Method and apparatus for generating page-level security in a computer generated report

• US 6,859,805 B1
• Filed: 11/29/1999
• Issued: 02/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Open Text Holdings, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Actuate Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Nierenberg, Nicolas C., Rogers, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): DODDS, HAROLD E
• Application Number:
  US09/450,813
• Time in Patent Office: 1,912 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 3, 707/6, 707/7, 707/9, 707/10, 707100-1041, 707/200, 707/201, 767/500, 767/501.1, 767/513, 767/526, 767/527, 767/530, 767/531, 710/240, 710/241, 715/500, 715/500.1, 715/501.1, 715/513, 715/525, 715/526, 715/530, 715/531, 717/139
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

Methods and computer program products are disclosed for generating and viewing an electronic report having security features that allow for “virtual bursting” of the report for multiple users. A single report having multiple pages is generated such that each or some of the pages have security tags that are compared to a security identifier list of a particular user that acts as a security clearance for that user. Through this comparison, a subset of pages from the report is formed which makes up a “report” from the user'"'"'s point of view that contains only data the user is allowed to see. This allows multiple users to view only authorized portions of a single report having page-level security determined by level breaks in the data.

Claims

1. A method of viewing a report having a security tag associated with pages in the report such that a user can only view data authorized to be shown to the user, the method comprising:

retrieving a report having a superset of pages, one or more pages from the superset of pages having a security tag associated therewith such that a plurality of security tags are associated with the superset of pages of the report;

obtaining a list of security identifiers associated with the user;

comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset of pages of the report;

deriving a subset of pages from the superset of pages based on the comparison such that the subset of pages only contains data that the user is authorized to view;

presenting the subset of pages as a report to the user; and

renumbering pages in the subset of pages such that the subset of pages are renumbered consecutively such that the report presented to the user appears to be complete without indicating that one or more of the superset of pages of the report are not presented to the user.

2. A method of viewing a report having a security tag associated with pages in the report such that a user can only view data authorized to be shown to the user, the method comprising:

retrieving a report having a superset of pages, one or more pages from the superset of pages having a security tag associated therewith such that a plurality of security tags are associated with the superset of pages of the report;

obtaining a list of security identifiers associated with the user;

comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset of pages of the report;

deriving a subset of pages from the superset of pages based on the comparison such that the subset of pages only contains data that the user is authorized to view;

presenting the subset of pages as a report to the user; and

renumbering pages in the subset of pages such that the first page in the subset of pages is page one and subsequent pages are renumbered consecutively such that the report presented to the user appears to be complete without indicating that one or more of the superset of pages of the report are not presented to the user.

3. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein renumbering pages in the subset of pages further comprises:

creating a first page map having a first plurality of complete cells for the superset of pages wherein a complete cell represents a page;

determining whether a cell from the first plurality of complete cells represents a page the user is authorized to view; and

creating a second page map having a second plurality of partial cells wherein a partial cell represents a viewable page.

4. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein creating a first page map further comprises:

comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset or pages of the report; and

associating a value with each one of the first plurality of complete cells based on whether the user can view a particular page.

5. A method as recited in claims 3 wherein determining whether a cell from the first plurality of complete cells represents a page further comprises:

examining the content of one of the first plurality of complete cells.

6. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein creating a second page map further comprises:

creating a partial page map cell that corresponds to a complete cell representing a page in the report; and

inserting a first page map index value corresponding to the complete cell into the partial cell.

7. A method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:

inserting a second page map index value into a complete cell corresponding to a particular page the user is authorized to view.

8. A method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:

inserting a partial page number from the first page map into a page number component in a page in the report, the partial page number corresponding to a page in the superset of pages that the user is authorized to view.

9. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset of pages of the report comprises:

mapping one or more level break identifiers in each of the plurality of security tags with one or more security identifiers in the list of security identifiers associated with the user.

10. A method as recited in claim 9 wherein comparing the list of security identifiers further comprises comparing the level break identifiers in one of the plurality of security tags with the security identifiers in the list of security identifiers associated with the user.

11. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein the list of security identifiers is derived from a security system.

12. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein deriving a subset of pages from the superset of pages further comprises:

determining a commonality between one of the plurality of security tags associated with the superset of pages of the report and the list of security identifiers associated with the user; and

including a page of the superset of pages in the subset of pages if the one of the plurality of security tags and the list of security identifiers associated with the user pass the threshold level of commonality when compared.

13. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein the threshold level of commonality is having one term in the one of the plurality of security tags and the list of security identifiers in common.

14. A method as recited in claim 2 further comprising deriving content information including page numbers related to the subset of pages.

15. A method as recited in claim 14 wherein the content information only contains information related to the subset of pages and generally reflects a level break structure of the subset of pages, wherein each of the plurality of security tags is associated with a level break.

16. A computer-readable medium containing programmed instructions arranged to view a report having a security tag associated with pages in the report such that a user can only view data authorized to be shown to the user, the computer-readable medium including programmed instructions for:

retrieving a report having a superset of pages, one or more pages from the superset of pages having a security tag associated therewith such that a plurality of security tags are associated with the superset of pages of the report;

obtaining a list of security identifiers associated with the user;

comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset of pages of the report;

deriving a subset of pages from the superset of pages based on the comparison such that the subset of pages only contains data that the user is authorized to view;

presenting the subset of pages as a report to the user; and

renumbering pages in the subset of pages such that the subset of pages are renumbered consecutively such that the report presented to the user appears to be complete without indicating that one or more of the superset of pages of the report are not presented to the user.

17. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the programmed instructions for renumbering pages in the subset of pages further comprises:

creating a first page map having a first plurality of complete cells for the superset of pages wherein a complete cell represents a page;

determining whether a cell from the first plurality of complete cells represents a page the user is authorized to view; and

creating a second page map having a second plurality of partial cells wherein a partial cell represents a viewable page.

18. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the programmed instructions for creating a first page map further comprises:

comparing the list of security identifiers associated with the user with the plurality of security tags associated with the superset or pages of the report; and

associating a value with each one of the first plurality of complete cells based on whether the user can view a particular page.