IDENTITY MANAGEMENT USER EXPERIENCE

• US 20120016903A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dunn, Melissa W., Harvey, Marcus
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes

Abstract

Upon requesting to share one or more types of identity information, a user is automatically presented with an interface through which the user can interact in selecting an amount of identity items to share. A subset of the total identity items selected may then be shared with specified entities. Interfaces can also be used to assist the user in managing identity information that has been shared with others by providing the user with a visual list of entities for which the user has shared specified identity information and to whom updated information can be sent.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a user to update identity information shared with one or more third parties, comprising:

an act of a computing system accessing a log file that includes shared information about the one or more entities, including the third party, with whom the user has shared one or more specified identity items, the computing system comprising at least one processor;

an act of the computing system receiving a request from the user to update the one or more specified identity items with edited information at a client system;

an act of the computing system automatically, in response to the user request to update and based on the shared information in the log file, displaying a list of the one or more entities that have received the one or more specified identity items;

an act of the computing system prompting the user to identify one or more identified entities of the one or more listed entities to have the edited information sent to; and

an act of the computing system sending the edited information to the one or more identified entities in response to user input identifying the one or more identified entities.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the act of receiving the request from the user to update the one or more specified identity items with edited information at a client system includes:

presenting a new interface at the client system, the new interface displaying a list of the one or more identity items and an item-by-item selection mechanism comprising interactive graphical objects, including at least one of check boxes, radio buttons or highlighting elements, by which each of the one or more identity items is independently selectable and de-selectable, thereby allowing the user to, from the new user interface, select any combination of the one or more listed identity items; and

receiving a user selection of the one or more specified identity items.

3. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the method further includes prompting the user for and receiving the edited information from the user.

4. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the new interface displays the one or more identity items next to corresponding contact information labels that describe or identify the one or more specified identity items.

5. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more identity items includes a plurality of identity items.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the edited information cannot be used by at least one of the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices to automatically update one or more corresponding identity items stored at the at least one of the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices due to access restrictions, and wherein the method further includes sending a message to the user informing the user of the access restriction.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method also includes sending a different message to the at least one of the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices to indicate one or more specified identity items have been updated.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the different message includes the edited information.

9. At a computing device in a distributed system, a method of assisting a user in managing the user'"'"'s shared persona on a request-by-request basis by automatically presenting the user with an interface through which the user can interact with to select an amount of identity information the user is willing to share with a specified entity, the method comprising acts of:

the computing device receiving a request for a user having identity information accessible to the computing device to share the user'"'"'s identity information with a third party;

in response to the request, automatically displaying a new user interface to the user at the computing device, the new user interface enabling the user to selectively control which of the user'"'"'s identity information to share with the third party in response to the request, the new user interface including;

a plurality of contact information labels that describe or identify different types of user identity information;

a list of a plurality of identity items which are sharable with the third party, the plurality of identity items corresponding to the user'"'"'s identity information as identified by the plurality of contact information labels;

an item-by-item selection mechanism comprising interactive graphical objects, including at least one of check boxes, radio buttons or highlighting elements, by which each of the plurality of identity items for the user is independently selectable and de-selectable, thereby allowing the user to, from the new user interface, select any combination of the plurality of listed identity items for sharing with the third party, including a plurality of items, and while continuing to display each of the plurality of contact information labels and each of the plurality of identity items for the user; and

receiving input from the user selecting or deselecting one or more identity items from the list of the plurality of identity items; and

based on the user input, sending the user'"'"'s identity information corresponding to the selected one or more identity items to the third party.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to automatically displaying the user interface that includes the list of identity items, the method further comprises acts of:

presenting the user with a visual display of the available types of identity information the user can select from; and

receiving user input selecting one or more of the types of identity information for sharing with the one or more entities, and wherein the automatic display of the user interface that includes a list of identity items is further based on the selection of the one or more types of identity information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the list of identity items correspond to the user'"'"'s personal contact information and include one or more of a name, home address, telephone number, email address, instant messaging address, birthday, likes, dislikes and a picture.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the list of identity items correspond to the user'"'"'s business contact information and include one or more of the user'"'"'s name, a company name, a company address, an email alias, a fax number, a telephone number, and a job title for the user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the list of identity items correspond to the user'"'"'s legal information and include one or more of a credit card number, a social security number and state identification number.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the legal information is encrypted and the user must use one or more of a password, user name, or smartcard to decrypt the legal information.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the list of identity items have a default setting selecting an automatic subset of the list of identity items, and wherein a template created from the user is used to identify the default settings.

16. A computer storage device having stored instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement a method for enabling a user to update identity information shared with one or more third parties, and wherein the method includes:

an act of a computing system accessing a log file that includes shared information about the one or more entities, including the third party, with whom the user has shared one or more specified identity items, the computing system comprising at least one processor;

an act of the computing system receiving a request from the user to update the one or more specified identity items with edited information at a client system by at least;

displaying a list of the one or more identity items and interactive graphical objects, including at least one of check boxes, radio buttons or highlighting elements, by which each of the one or more identity items is independently selectable, thereby allowing the user to select any combination of the one or more listed identity items, and

receiving a user selection of the one or more specified identity items;

an act of the computing system automatically, in response to the user request to update and based on the shared information in the log file, displaying a list of the one or more entities that have received the one or more specified identity items;

an act of the computing system prompting the user to identify one or more identified entities of the one or more listed entities to have the edited information sent to; and

an act of the computing system sending the edited information to the one or more identified entities in response to user input identifying the one or more identified entities.

17. The computer storage device of claim 16, wherein the computer storage device includes system memory of the computing system.

18. The computer storage device of claim 16, wherein the method includes sending a message to at least one of the one or more entities'"'"' computing devices to indicate one or more specified identity items have been updated.