Browser-based logoff from distributed and federated environments

• US 8,244,907 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hinton, Heather Maria, Muppidi, Sridhar R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwari, Maceeh
• Application Number:
  US11/872,847
• Publication Number:
  US 20090100438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,764 Days
• Field of Search: 709/237
• US Class Current: 709/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session

Abstract

A web browser is provided with a logout enablement function that traps a browser or page shutdown request and prevents that request from completing until the browser (or page) has logged out from one or more current server-side application sessions. The logout enablement function ensures that server-side resources that have been invoked for a given session are released before the web browser can be shutdown. The function is implemented as native browser code, a web page applet, a Java server page, a script, a control associated with the browser, and a browser plug-in.

Claims

1. A computer program product in a non-transitory computer-readable medium for use in association with a web browser in a data processing system, the computer program product holding computer program instructions which, when executed by the data processing system, perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a shutdown request;

retrieving one or more session cookies from an in-memory data store, wherein each session cookie is associated with a server-side application to which a user has authenticated;

generating a logout request to each server-side application for which a session cookie has been retrieved; and

upon logout from all of the server-side applications, completing the shutdown request.

2. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the shutdown request is a browser shutdown request.

3. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the in-memory data store is a browser cookie cache.

4. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the logout request is an HTTP request to a logout page associated with a host name.

5. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the method includes:

issuing a prompt to the user prior to generating the logout request.

6. The computer program product as described in claim 5 wherein the method further includes:

determining whether the user has responded to the prompt by indicating a desire to logout from the server-side application.

7. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the computer program instructions are one of:

native browser code, a web page applet, a Java server page, a script, a control associated with the browser, and a browser plug-in.

8. A data processing system, comprising:

a processor;

system memory; and

a rendering engine comprising processor-executable instructions, the processor-executable instructions performing a method, comprising;

receiving a shutdown request;

retrieving one or more data strings from system memory, wherein each data string is associated with a server-side application to which a user of the rendering engine has authenticated;

generating a logout request to each server-side application for which a data string has been retrieved from system memory; and

upon logout from all of the server-side applications, completing the shutdown request.

9. The data processing system as described in claim 8 wherein the shutdown request is a browser shutdown request.

10. The data processing system as described in claim 8 wherein system memory is a cache and the data strings are session cookies.

11. The data processing system as described in claim 8 wherein the rendering engine is a web browser and the processor-executable instructions are one of:

native browser code, a web page applet, a Java server page, a script, a control associated with the browser, and a browser plug-in.

12. The data processing system as described in claim 8 wherein the logout request is generated automatically or in response to a user prompt.

13. Apparatus operative in a multi-tier system comprising an application to which a user of a client browser authenticates, and one or more server-side resources invoked in a session upon such authentication, comprising:

a processor;

a computer memory holding computer program instructions which when executed by the processor perform a method comprising;

receiving a logout request to the application, the logout request having been generated by the client browser receiving a shutdown request and retrieving from an in-memory data store a session cookie associated with the application to which the user of the client browser authenticates; and

issuing a response to the logout request and releasing the one or more server-side resources, wherein issuing of the response to the logout request enables completion of the shutdown request at the client browser.

14. A method, operative in a web browser, comprising:

receiving a shutdown request;

retrieving one or more session cookies from an in-memory data store, wherein each session cookie is associated with a server-side application to which a user of the web browser has authenticated;

generating a logout request to each server-side application for which a session cookie has been retrieved; and

upon logout from all of the server-side applications, completing the shutdown request.

15. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the shutdown request is a browser shutdown request.

16. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the logout request is an HTTP request to a logout page associated with a host name.

17. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the shutdown request is a page shutdown request.

18. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the logout request to the server-side application is issued automatically and without involvement of the user.

19. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the logout request to the server-side application is issued after determining whether the user desires to logout from the server-side application.

20. The method as described in claim 19 wherein the determination is made by issuing a prompt to the user.

21. The method as described in claim 19 wherein the logout request is formatted as an HTTP request.