Context administrator

• US 6,993,556 B1
• Filed: 04/07/2000
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sentillion Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Fusari, David, Seliger, Robert, Seliger, Elaine
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): JACOBS, LASHONDA T
• Application Number:
  US09/545,396
• Time in Patent Office: 2,125 Days
• Field of Search: 709202-203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/229, 718107-108, 705/2, 705 3- 4
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires

Abstract

A context management and administration system includes a context manager, which manages the context of plural applications programs, and an administration suite, which oversees and manages the manager. Context administration can include setting up and maintaining subject data definitions, intervening in context manager operations, providing security functions to protect sensitive context information against tampering by unauthorized users, etc.

Claims

1. At least one computer readable medium encoded with a program that, when executed, performs a method of administering a context management system that manages a context, the method comprising:

configuring a subject data definition which defines a plurality of subjects in the context using, for each subject, subject data that comprises a data item usable by a plurality of applications comprising at least a first application and a second application, the data item having a set of values comprising at least a first value corresponding to the first application and a second value corresponding to the second application, the set of values identifying the subject in the context, the value of the data item corresponding to the first application being exchangeable with the value of the data item corresponding to the second application when a user switches from the first application to the second application to retain the context, the plurality of subjects comprising a patient subject, a user subject and an encounter subject, and the subject data definition being defined in accordance with a Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) standard.

2. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying one or more available context managers to administer.

3. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein identifying further comprises:

pinging possible context manager addresses to find the available context managers.

4. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

maintaining in the subject data definition, information identifying which applications are allowed to access the subject.

5. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

storing with each application a value which is a function of but not equal to a passcode for the application.

6. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

encrypting the passcode to form the value.

7. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

maintaining an inventory of applications whose context is managed.

8. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

maintaining a map relating User IDs to login identifiers formatted for each application in the inventory.

9. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

configuring communication parameters for the available context managers.

10. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a status report for the system.

11. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

intervening in a context management process.

12. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein intervening further comprises:

forcing an application out of a context.

13. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein intervening further comprises:

canceling a transaction in progress.

14. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein intervening further comprises:

shutting down a context manager.

15. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

communicating with a context manager using a hypertext transport protocol.

16. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the hypertext transport protocol is HTTP 1.1.

29. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a log which includes information received from at least one of the available context managers.

30. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act of generating the log comprises generating a log which includes an indication of a processing exception observed by the at least one of the available context managers.

31. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

subsequent to the act of configuring the subject data definition, reconfiguring the subject data definition, and communicating the reconfiguration of the subject data definition to at least one of the available context managers.

32. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

generating an inventory of the available context managers to administer.

17. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor programmed to manage and administer a context, the at least one processor programmed to implement;

a context manager; and

an administration suite for configuring a subject data definition, the subject data definition defining a plurality of subjects in the context using, for each subject, subject data that comprises a data item usable by at least a first application and a second application, the data item having a set of values comprising at least a first value corresponding to the first application and a second value corresponding to the second application, the set of values identifying the subject in the context, the value of the data item corresponding to the first application being exchangeable with the value of the data item corresponding to the second application when a user switches from the first application to the second application to retain the context, the plurality of subjects comprising a patient subject, a user subject and an encounter subject, and the subject data definition being defined in accordance with a Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) standard.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the administration suite further comprises a context administrator and a context server.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the context server implements:

a passcode service;

a user mapping agent (UMA) service; and

a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) service.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the LDAP service further comprises:

a data storage module in which the passcode service stores encrypted passcodes and in which the user mapping agent service stores user-mapping data.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the context server further comprises:

a registry in which the context manager is registered.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising at least one storage device, and wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the context server further comprises:

a configuration memory, in the at least one storage device, holding a common configuration used as a default configuration for the context manager.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor comprises a single processor programmed to implement the context manager and the administration suite.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor comprises at least a first processor programmed to implement the context manager and at least a second processor programmed to implement the administration suite.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the administration suite generates a log which includes information received from the context manager.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the log comprises an indication of a processing exception observed by the context manager.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the administration suite, subsequent to configuring the subject data definition, reconfigures the subject data definition, and communicates the reconfiguration of the subject data definition to the context manager.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the administration suite generates an inventory which includes the context manager.