IDENTITY PERSISTENCE VIA EXECUTABLE SCRIPTS

• US 20090217301A1
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: RIORDAN-BUTTERWORTH, BRENDAN, GRANT, EUAN, FULAY, AMIT
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Computing devices, computer-readable media, and methods are provided for generating and persisting a user identity associated with a client in a client-server network. A request for an identity script, the identity script comprising computer-executable instructions for creating one or more cookies, is sent from a client to a server. A dynamically generated identity script is returned to the client. User identities are persisted by utilizing cache validation to determine whether a new identity script should be generated.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for generating and persisting a user identity corresponding to a recognized domain associated with a server in a client-server network, the method comprising:

requesting content from a server;

receiving a response from the server, the response comprising an instruction directing the client browser to execute a first identity script;

determining whether the first identity script is stored in a cache, the cache being located at the client;

determining whether the first identity script is expired, wherein the first identity script is found in the cache;

executing the first identity script if the first identity script is not expired; and

storing at least one identity cookie in the cache, wherein the at least one identity cookie is generated by execution of the first identity script.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein executing the first identity script further comprises executing the first identity script within a closure.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising requesting a first identity script from the server if the first identity script is not stored in the cache.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 3, further comprising receiving a first identity script from the server.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 4, wherein the first identity script further comprises at least one of a control header and a validation header.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein if the first identity script is expired, the method further comprises requesting the server to perform a cache validation.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, further comprising receiving one of a second identity script or a response indicating that the first identity script is no longer expired.

8. A method for generating and persisting a user identity associated with a client in a client-server network, the method comprising:

receiving at a server a request for an identity script from a client;

determining whether the request for an identity script includes a first validation header, wherein the first validation header comprises a first identity value corresponding to a cached identity script, wherein the cached identity script is stored at the client;

determining whether the request for an identity script includes at least one identity cookie;

comparing a first identity value associated with the first validation header to a second identity value associated with the at least one identity cookie, wherein the server first determines that the request for an identity script includes at least one validation header and at least one identity cookie;

generating a second identity script if the first identity value is not equal to the second identity value, wherein the second identity script comprises a reference to the second identity value; and

transmitting the second identity script to the client, wherein transmitting the identity script further comprises transmitting to the client at least one of a first control header and a second validation header.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein if the request for an identity script does not include a first validation header, the method further comprises generating a third identity script.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting the third identity script to the client.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting at least one of a second control header and a third validation header.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein if the request for an identity script does not contain at least one identity cookie, the method further comprises transmitting a response to the client, wherein the response comprises an instruction directing the client to continue using the cached identity script.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein if the first identity value is equal to the second identity value, the method further comprises transmitting a response to the client, wherein the response comprises an instruction directing the client to continue using the cached identity script.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the first control header comprises instructions for directing the client to transmit a request for an identity script and a validation header to the server after a predetermined amount of time.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting an authorization list to the client that comprises an indication that the client is allowed to execute the second identity script within the context of the domain associated with the server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the authorization list comprises a list identifying one or more recognized domains, wherein each of the one or more recognized domains is associated with a server.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the second identity script is configured to execute within a closure.

18. A computing device operating within a client-server network, the computing device comprising:

an input/output component for receiving a request for an identity script from a client and for returning a dynamically generated identity script to a client;

a script generation component for dynamically generating an identity script in response to a request from a client, the identity script comprising computer-executable instructions for creating one or more identity cookies; and

a validation component for determining whether an identity script should be generated.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the identity script further comprises hard-coded identity values, the identity values being uniquely associated with a single client.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the validation component is operable to compare at least one first hard-coded identity value with at least one second identity value, wherein the at least one second identity value is associated with at least one identity cookie received from a client via the input/output component.