Synchronized sign-on methods for non-programmatic integration systems

• US 9,336,377 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2011
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyland Switzerland, Sarl (HSI Holdings II Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lexmark International Technology Sarl (Ninestar Corporation)
• Inventors: Arms, Randall, Anderson, Brian G, Coons, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Joo, Joshua
• Assistant Examiner(s): Naji, Younes
• Application Number:
  US13/091,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20120102560A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,846 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatically signing a user on to an integration application when a user signs on to another application and signing a user off when the user signs off of the other application. The integration application automatically non-programmatically collects data from a mapped location of a mapped source reference of the other application. The collected data includes a user identifier value. The integration continuously monitors the collected user identifier value for a difference in the collected user identifier value. If the collected user identifier value is recognized by the integration application, the user is signed into the integration application using the collected user identifier value, and if a difference in the collected user identifier value is detected, the user is signed off of the integration application.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing a sign-on of a user to an integration application with an application, comprising:

identifying a mapped location in a display of the application that contains a user identifier value associated with the user signed on to the application;

automatically non-programmatically collecting the user identifier value from the identified mapped location in the display of the application;

monitoring if the user signed on to the application is recognized by the integration application by continuously polling the identified mapped location in the display of the application to check if the user identifier value from the identified mapped location is recognized by the integration application, the continuous polling performed from a time the user is signed on to the integration application;

signing-on the user to the integration application with the collected user identifier value if the collected user identifier value is recognized by the integration application; and

if the collected user identifier value is not recognized by the integration application, signing-off the user from the integration application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying that the collected user identifier value corresponds to an authorized user of the integration application prior to the signing-on to the integration application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collected user identifier value comprises a group identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collected user identifier value comprises a user login credential.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the collected user identifier value comprises an account number.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising if the user identifier value collected from the continuous polling is different from the automatically non-programmatically collected user identifier value, and if the continuously collected identifier value is recognized by the integration application, signing-on to the integration application using the differing collected user identifier value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signing-on to the integration application occurs as a background process.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically notifying the user if the user identifier value collected from the continuously polling is not recognized by the integration application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the notifying the user comprises displaying a visual indicator.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the notifying the user comprises playing an audio signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the signing-off comprises prompting the user to confirm that the signing-off is desired.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the signing-on to the integration application occurs automatically without user intervention.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the continuously polling the identified mapped location in the display of the application includes checking the collected user identifier value for a difference in the collected user identifier value.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the signing-on to the integration application occurs without requiring additional user input.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapped location is a spatial location in the display of the application.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising signing-off the user from the integration application if no user identifier value is collected from the continuous polling of the mapped location of the display of the application.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the difference in the collected user identifier value includes a newly collected user identifier value that is not recognized by the integration application.

18. An integration system, comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory storing programmed instructions, the processor executing the programmed instructions to:

identify a user identifier value associated to a user signed on to another application in a mapped location of a display generated by the another application;

automatically non-programmatically collect the user identifier value from the mapped location of the display generated by the another application;

monitor if the user signed on to the another application is recognized by an integration application by continuously polling the identified mapped location in the display generated by the another application to check if the user identifier value from the identified mapped location is recognized by the integration application, the continuous polling performed from a time the user is signed on to the integration application;

sign-on to the integration application with the collected user identifier value if the collected user identifier value is recognized by the integration application; and

if the user identifier value is collected from the continuous polling is not recognized by the integration application, automatically sign-off the user from the integration application.

19. The integration system of claim 18, wherein the processor further executes the programmed instructions to sign-off the user from the integration application if there is no user identifier value collected from the identified mapped location during the continuously polling of the identified mapped location in the display generated by the another application.

20. A method of synchronizing a sign-on to an integration application with an unrelated application, comprising:

identifying a mapped location in a display of the unrelated application that contains a user identifier value associated with a user signed on to the unrelated application;

automatically, non-programmatically collecting application data from the mapped location of the display of the unrelated application, the collected application data including the user identifier value;

verifying if the user identifier value corresponds to an authorized user of the integration application;

signing-on to the integration application if the user identifier value corresponds to the authorized user of the integration application;

monitoring if the user signed on to the unrelated application corresponds to the authorized user of the integration application by continuously polling the identified mapped location in the display of the unrelated application to check if the user identifier value from the identified mapped location corresponds to the authorized user of the integration application, the continuous polling performed from a time the user is signed on to the integration application; and

automatically signing-off the user from the integration application if the user identifier collected from the continuous polling does not correspond to the authorized user of the integration application,

wherein the signing-on to the integration application occurs automatically without user intervention.