Time limited collaborative community role delegation policy

• US 7,415,498 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2003
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloud Software Group Switzerland GmbH
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Russo, Joseph A., Yates, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim; Krisna
• Application Number:
  US10/732,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20050144230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,714 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-205
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems

Abstract

A method and system for establishing and maintaining a permission delegation policy for roles within a collaborative computing environment provide a list of potential delegatee end user persons to a delegator end user person. A list of delegatable permissions is provided to the delegator end user person in which the list of delegatable permissions correspond to permissions held by the delegator end user person. A delegation policy is received from the delegator end user person. The delegation policy includes one or more delegated permissions from the list of delegatable permissions and identification of a delegatee end user person from the list of potential delegatee end users persons designated to receive the delegated permissions.

Claims

1. A method for delegating permissions in a collaborative computing environment, the method comprising:

selecting a delegatee from a list of potential delegatee end user persons and further selecting a delegatable permission from amongst a listing of delegatable permissions held by a delegator;

storing the selected delegatable permission in connection with the selected delegatee as a delegation policy;

applying a time duration to the delegation policy limiting a duration of delegation of the selected delegatable permission; and

,

delegating the delegatable permission to the selected delegatee as provided by the delegation policy for the applied time duration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the delegation policy further includes a reversion action policy, the reversion action policy indicating whether or not the delegated permission reverts back to the delegator at the end of the time duration.

3. The method of claim 1, further including updating a database having permission data defining access to resources within a collaborative computing environment community to grant the delegatee access to the resources in accordance with the delegated permissions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein access to resources includes the ability to define access policy for end user persons other than the delegator and the delegatee.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the delegatable permissions correspond to permissions for a collaborative computing environment role.