Sharing a sign-in among software applications having secured features

• US 7,254,831 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2002
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Saunders, Stillman T., Coloma, Ignacio Ariel, Gupta, Vishal
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Tongoc
• Application Number:
  US10/309,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20040111644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 713/164, 713/156, 713165-167, 705/76, 709/229, 726 5- 10
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers

Abstract

In the present invention, when one open or running software application having secured features enters an access signed-in or logged-in state, other open or running software applications having secured features enter a ready signed-in state automatically, without prompting user intervention. The same operation that signed-in or logged-in the initial software application will transition other software applications that are presently open, active to run, or that start in run mode to a ready signed-in state. The access signed-in state fully authenticates the user'"'"'s identity and grants access to secured features. The ready signed-in state places the software application in a state of readiness to authenticate and access secured features without prompting user intervention. One feature of the present invention is the sharing of a sign-in or login credential (e.g. username and password) and the processing of the shared credential in order to provide a universal, shared sign-in session between open software applications having secured features. This feature helps provide a user experience that in effect, has only one sign-in or login session for software applications with secured features.

Claims

1. A method for sharing a sign-in operation among two or more software applications, wherein the software applications each have one or more secured features comprising:

receiving a request to sign-in to a first running software application in order to have access to the secured features of the first running software application;

processing a same credential to enter an access signed-in state within the first running software application to grant access to the secured features of the first running software application and secured features of other software applications wherein processing the same credential comprises;

receiving a credential;

detecting whether the credential is authentic; and

in response to the credential being authentic, receiving and storing authentication information, writing the credential to a shared memory, and sending notification to the other running software applications indicating an access sign-in has occurred without authenticating any secured featured;

in response to entering the access signed-in state within the first running software application, detecting whether one or more of the other software applications with secured features are running; and

in response to the access signed-in state and to one or more other software applications with secured features running, transitioning one or more of the other running software applications to a ready signed-in state with access to the same credential for granting access to the secured features of the other software applications;

wherein the other running software applications comprise software applications in run mode and software applications that are starting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transitioning the other running software applications comprises:

receiving notification that the access sign-in has occurred; and

in response to receiving notification, changing an interface of each software application in run mode to indicate a signed-in state.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transitioning the other running software applications further comprises:

detecting whether a credential is stored in the shared memory; and

in response to the credential being stored, changing an interface of each software application starting to the signed-in state.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the signed-in state comprises the access signed-in state or the ready signed-in state.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a request to access a secured feature within a software application when the software application is in the ready signed-in state;

in response to receiving the request, retrieving the credential from the shared memory;

detecting whether the credential is authentic; and

in response to the credential being authentic, receiving and storing authentication information for accessing the secured feature of the software application without authenticating the secured feature whereby the software application is transitioned from the ready signed-in state to the access signed-in state and the secured feature is accessed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting whether the credential is authentic comprises:

transmitting the credential for authentication;

verifying an identity of the credential; and

in response to the identity of the credential being verified, validating the credential.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the credential is stored and transmitted in an encrypted format and wherein authentication information comprises an encrypted cookie.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising sharing a sign-out operation among two or more software applications, wherein the software applications have one or more secured features comprising:

receiving a request to sign-out of a software application when in a signed-in state;

sending a message indicating a sign-out has occurred to the other running software applications;

detecting whether authentication information is stored in a memory for the software application requesting sign-out;

in response to authentication information being stored, removing the authentication information from the memory for the software application; and

transitioning each running software application from a signed-in state to a signed-out state.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the software applications are authorized to share the sign-in operation, further comprising:

in response to transitioning each running software application to a signed-in state, incrementing a reference count for each running software application transitioned to a signed-in state; and

in response to transitioning each running software application from a signed-in state to a signed-out state, decrementing the reference count for each running software application transitioned to a signed-out state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reference count comprises the number of software applications currently in the access signed-in state or the ready signed-in state.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the credential comprises a username and a password.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein transitioning each running software application to a signed-out state further comprises changing an interface of each running software application to a signed-out state.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

detecting if the reference count is zero; and

in response to the reference count being zero, clearing the credential from the shared memory.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request to exit a software application;

detecting whether the software application is in a signed-in state; and

in response to the software application being in a signed-in state, decrementing the reference count and exiting the software application.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising in response to the software application not being in a signed-in state, exiting the software application.

