Control for inviting an unauthenticated user to gain access to display of content that is otherwise accessible with an authentication mechanism

• US 8,584,258 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2005
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Slack Technologies, Inc. (Salesforce.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: La Rotonda, Michael, Sample, Neal, Farmer, F. Randall, Brody, Paul, Perelman, Ellen Sue
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Baum, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US11/314,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20060184997A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,884 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/916 Audio
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/961 Associative
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Enabling an unauthenticated user to access content associated with an authenticated user as though the unauthenticated user had a selected user relationship with the authenticated user. The user relationship may comprise a relationship degree, a relationship category, a relationship rating, and/or the like. An invitation to join an electronic service, such as an online social network, is sent to the unauthenticated user at an address known to the authenticated user. The invitation includes a time-limited token, such as a URL, that includes an invitation identifier, which relates the invitation to the authenticated user content. The token may be encrypted in the invitation. The unauthenticated user returns the token as a request to preview the authenticated user content without first becoming an authenticated user of the electronic service. If the token is still valid, access is granted. The unauthenticated user may also request to establish a connection with the authenticated user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, via a computing device, electronic content with an authenticated user of an electronic service;

associating, via the computing device, the content with a user relationship in a computerized online social network that indicates at least one form of the user relationship based on a degree of separation involving a direct or indirect relationship between at least one unauthenticated user and the authenticated user, the online social network being a computerized service for communicating information over a network to and from users of the online social network, wherein the user relationship is established and controlled by the authenticated user, said at least one form of the user relationship is required to exist in the online social network before access to at least a portion of the content is provided to any unauthenticated user;

associating, via the computing device, the content with a token;

providing, via the computing device, the unauthenticated user with an invitation to join the online social network and establish the user relationship between the unauthenticated user and authenticated user in order for the unauthenticated user to access the content, said invitation comprising the token;

receiving, via the computing device, the token as a request by the unauthenticated user to join the online social network and access the content, wherein said accessing the content comprises at least previewing a sample of the content;

determining, via the computing device, whether the token is valid; and

establishing, via the computing device, the user relationship between the authenticated and unauthenticated user if the token is valid, said establishing comprising enabling, via the computing device, access for the unauthenticated user to at least a portion of the content associated with the token, wherein access to the content is filtered for the unauthenticated user based on a determination that the at least one form of the user relationship exists in the online social network between the authenticated user and the unauthenticated user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises a subset of data associated with the authenticated user, and wherein another subset of data is associated with a different user relationship.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user relationship comprises at least one of the following:

the degree of relationship with the authenticated user that is required to access the content;

a category of relationship with the authenticated user that is required to access the content; and

a rating of the relationship with the authenticated user that is required to access the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the token comprises a universal resource locator (URL).

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encrypting the token prior to providing the token to the unauthenticated user; and

decrypting the token upon receiving the token.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the token is provided to the unauthenticated user an invitation to participate in the electronic service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the token is valid comprises at least one of the following:

determining that an expiration period associated with the token has not elapsed;

determining that the authenticated user associated with the token is still an authenticated user of the electronic service; and

determining that the token includes an identifier that is stored by the electronic service.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the content prior to enabling access to the content, such that access is enabled to the modified content if the token is valid.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the unauthenticated user to establish a user relationship connection between the unauthenticated user and the authenticated user, wherein the request includes the token; and

establishing the user relationship connection between the unauthenticated user and the authenticated user within the electronic service.

10. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium, comprising executable instructions for performing actions of claim 1.

11. A server comprising:

a communication interface in communication with an authenticated client device and an unauthenticated client device;

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor in communication with the communication interface and with the memory, wherein the processor performs actions based at least in part on the stored instructions comprising;

associating electronic content of an electronic service with the authenticated client;

associating the content with a user relationship in a computerized online social network, the online social network being a computerized service for communicating information over a network to and from users of the online social network, the user relationship indicates at least one form of the user relationship based on a degree of separation involving a direct or indirect relationship between at least one unauthenticated user and the authenticated user, wherein the user relationship is established and controlled by the authenticated user, the at least one form of the user relationship is required to exist in the online social network before access to at least a portion of the content is provided to any unauthenticated user;

associating the content with a token;

providing the unauthenticated user with an invitation to join the online social network and establish the user relationship between the unauthenticated user and authenticated user in order for the unauthenticated user to access the content, said invitation comprising the token;

receiving the token from the unauthenticated client device as a request to join the online social network and access the content, said accessing the content comprising at least previewing a sample of the content;

determining whether the token is valid; and

establishing the user relationship between the authenticated and unauthenticated user if the token is valid, said establishing comprising enabling access for the unauthenticated user to at least a portion of the content associated with the token, wherein access to the content is filtered for the unauthenticated user based on a determination that the at least one form of the user relationship exists in the online social network between the authenticated user and the unauthenticated user.

12. The server of claim 11, wherein the user relationship comprises at least one of the following:

the degree of relationship with the authenticated client that is required to access the content;

a category of relationship with the authenticated client that is required to access the content; and

a rating of the relationship with the authenticated client that is required to access the content.

13. The server of claim 11, wherein the token comprises a universal resource locator (URL).

14. The server of claim 11, wherein the processor actions further include:

determining whether the unauthenticated client is in secure communication with the server;

encrypting the token prior to sending the token to the unauthenticated client if the unauthenticated client is not in secure communication with the server; and

decrypting the token upon receiving the token from the unauthenticated client if the unauthenticated client is not in secure communication with the server.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a token that is associated with electronic content, wherein the content is also associated with an authenticated user of an electronic service and the content is further associated with a user relationship in a computerized online social network, the online social network being a computerized service for communicating information over a network to and from users of the online social network, the user relationship indicates at least one form of the user relationship based on a degree of separation involving a direct or indirect relationship between at least one unauthenticated user and the authenticated user, wherein the user relationship is established and controlled by the authenticated user, the at least one form of the user relationship is required to exist in the online social network before access to at least a portion of the content is provided to any unauthenticated user;

communicating, via the computing device, the token to the electronic service that determines whether the token is valid, wherein the token is received from an unauthenticated client as a request to establish the user relationship between the unauthenticated user and the authenticated user in order to access the content; and

receiving, at the computing device, access for the unauthenticated user to at least a portion of the content if the token is valid, said access comprising at least an ability to preview a sample of the content, wherein access to the content is filtered for the unauthenticated user based on a determination that the at least one form of the user relationship in the online social network exists between the authenticated user and the unauthenticated user.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying the token as a URL link such that a user selection of the URL link causes the token to be communicated to the electronic service.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the method is executed by a mobile terminal.