Single login procedure for accessing social network information across multiple external systems

• US 8,763,152 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2009
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vernal, Michael Steven, Zhu, Wei, Leszczenski, James M., Elman, Joshua E., Morin, David Brookes, Cheever, Charles Duplain, Sanghvi, Ruchi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIELDS, COURTNEY D
• Application Number:
  US12/508,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20110023101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28, 726/11, 707/706, 707/803, 707/821, 707/798, 705/14.73, 705/10, 715/745, 715/760, 709/217, 709/227, 713/155
• US Class Current: 726/28
• 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 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

A social networking system contains information describing users of the social network and various connections among the users. A user can access multiple external systems that communicate with the social networking system to access information about the users of the social networking system. Login status of the user account on the social networking system is maintained. If the login status of the user account on the social networking system indicates that the user is not logged in, the user is required to provide authentication information. If the login status of the user account indicates that the user is logged in, social network information is provided to the user via an external system, subject to the privacy settings of users of the social networking system. If the user logs out from an external system, the user is also logged out from the social networking system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

maintaining a single login status associated with a user account for a user of a social networking system;

receiving a plurality of requests for social network information, wherein each request originates from one or more external systems outside of the social networking system, and the social network information is maintained by the social networking system and is associated with the user account of the social networking system;

determining whether a user account of the one or more external systems is linked to the user account of the social networking system, and determining the single login status of the user account of the social networking system, and responsive to determining the single login status and whether the user accounts are linked;

if the single login status indicates that the user account of the social networking system is not logged in, requiring authentication information for the user account of the social networking system before providing social network information and responsive to receiving information indicative of successful authentication, updating the single login status to indicate that the user account of the social networking system is logged in, or

if the single login status indicates that the user account of the social networking system is logged in and the user accounts are linked, responding to each request by providing the social network information to the one or more external systems and providing access to the one or more external systems from the other external systems;

receiving a request to logout in response to a user request to logout from the one or more external system; and

responsive to receiving the request to log out, logging out the user account from the social networking system and changing the single login status of the user account to indicate that the user account is not logged in.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving information indicative of successful authentication, responding to the request with the social network information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the external system comprises a website.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for social network information is received from the external system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for social network information is received from a client device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for social network information comprises a hidden frame redirect from a client device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for social network information is received from a client device processing a markup language document received from the external system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein requiring authentication information for the user account comprises prompting the external system to provide an interface for the user to input authentication information for the user account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein requiring the user to input authentication information for the user account comprises providing an interface for the user to input authentication information for the user account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein responding to the request comprises sending a subset of requested social network information subject to privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein responding to the request comprises sending a subset of social network information subject to privacy settings of the users of the social networking system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein responding to the request comprises sending social network information and privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the received request for social network information is responsive to a hidden frame redirect from a client device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the single login status comprises checking a session cookie associated with the social networking system.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the single login status indicates that the user account is logged in and that the user account of the one or more external systems is not linked to the user account of the social networking system, linking the user account of the one or more external system to the user account of the social networking system, wherein the linking allows access of the one or more external systems to any other of the one or more external systems.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the external system is not linked to the user account on the social networking system, providing the user with a user interface that allows the user to link the external system to the user account on the social networking system.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the single login status indicates that the user account is not logged into the social networking system, requiring the user to answer one or more security questions based at least in part on social network information stored in the social networking system before responding to the request with the social network information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the security questions are based at least in part on information related to the user'"'"'s connections in the social networking system.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the social network information sent in response to the request comprises a subset of the requested information determined based on privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

maintain a single login status associated with a user account on a social networking system;

receive a plurality of requests for social network information, wherein each request originates from one or more external systems outside of the social networking system, and the social network information is maintained by the social networking system and is associated with the user account of the social networking system;

determine whether a user account of the one or more external systems is linked to the user account of the social networking system, and determine the single login status of the user account of the social networking system, and responsive to determining the single login status and whether the user accounts are linked;

if the single login status indicates that the user account of the social networking system is not logged in, require authentication information for the user account of the social networking system before responding to the request with the social network information and responsive to receiving information indicative of successful authentication, updating the single login status to indicate that the user account of the social networking system is logged in, or,

if the single login status indicates that the user account of the social networking system is logged in and the user accounts are linked, respond to each request by providing the social network information to the one or more external systems and provide access to the one or more external systems from the other external systems;

receive a request to logout in response to a user request to logout from the one or more external systems; and

responsive to receiving the request to log out, log out the user account from the social networking system and change the single login status of the user account to indicate that the user account is not logged in.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein, the instructions when executed by a processor further cause the processor to:

responsive to receiving information indicative of successful authentication, respond to the request with the social network information.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the external system comprises a website.

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the request for social network information is received from the external system.

24. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the request for social network information is received from a client device processing a markup language document received from the external system.

25. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein responding to the request comprises sending social network information subject to privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

26. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein responding to the request comprises sending a subset of requested social network information based on privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

27. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein responding to the request comprises sending requested social network information and privacy settings maintained by the social networking system to the external system, wherein the external system presents social network information subject to privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.

28. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein responding to the request comprises sending requested social network information and privacy settings maintained by the social networking system to the external system.

29. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the social network information sent in response to the request comprises a subset of the requested information determined based on privacy settings maintained by the social networking system.