 18, wherein identifying a property for a resource includes identifying the property for the resource by a master object in the container hierarchy.

20. A computer-implemented method according to claim 19, wherein associating the right to (associate the right to (associate the property)) includes associating the right to (associate the right to (associate the property for the resource)) to the owner object in the container hierarchy by the master object.

21. A computer-implemented method according to claim 18, further comprising associating the property for the resource to a user object in the container hierarchy by the administrator object.

22. Computer-readable media containing a program to perform distributed administration, the program comprising:

software to identify a resource;

software to identify a property on the resource by a master of the resource; and

software to associate the property with a first object in a container hierarchy to a second in the container hierarchy by an owner of the resource.

23. Computer-readable media according to claim 22, the program further comprising software to associate the property with a second object in the container hierarchy by an administrator of a company associated with the company object.

24. Computer-readable media containing a program to control access to a resource, comprising:

software to authenticate a user;

software to access a user object in a container hierarchy;

software to check the user object for a property of the resource;

if the user object lacks the property;

software to identify an association with a company object in the container hierarchy by the user object; and

software to check the company object for the property.

25. Computer-readable media according to claim 24, the program further comprising, if the company object lacks the property, software to request permission to access the resource from an administrator for a company associated with the company object.

26. Computer-readable media containing a program to perform distributed administration, the program comprising:

software to identify a property for a resource;

software to associate a right to (associate a right to (associate the property for the resource)) to an owner object in a container hierarchy; and

software to associate the right to (associate the property for the resource) to an administrator object in the container hierarchy.

27. Computer-readable media according to claim 26, wherein the software to identify a property for a resource includes software to identify the property for the resource by a master object in the container hierarchy.

28. Computer-readable media according to claim 27, wherein the software to associate the right to (associate the right to (associate the property)) includes software to associate the right to (associate the right to (associate the property for the resource)) to the owner object in the container hierarchy by the master object.