LINKING WEB IDENTITY AND ACCESS TO DEVICES

• US 20100293607A1
• Filed: 05/14/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Khan, Ali, Hall, Martin, Xu, Zhangwei, McNulty, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,656,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for linking a web identity and a portable device to provide web access to a user from a vehicle. An example system includes a presence agent that may be configured to validate the presence of the portable device in the vehicle by recognizing a device identifier saved on the portable device. After the presence of the portable device is validated, a security manager may receive a user identifier, and to verify if the user identifier corresponds with a known user value. Then, the security manager may send a user identity secure proxy to a credential manager. The credential manager may be configured to receive the user identity secure proxy, and in response, pass one or more credentials to a computing device onboard the vehicle. The credentials may indicate that the user is authorized to access one or more web services from the computing device.

Claims

1. A system for linking a web identity and a portable device to provide web access to a user from a vehicle, the system comprising:

a memory resident on the portable device configured to hold a device identifier;

a presence agent configured to recognize and to validate the presence of the portable device within the vehicle by receiving the device identifier and comparing the device identifier to a known device value;

a security manager configured to receive the device identifier, and further configured to receive a user identifier, the security manager configured to verify if the user identifier corresponds with a known user value, upon receipt of the device identifier, and upon verifying the user identifier, the security manager configured to send a user identity secure proxy to a credential manager; and

the credential manager configured to receive the user identity secure proxy from the security manager and to pass one or more credentials to a computing device onboard the vehicle, the one or more credentials indicating that the user is authorized to access one or more web services from the computing device onboard the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable device is a key fob.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to prompt the user to provide the user identifier upon recognition of the portable device by the presence agent.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user identifier is provided by an additional portable device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein one or more of the portable device and the additional portable device is a mobile phone.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the user identifier is a user supplied input.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user supplied input is one or more of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and biometric data.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a communication agent coupled with the security manager and resident on the vehicle, the communication agent configured to establish a connection between the vehicle and the one or more web services.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a password input mechanism having a store of authenticating credentials, the password input mechanism configured to receive the one or more credentials, and the password input mechanism further configured to supply a authentication failure message to a specified web service when the one or more credentials are insufficient to gain access to the specified web service.

10. A method for linking a web identity and web access to a remote vehicle fob, the remote vehicle fob associated with a vehicle, the method comprising:

recognizing a presence of the vehicle fob when the vehicle fob is in the vehicle;

retrieving a fob identifier from a memory on the vehicle fob;

prompting a user, with a user interface, to provide a user identifier;

receiving the user identifier from the user;

passing a combination of the fob identifier and the user identifier to a credential manager as a user identity secure proxy; and

receiving one or more user credentials from the credential manager which indicates to a security module that the user is authorized to access one or more web services from an onboard computing device in the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user identifier is a Personal Identification Number (PIN).

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the user identifier is biometric data of the user received by the user interface.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the credential manager is executed on a remote server in communication with the onboard computing device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the credential manager is executed by the onboard computing device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more user credentials enables an aggregator sign-on service to provide access to multiple web services.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing the one or more user credentials to a password input mechanism;

recognizing a request from a specified web service for one or more authenticating credentials with the password input mechanism; and

based on the request, passing a predetermined authenticating credential to the specified web service to enable the user to have access to the specified web service.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the password input mechanism is served by a program executed on a remote server

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the password input mechanism is executed by the onboard computing device.

19. A web services access control system for use in a vehicle, the system comprising:

a presence agent configured to verify a presence of a portable device, when the portable device is onboard the vehicle; and

a security manager configured to authenticate an identity of a user by receiving a user supplied input and comparing the user supplied input to a known value;

a credential manager operatively coupled with the security manager, and configured to receive a user identity secure proxy upon verification of the presence of the portable device onboard the vehicle and upon receipt of the user supplied input, the credential manager further configured to pass one or more credentials to the vehicle upon receiving the user identity secure proxy, the one or more credentials enabling access to one or more web services from the vehicle.

20. The web services access control system of claim 19, wherein the credential manager is web based and is configured to receive the user identity secure proxy from the security manager via a communication agent, and wherein the security manager and the communication agent are resident on the vehicle.