Applet permissions manager

• US 6,993,665 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2002
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Schoettger, Chad A., Heddings, Jason A.
• Primary Examiner(s): COURTENAY III, ST JOHN
• Application Number:
  US10/138,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20030208636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 719310-320, 713200-202, 713/166, 709/223, 709/204, 709/229, 718/1, 717/118, 717147-148
• US Class Current: 726/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application

Abstract

Disclosed are novel methods and apparatus for providing a permissions manager capable of assisting an applet, for example, in determination and/or grant of the permissions required for an operation. In an embodiment, an apparatus for managing permissions is disclosed. The apparatus includes a software application, a permissions manager coupled to the software application and receiving a request sent by the software application, and a programming environment coupled to the permissions manager. The request may indicate a permission, which may be requested by the permissions manager. The permissions manager may access the programming environment to determine a required permission corresponding to the permission and to determine how to grant the required permission.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a request for permission at a permissions manager from a software application to access restricted elements of a programming environment in order to execute an operation of the software application;

accessing by the permissions manager the programming environment to determine a type of permission implemented by the programming environment corresponding to the request;

requesting by the permission manager the permission from the programming environment based upon the type of permission implemented by the programming environment; and

granting the request for permission to the software application via the permissions manager.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the operation of the software application once the request for permission is granted; and

returning a result of the execution of the operation to the software application.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the programming environment is a browser.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the programming environment is an operating system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the type of the permission comprises examining environment properties of the programming environment.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for permission specifies a privilege to request.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the software application is selected from a group comprising an applet, a servlet, a program, an object, and a procedure.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for permission is for accessing a storage device selected from the group including a local file, a corporate file system, an Internet Web server, and an Oracle database.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the accessing of the storage device is an operation selected from the group including reading and writing.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for permission is for accessing a storage device selected from the group including a local file, a corporate file system, an Internet Web server, and an Oracle database.

11. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a software application to send a request for permission to access restricted elements of a programming environment in order to execute an operation of the software application; and

a permissions manager to receive the request for permission and to request the permission from the programming environment by determining a type of permission implemented by the programming environment corresponding to the request;

wherein the programming environment to grant the request for permission to the software application via the permissions manager.

12. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the programming environment is a browser.

13. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the programming environment is an operating system.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the system determines the type of permission by examining environment properties of the programming environment.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the permissions manager specifies a privilege to request.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 15, wherein the software application uses the privilege to execute the operation of the software application.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the software application is selected from a group comprising an applet, a servlet, a program, an object, and a procedure.

18. A tangible machine-readable medium, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:

receive a request for permission at a permissions manager from a software application to access restricted elements of a programming environment in order to execute an operation of the software application;

access by the permissions manager the programming environment to determine a type of permission implemented by the programming environment corresponding to the request;

request by the permissions manager the permission from the programming environment based upon the type of permission implemented by the programming environment; and

grant the request for permission to the software application via the permissions manager.

19. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, further causes the machine to:

execute the operation of the software application once the request for permission is granted and;

return a result of the execution of the operation to the software application.

20. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the programming environment is a browser.

21. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the programming environment is an operating system.

22. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 21, causes the machine to determine the type of the permission by examining environment properties of the programming environment.

23. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the request for permission specifies a privilege to request.

24. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the software application is selected from a group comprising an applet, a servlet, a program, an object, and a procedure.

25. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the request for permission is for accessing a storage device selected from the group including a local file, a corporate file system, an Internet Web server, and an Oracle database.

26. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the accessing of the storage device is an operation selected from the group including reading and writing.