E-MAIL BASED USER AUTHENTICATION

• US 20110145907A1
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chua, Fei
• Granted Patent: US 8,533,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3213 using tickets or tokens, e.g. Kerberos network architectures or network communication protocols for entities authentication using tickets in a packet data network H04L63/0807

Abstract

E-mail based user authentication is described herein. A user can access resources of a service provider by submitting only an e-mail address to which the user has access. The service provider generates an authentication ticket corresponding to the user'"'"'s login request, and transmits the authentication ticket to the e-mail service provider indicated by the submitted e-mail address. The e-mail service provider processes the authentication ticket, and enables either approval or denial of the authentication ticket, whether by explicit user action or by automated processing.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

enabling at least one user to log in to an e-mail account on an e-mail server; and

receiving an authentication ticket from a third-party service provider, wherein the authentication ticket is received in response to an access request relating to resources of the third-party service provider, and wherein the authentication request references an e-mail address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting to the third-party service provider whether the e-mail address is valid on the e-mail server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting an interface to the user in response to the authentication request; and

enabling the user to approve or to deny the authentication ticket using the interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the authentication ticket has at least one of a key and pass code associated therewith.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising formulating at least one of an additional key and pass code, wherein at least one of the additional key and pass code are chosen to match one of the key and pass code in response to the user approving the authentication ticket, and wherein the additional key or pass code is chosen not to match the key or pass code in response to the user denying the authentication ticket.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising sending at least one of an additional key and pass code to the service provider, wherein the contents of the additional key or pass code are chosen in response to whether the user approves or denies the authentication ticket.

7. A method comprising:

receiving at least one e-mail address from a user in connection with a request submitted by the user to access resources of a service provider, the e-mail address corresponding to an account on a third-party e-mail server to which the user has access;

sending at least one authentication ticket to the third party e-mail server, the third party e-mail server being chosen based upon the e-mail address received from the user, wherein sending the at least one authentication ticket includes;

referencing a first field for an identification of the user and a second field for the identification of the service provider;

dispositioning the at least one authentication ticket; and

dispositioning the request submitted by the user based upon the disposition of the at least one authentication ticket.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiving at least one e-mail address includes receiving the e-mail address in connection with a request to login to a website associated with the service provider.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending at least one authentication ticket includes sending at least one key and pass code with the authentication ticket.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving at least one of an additional key and pass code in response to the authentication ticket.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the dispositioning the authentication request includes approving the authentication ticket if at least one of the additional key and pass code matches one of the key and pass code of the authentication ticket.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the dispositioning the authentication request includes denying the authentication request when neither of the additional key and pass code matches the key and pass code of the authentication ticket.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the dispositioning the authentication request includes denying the authentication request when no additional key or pass code is received within the predefined time interval.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the dispositioning the request includes granting the request when the authentication ticket is approved.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the dispositioning the request includes denying the request when the authentication ticket is denied.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the dispositioning the request is performed without obtaining a password from the given user.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a request for access to resources of a service provider;

obtaining an e-mail address from a plurality of e-mail addresses associated with a user;

requesting authentication from a user who corresponds to the e-mail address;

receiving an authentication ticket from an e-mail server, the receiving comprising polling the email server about every second for about five seconds by querying the email server for the authentication ticket, the authentication ticket comprising;

a first field referencing tan identification of the user and a second field referencing an identification of the service provider; and

dispositioning the request for access based on whether the user provided the authentication.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising after receiving the authentication ticket from the e-mail server, providing an interface element that allows a user to either grant permission to a computing device to send the at least a portion of the authentication ticket to the service provider or to deny permission to the interface to send the at least a portion of the authentication ticket to the service provider.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the requesting authentication includes presenting an interface to the user, wherein the interface includes fields that are responsive to input from the user to grant or to deny the authentication, respectively.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the dispositioning the request for access is performed without the user defining a user name and password associated with the service provider, and wherein a login name and password pair related to the e-mail address and as submitted to an e-mail service provider enables the user to access the service provider by submitting to the service provider only the e-mail address.