Managing digital identity information

• US 8,631,038 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2004
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Mellmer, Joseph Andrew, Young, Russell T., Perkins, Arn D., Robertson, John M., Sabin, Jeffrey Neil, McDonald, Michael C., Phillips, Douglas, Sheridan, Robert Michael, Nazeer, Nadeem Ahmad, Higley, DeeAnne Barker, Carter, Stephen R., Earl, Douglas G., Sonderegger, Kelly E., Ferguson, Daniel T., Brough, Farrell Lynn
• Primary Examiner(s): REYES, MARIELA D
• Application Number:
  US10/943,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20050044423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,407 Days
• Field of Search: 715/507, 707/9
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

A basic architecture for managing digital identity information in a network such as the World Wide Web is provided. A user of the architecture can organize his or her information into one or more profiles which reflect the nature of different relationships between the user and other entities, and grant or deny each entity access to a given profile. Various enhancements which may be provided through the architecture are also described, including tools for filtering email, controlling access to user web pages, locating other users and making one'"'"'s own location known, browsing or mailing anonymously, filling in web forms automatically with information already provided once by hand, logging in automatically, securely logging in to multiple sites with a single password and doing so from any machine on the network, and other enhancements.

Claims

1. In a computer operating environment, a method for managing digital identity information, comprising the computer-assisted steps of:

obtaining from a user first digital identity information of the user;

causing the first digital identity information to be placed in a first profile in a database;

obtaining from the user second digital identity information of the user;

causing the second digital identity information to be placed in a second profile in the database, both the first and second profiles existing in a safe object of the database, the safe object existing in a vault object of the database;

providing the user with access rights to the digital identity information of the first and second profiles in the safe object to allow the user to update the digital identity information while also (1) wholly denying any system administrator of the computer operating environment access rights to the digital identity information of the first and second profiles in the safe object and (2) granting at least one system administrator access rights to the vault object to manage the safe object in the vault; and

at the exclusion of the any system administrator, providing an entity other than the user with read-only access to one of the first and second profiles of the user in response to instructions from the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises creating a contact list for the user in response to instructions from the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises automatically logging the user into a web site using at least part of the digital identity information from a profile of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises automatically filling in a web form using at least part of the digital identity information from a profile of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises capturing login information of the user for a web site and storing at least part of the captured information in the database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing the entity other than the user with read-only access right comprises granting multiple access rights to multiple other entities to read the first and second digital identity information of the first and second profiles in the safe object while still denying the any system administrator access rights to the digital identity information while still granting the at least one system administrator access rights to the vault object to manage the safe object in the vault.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises revoking access to a profile of the user and subsequently denying read-only access which was previously allowed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises restricting access to web pages of the user based at least in part on a profile of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises encoding contact relationship information in an email address of the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises using a profile to filter email sent to the user.

11. A configured computer-readable storage medium for managing digital identity information in a computer operating environment having multiple users, the storage medium configured to perform the steps of:

obtaining from a user first digital identity information of the user;

causing the first digital identity information to be placed in a first profile in a memory configured as a database;

obtaining from the user second digital identity information of the user;

causing the second digital identity information to be placed in a second profile in the database, both the first and second profiles existing in a safe object of the database, the safe object existing in a vault object of the database;

providing the user with access rights to the digital identity information of the first and second profiles in the safe object to allow the user to update the digital identity information while also (1) wholly denying any system administrator of the computer operating environment access rights to the digital identity information of the first and second profiles in the safe object and (2) granting at least one system administrator access rights to the vault object to manage the safe object in the vault; and

providing an entity other than the user with read-only access to one of the first and second profiles of the user, the entity also having at least one profile of underlying digital identity information in at least one safe object in the vault of the database with access rights in the underlying digital identity information provided exclusively to the entity other than the user while at the same time the at least one system administrator is granted access rights to the vault object to manage the at least one safe object.

12. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises creating a contact list for the user in response to instructions from the user.

13. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises automatically logging the user into a web site using at least part of the digital identity information from a profile of the user.

14. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises automatically filling in a web form using at least part of the digital identity information from a profile of the user.

15. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises restricting access to web pages of the user based at least in part on a profile of the user.

16. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises encoding contact relationship information in an email address of the user.

17. The configured storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises using a profile to filter email sent to the user.