Context information management system

• US 7,904,506 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2007
• Issued: 03/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yoshiuchi, Hideya
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cloud; Joiya M
• Application Number:
  US11/657,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00

Abstract

The context information management system enables the management of context information while maintaining the security of user information. It includes a user domain management server that manages a list of domains in which users have an account, and a one-time account management server that manages temporarily issued one-time accounts for a user'"'"'s account. For an account information notifying request from a client, it notifies an account group ID corresponding to the user ID, and a one-time account issued for the account group ID to the client, thereby enabling the management of the user'"'"'s account and context information while hiding the user ID.

Claims

1. A context information management system that manages context information for a respective account of a user in each of a plurality of domains, the context information management system comprising:

a user domain management server that holds a list of a plurality of domains in each of which a user has an account;

a one-time account management server that receives a one-time account notifying request from the user domain management server, and manages temporary one-time accounts for the user;

a plurality of context management servers that each exist in a respective domain of the plurality of domains and manage context information for the respective account of the user in the respective domain in which the context management server exists; and

clients that provide the context information to other users,

wherein the user domain management server sends the one-time account notifying request to the one-time account management server according to a request from the other users,

wherein each of the plurality of context management servers issues a respective temporary one-time account corresponding to the respective account of the user in the respective domain in which the context management server exists based on a request from the user domain management server and submits the respective temporary one-time account to the one-time account management server, and

wherein the one-time account management server has a function to notify a set of one-time accounts to the other users based on a set of the respective temporary one-time accounts submitted from the plurality of context management servers,

wherein the user domain management server includes a user domain information table that stores the list of the plurality of domains in which the user has accounts, and based on the request of the other users, requests each of the context management servers belonging to respective ones of the plurality of domains on the list to submit the respective temporary one-time account issued by the context management server to the one-time account management server, and

wherein the one-time account management server manages a user ID that is an identifier of the user, an account group ID that is an identifier of all of the accounts of the user in the plurality of domains, and the respective temporary one-time accounts submitted from the plurality of context management servers in association with one another, forwards a context information notifying request for the respective temporary one-time accounts from the other users to the context management servers that submitted the respective temporary one-time accounts, and forwards a context information notification of the context management servers to appropriate clients among the clients that provide the context information to the other users.

2. The context information management system according to claim 1 wherein each of the context management servers, based on a request from the user domain management server, issues a respective temporary one-time account for a user ID specified by the user domain management server, and submits a set of an account group ID specified by the user domain management server and the issued respective temporary one-time account for the user ID to the one-time account management server.

3. The context information management system according to claim 2, wherein the context management servers send the context information to the one-time account management server, based on the context information notifying request for the respective temporary one-time accounts from the one-time account management server.

4. The context information management system according to claim 3, wherein the context management servers, based on a request from a client for a call request with only a user ID specified, collect account information and context information of the user ID, and decide a called client from the contents of the context information of the user ID.

5. The context information management system according to claim 4, wherein the client for the call request sends an account information notifying request to the user domain management server, based on a request from the other users.