16. A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding instructions for executing a computer process for logging-in to a software application, wherein the software application has one or more secured features, the computer process comprising:

receiving a request to enter a logged-in state within a single software application in order to have access to the secured features of the single application;

verifying a credential to enter an access logged-in state within the single software application;

to grant access to the secured features of the single software application and secured features of other software applications;

detecting whether one or more other software applications are open;

in response to one or more other software applications being open, advancing the open software applications to a ready logged-in state with access to the same credential for granting access to the secured features of the other software applications;

receiving a request to access a secured feature within the software application when the software application is in a ready logged-in state;

in response to the request, retrieving and transmitting the credential for validation; and

in response to the credential being validated, receiveing and storing authentication information and advancing the software application from the ready logged-in state to the access logged-in state.

17. The computer storage media of claim 16, wherein verifying a credential comprises:

receiving a credential;

detecting whether the credential is valid;

in response to teh credential being valid, writing the credential to a shared memory; and

sending a message indicting an access login has occurred to the open software applications.

18. The computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the computer process futther comprises:

detecting whether one or more other software applications are starting; and

in response to one or more other software applications starting, advancing each starting software application to a ready logged-in state with access to the credential.

19. The computer storage media of claim 18, wherein advancing the starting applications to a ready logged-in state comprises:

detecting whether the credential is stored in the shared memory;

in response to the credential being stored, changing an interface of each starting software application to a logged-in state; and

incrementing a reference count for each starting software application advanced to the ready logged-in state.

20. The computer storage media of claim 19, wherein advancing the other open applications to the ready logged-in state comprises:

receiving the message indicating the access login has occurred;

changing an interface of the open application to a logged-in state; and

incrementing the reference count for each open application advanced to the ready logged-in state.

21. The computer storage media of claim 19, wherein the credential is stored and transmitted in an encrypted format.

22. The computer storage media of claim 20, wherein the reference count comprises the number of software applications presently in a logged-in state.

23. The computer storage media of claim 20, further comprising sharing a logout operation between two or more software applications, wherein the software applications have one or more secured features comprising:

receiving a request to logout of a software application when in the logged-in state;

detecting whether authentication information is stored in a memory for the software application;

in response to authentication information being store, removing the authentication information from the memory for the software application;

sending a message indicating a shared logout has occurred to the other open software applications; and

advancing each software application to a logged-out state.

24. The computer storage media of claim 23, wherein the software applications are approved to share the login and logout operations, further comprising:

in response to advancing each open software application to a logged-in state, incrementing a reference count for each open software application advanced to a logged-in state; and

in response to advancing each software application to a logged-out state, decrementing the reference count for each software application advanced to a logged-out state.

25. A system for sharing a sign-in operation among two or more applications, each application having at least one secured feature, the system comprising:

a receipt module receiving a request to sign-in to a first running software application having a secured feature;

a credential module validating a sign-in input for the first running software application and changing the state of the first running software application to an access signed-in state indicating access to a secured feature;

a transition module responsive to the credential module and detecting that a second software application is running changing the state of a second running software application having a secure feature to a ready signed-in state with access to the sign-in input;

a memory unit storing a shared credential in a shared memory; and

a processing unit receiving a request to access a secured feature within a software application when the software application is in the ready signed-in state, in response to receiving the request, retrieving the shared credential from the shared memory, detecting whether the sign-in is authentic, and in response to the sign-in input being authentic, receiving and storing authentication information for accessing the secured feature of the second software application whereby the second software application is transitioned from the ready signed-in state to the access signed-in state and the secured feature is accessed.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a sign-out module responsive to a sign-out request changing the state of the running applications to a signed-out state.