Peer-to-peer identity management interfaces and methods

• US 20040111515A1
• Filed: 12/04/2002
• Published: 06/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Manion, Todd R., Donner, Robert D., Somin, Grigori M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/365 Application layer names, e.g. buddy names, unstructured names chosen by a user or home appliance name
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1057 involving pre-assessment of levels of reputation of peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Peer-to-peer (P2P) application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow an application to create, import, export, manage, enumerate, and delete P2P identities are presented. Further, the management of group identity information is provided. APIs abstract away from low level credential and cryptographic functions required to create and manage P2P identities. This management includes retrieval and setting of a friendly name, generation of a cryptographic public/private key pair, retrieval of security information in the form of an XML fragment, and creation of a new name based on an existing identity. Since the P2P environment also allows for the existence of multiple separate groups of peers within the P2P cloud, a preferred embodiment of the present invention also allows for the enumeration of all groups associated with a given identity, for each identity existing for the user.

Claims

1. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer identity create call having a plurality of call parameters comprising a classifier, a peer-to-peer friendly name, a handle to a container were a key pair exists, and a pointer to a location where an identity name should be returned;

parsing the peer identity create call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving from the application program a peer identity create call having a plurality of call parameters comprises the step of receiving from the application program a peer identity create call having a plurality of call parameters comprising a classifier, a peer-to-peer friendly name, a handle to the container were a key pair exists that is set to NULL, and a pointer to a location where an identity name should be returned, the method further comprising the step of issuing a generate new public/private key pair call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the handle is invalid.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the identity name already exists.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that a disk volume is insufficient to store information for the identity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the peer identity create call.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity create call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that no keys exist in the container.

9. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a get friendly name call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name and a pointer to a location where the friendly name should be returned;

parsing the get friendly name call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get friendly name call.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the get friendly name call.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is no identity that matches the identity name parameter.

13. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a set friendly name call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name and a string containing a new friendly name for the identity;

parsing the set friendly name call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the set friendly name call.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the set friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the set friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the set friendly name call.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the set friendly name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is no identity that matches the identity name parameter.

17. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer identity delete call having a call parameter comprising an identity name;

parsing the set friendly name call to retrieve the parameter; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity delete call.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity delete call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the parameter is invalid.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity delete call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the identity is in use by another process and cannot be deleted at this time.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity delete call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is no identity that matches the identity name parameter.

21. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a get cryptographic key call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name and a pointer to a location where a handle to a cryptographic key container should be returned;

parsing the get cryptographic key call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get cryptographic key call.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get cryptographic key call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get cryptographic key call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the get cryptographic key call.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the get cryptographic key call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is no identity that matches the identity name parameter.

25. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer identity export call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name, a password to be used to encrypt identity information, at least one export option flag, and a pointer to a location where a pointer to exported identity information will be placed;

parsing the peer identity export call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity export call.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of receiving from the application program a peer identity export call having a plurality of call parameters comprises the step of receiving from the application program a peer identity export call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an export specified groups flag, a count of elements in a list of groups in an export list and an array of group names to be exported.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity export call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the export option flag is invalid.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity export call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the identity name cannot be found.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity export call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the peer identity export call.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity export call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

31. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer identity import call having a plurality of call parameters comprising a pointer to a data structure that contains information to be imported, a password to be used to decrypt the information, at least one import option flag, and a pointer to a location where imported identity information will be placed;

parsing the peer identity import call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity import call.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity import call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the imported identity information is bad.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity import call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that a do not overwrite flag is set and the identity information being imported already exists.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity import call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the peer identity import call.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity import call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

36. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program an enumerate peer identities call having a call parameter comprising a pointer to a location where a handle to the enumeration object is to be returned;

parsing the enumerate peer identities call to retrieve the parameter; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer identities call.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer identities call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the parameter is invalid.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer identities call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the enumerate peer identities call.

39. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program an enumerate peer groups call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name for which groups are to be enumerated and a pointer to a location where a handle to an enumeration object is to be returned;

parsing the enumerate peer groups call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer groups call.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer groups call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is invalid.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer groups call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the enumerate peer groups call.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the enumerate peer groups call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the identity name cannot be found.

43. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer identity get XML call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name for which information is retrieved and a pointer to a location where a string containing an XML fragment with information about the identity is returned;

parsing the peer identity get XML call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity get XML call.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity get XML call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that a handle to the identity is invalid.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity get XML call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the peer identity get XML call.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer identity get XML call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that the pointer is NULL.

47. A method of communicating between an application program and a server process to manage peer-to-peer identities, comprising the steps of:

receiving from the application program a peer create peer name call having a plurality of call parameters comprising an identity name that is to be taken as a basis for a new peer name, a string containing a new classifier that needs to be appended to an existing name of the identity, and a pointer to a location where the new peer name is returned;

parsing the peer create peer name call to retrieve the parameters; and

returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer create peer name call.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer create peer name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that an identity specified by the identity name cannot be found.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer create peer name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that there is not enough memory to perform the peer create peer name call.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of returning to the application program a value indicative of the success/failure of the peer create peer name call comprises the step of returning an error indicative that at least one of the parameters is not valid.