Managing access of user information by third party applications

• US 9,672,382 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2014
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Apurva, Laredo, Jim A., Luan, Laura Z., Mukherjea, Sougata
• Primary Examiner(s): ABYANEH, ALI S
• Application Number:
  US14/335,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing access of user information by third party applications are provided herein. A method includes compiling a set of user instructions for providing access of user resources to one or more third party applications, wherein the set of user instructions specifies a context in which each of multiple items of the user resources at one or more application programming interface providers can be accessed by the third party applications; mapping a request from one of the third party applications for access to one or more items of the user resources to the application programming interface providers, which correspond to one or more entities maintaining the user resources; and granting access to the one or more items of the user resources to said one third party application through the application programming interface providers based on the set of user instructions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

compiling, via a single brokerage component, a set of user instructions for providing access of user resources stored across multiple separate domains to one or more third party applications across one or more distinct domains, wherein the set of user instructions specifies a context which permits or denies each of multiple items of the user resources at one or more application programming interface providers to be accessed by the one or more third party applications, and wherein at least a portion of the context is determined by an action performed by a user at one or more of the distinct domains;

mapping a request from one of the third party applications for access to one or more items of the user resources to the one or more application programming interface providers, which correspond to one or more entities maintaining the user resources; and

granting access to the one or more items of the user resources to said one third party application through the one or more application programming interface providers based on the set of user instructions, from a common user interface exposed by the brokerage component without obtaining additional input from the user in connection with the request;

wherein said compiling, said mapping, and said granting are carried out by at least one computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

linking a local account of the user with an account of the user at the one or more application programming interface providers.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising:

evaluating the context of the third party application request using one or more application programming interfaces for which the user has granted access during said linking.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a user preference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a temporal parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a location parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a commercial activity parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions attributed to a given third party application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more entities comprise one or more social network providers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more entities comprise one or more telecommunications providers.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said granting comprises providing to the one or more application programming interface providers (i) information identifying the user and (ii) information specifying the one or more items of the user resources to be exposed.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising:

managing renewal of one or more authorizations to access the user resources at the one or more application programming interface providers.

13. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

compile, via a single brokerage component, a set of user instructions for providing access of user resources stored across multiple separate domains to one or more third party applications across one or more distinct domains, wherein the set of user instructions specifies a context which permits or denies each of multiple items of the user resources at one or more application programming interface providers to be accessed by the one or more third party applications, and wherein at least a portion of the context is determined by an action performed by a user at one or more of the distinct domains;

map a request from one of the third party applications for access to one or more items of the user resources to the one or more application programming interface providers, which correspond to one or more entities maintaining the user resources; and

grant access to the one or more items of the user resources to said one third party application through the one or more application programming interface providers based on the set of user instructions, from a common user interface exposed by the brokerage component without obtaining additional input from the user in connection with the request.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a user preference, one or more instructions based on a temporal parameter, and/or one or more instructions based on a location parameter.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions based on a commercial activity parameter.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the set of user instructions comprises one or more instructions attributed to a given third party application.

17. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured for;

compiling, via a single brokerage component, a set of user instructions for providing access of user resources stored across multiple separate domains to one or more third party applications across one or more distinct domains, wherein the set of user instructions specifies a context which permits or denies each of multiple items of the user resources at one or more application programming interface providers to be accessed by the one or more third party applications, and wherein at least a portion of the context is determined by an action performed by a user at one or more of the distinct domains;

mapping a request from one of the third party applications for access to one or more items of the user resources to the one or more application programming interface providers, which correspond to one or more entities maintaining the user resources; and

granting access to the one or more items of the user resources to said one third party application through the one or more application programming interface providers based on the set of user instructions, from a common user interface exposed by the brokerage component without obtaining additional input from the user in connection with the request.

18. A method comprising:

linking, via an access broker, multiple user resources accounts hosted in multiple separate domains with one or more application programming interface providers corresponding to one or more entities maintaining the user resources, wherein the access broker comprises a party that mediates access to the user resources hosted in the multiple separate domains;

providing, to the access broker, a set of user instructions for permitting access of the user resources hosted in the multiple separate domains to one or more third party applications across one or more distinct domains, wherein the set of user instructions specifies a context which permits or denies each of multiple items of the user resources to be accessed by the one or more third party applications, wherein at least a portion of the context is determined by an action performed by a user at one or more of the distinct domains; and

delegating, to the access broker, granting of access to the user resources to one of the third party applications through the one or more application programming interface providers, from a common user interface exposed by the access broker without obtaining additional input from the user in connection with the request, wherein said granting of access is based on the set of user instructions;

wherein said providing, said linking, and said delegating are carried out by at least one computing device.