Mechanism for visible users and groups

• US 8,150,820 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Herbach, Jonathan D., Koon, Betty Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, SHEREE N
• Application Number:
  US11/867,496
• Time in Patent Office: 1,643 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/101, 709/202, 709/223, 709/225, 709/229, 709/249, 715/229, 705/67
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems

Abstract

Various embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, software, and data structures to allow or prevent viewing of users and groups of users by other users and groups of users. Some such embodiments include retrieving a listing of members from a member database, defining a first subset of one or more members selected from the retrieved member listing, and designating the first member subset as visible to a second subset of one or more members when a member of the second member subset retrieves a member listing.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a database including;

user records representative of system users;

group records defining groups;

group assignment records associating users to groups;

visible user/group records identifying users and groups viewable by users and groups;

policy records defining content access policies assignable to items of electronic content, wherein a content access policy identifies one or more permitted and restricted user actions with regard to an item of electronic content when a user accesses the item of electronic content associated with the content access policy; and

user/group policy records associating a policy record to a user or group record; and

a user/group policy assignment module executable by at least one processor of the system to;

receive input in a policy user interface to modify policy records; and

receive input in the policy user interface to modify user/group policy records;

a visible user/group module executable by the at least one processor of the system to;

receive, from a requestor, a request for a listing of users and groups viewable by a user with regard to an item of content;

retrieve a listing of users and groups viewable by the user from the database as defined by at least one policy record associated with the requestor and the item of content; and

return the retrieved listing to the requestor, wherein the visible user/group module in retrieving only a listing of users and groups viewable by the user thereby limits an ability of the user/group assignment module to receive input modifying user/group policy records that associate a policy record to a user or group record; and

a content item policy fulfillment module executable by the at least one processor of the system to;

receive a policy request from an application attempting to operate using a content item, the policy request including identity data of a user of the application and data identifying a policy assigned to the content item;

determine if the user of the application is associated with the identified policy;

when the user is associated with the policy, retrieve a policy record as a function of the data identifying the policy and sending the policy record to the requesting application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the visible user/group module is further executable by the at least one processor of the system to:

receive the request for and present the viewable user and group listing in a user interface;

receive input in the user interface to modify visible user/group records; and

store the received input to the modified visible user/group records.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user/group policy assignment module is further executable by the at least one processor of the system to:

request and receive the viewable user and group listing from the visible user/group module; and

wherein input received in the policy user interface to modify user/group policy records includes input indicating an association of a policy record to a user or group record.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein an item of content includes a page description language document.

5. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon and executable by a processor of a computer to cause the computer to:

maintain a database including;

user records representative of system users;

group records defining groups;

group assignment records associating users to groups;

visible user/group records identifying users and groups viewable by users and groups;

policy records defining content access policies assignable to items of electronic content wherein a content access policy identifies one or more permitted and restricted user actions that may be performed with regard to an item of electronic content by a user when accessing the item of electronic content associated with the content access policy; and

user/group policy records associating a policy record to a user or group;

receive, from a requestor, a request for a listing of users and groups viewable by a user with regard to an item of content;

retrieve a listing of users and groups viewable by the user from the database as defined by at least one policy record associated with the requestor and the item of content; and

return the retrieved listing to the requestor, wherein the retrieved listing including only users and groups viewable by the requestor thereby limits an ability to receive input from the requestor to modify user/group policy records that associate a policy record to a user or group record;

receive a policy request from an application attempting to operate using a content item, the policy request including identity data of a user of the application and data identifying a policy assigned to the content item;

determine if the user of the application is associated with the identified policy;

when the user is associated with the policy, retrieve a policy record as a function of the data identifying the policy and sending the policy record to the requesting application.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the computer to:

receive the request for and present the viewable user and group listing in a user interface;

receive input in the user interface to modify visible user/group records; and

store the received input to the modified visible user/group records.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein:

the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the computer to;

receive input in a policy user interface to modify policy records; and

receive input in the policy user interface to modify user/group policy records.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the computer to:

request and receive the viewable user and group listing from the visible user/group module; and

wherein input received in the policy user interface to modify user/group policy records includes input indicating an association of a policy record to a user or group record.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein an item of content includes a page description language document.