TECHNIQUES FOR RESOURCE OPERATION BASED ON USAGE, SHARING, AND RECOMMENDATIONS WITH MODULAR AUTHENTICATION

• US 20120278873A1
• Filed: 04/27/2012
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Calero, William, Davis, Glen, Fowler, Richard Brian, Lindstedt, Richard, Santhanam, Umadevi, Subramanivan, Kalvanasundaram, Mitter, Krishna, Balakrishnan, Kalidas, Asundi, Mahabaleshwar Mallappa, Sunder, Ramesh, Balachandran, Nithya, Sivapuram, Praveen Kumar, Kumar, Anil, Subramanian, Mandhakini
• Granted Patent: US 9,600,679 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0884 by delegation of authentication, e.g. a proxy authenticates an entity to be authenticated on behalf of this entity vis-à-vis an authentication entity

Abstract

Techniques for resource operation based on usage, sharing, and recommendations with modular authentication are provided. A resource space is associated with a principal. The resource space comprises resources local to a device of the principal and remote from the device. The resources presented in a merged view within a local file system and operating system of the device. In an embodiment, the device negotiates authentication with an intermediary for access to a legacy service where authentication is performed by the intermediary on behalf of the device, and the intermediary establishes an authentication session between the principal and the legacy service.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and processed by one or more processors configured to perform the method, comprising:

acquiring a resource space assigned to a principal, the resource space defining multiple collaboration resources dispersed over a network;

directing an agent on a device of the principal to present an integrated view of the resource space making each collaboration resource appear to be within a local file system for a local operating system of the device; and

dynamically and transparently downloading a particular collaboration resource to the device, via the agent, for principal access when a particular reference to the particular collaboration resource is activated by the principal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes detecting a successful authentication of the principal and using a principal identifier for the principal to acquire the resource space.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes identifying at least one collaboration resource stored locally on the device and defined within the resource space.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein directing further includes instructing the agent to create directories for the resource space within the local file system, one directory for certain collaboration resources shared by the principal with other principals, another directory for other collaboration resources shared with the principal from some of the other principals, and a third directory for some collaboration resources recommended to the principal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein directing further includes providing a policy to the agent, evaluation of the policy by the agent providing a customized organization of the resource space.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein directing further includes dynamically pushing the agent to the device and configuring the agent as a merge view filter within the local operating system of the device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically and transparently further includes activating, via the agent, an application that permits viewing and access to the particular collaboration resource on the device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, detecting a modification to the particular collaboration resource made by the principal on the device, via the agent, and uploading the modified particular collaboration resource to a remote network location defined in the resource space for the modified particular collaboration resource.

9. A method implemented in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and processed by one or more processors configured to perform the method, comprising:

presenting a merged view on a device of a principal, the merged view showing local files and remote network files integrated together in a local file system for a local operating system, the local files and remote network files comprise a file space defined for the principal;

detecting a message from the principal associated with a particular file;

sending the message to other principals using different mechanisms to send the message to each of the other principals; and

storing the message in a remote repository that is separate from where the particular file is stored, the repository having other previous messages associated with the particular file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein presenting further includes using a policy to define how the merged view is to appear on the device for the principal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein using further includes processing the policy to eliminate from the merged view duplicate versions of the local files and the remote network files.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein sending further includes broadcasting the message on a blog or via a registered text message feed.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein sending further includes sending the message via the different mechanisms as one or more of:

a text message, an instant message, an email, website posting, and a text-to-voice automated voice call.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising, evaluating a policy to decide whether a change made to the particular file by the principal and associated with the message is to be stored locally on the device or remotely in an original remote network location.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising, presenting on the device, via the remote repository, the other previous messages and the message associated with the particular file when directed to do so by the principal.

16. A method implemented in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and processed by one or more processors configured to perform the method, comprising.

negotiating with a client to discover compatible authentication capabilities between the method and the client;

receiving a particular authentication capability from the compatible authentication capabilities as selected by the client for use, the particular authentication capability received with a client credential that is for use with the particular authentication capability;

authenticating the client via a selected authentication service using the client credential; and

creating an authentication session between the client and a legacy service based on successful authentication of the client with the authentication service.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising, processing the method as a proxy of the legacy service.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein negotiating further includes using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) authentication headers to communicate with a browser of the client to suggest the compatible authentication capabilities to the client.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein negotiating further includes providing a list of available authentication capabilities to the client for selection.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein creating further includes using a legacy authentication mechanism to create the authentication session with the legacy service and passing a session identifier to the client for use in the authentication session with the legacy service.