Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-05-15
Heckler, Thomas M. (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
C707S793000, C713S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233608
ABSTRACT:
REFERENCE TO APPENDIXES
Appendix A, which is a part of the present disclosure, is a microfiche appendix consisting of 2 sheets of microfiche having a total of 195 frames. The microfiche Appendix is a source code listing of one embodiment of the authentication and provisioning process in the present invention, which is described more completely below.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, that includes, but is not limited to, Appendix A and Appendix B, which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to user authentication systems over data network systems, and more particularly relates to a method and system for self-provisioning, through a first device, a rendezvous to ensure secure access to managed information in a user account by other devices through the rendezvous in a data network, wherein the rendezvous is generally identified by a URL, the first device, coupled to the data network, runs a first browser under a first communication protocol and the other devices in the same data network run a second browser under a second communication protocol.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a rapidly growing communication network of interconnected computers around the world. Together, these millions of connected computers form a vast repository of hyperlinked information that is readily accessible by any of the connected computers from anywhere and anytime. To provide mobility and portability of the Internet, wireless computing devices were introduced and are capable of communicating, via wireless data networks, with the computers on the Internet. With the wireless data networks, people, as they travel or move about, are able to perform, through the wireless computing devices, exactly the same tasks they could do with computers on the Internet
The most common remote access paradigm is, as of today, the one in which a laptop personal computer is equipped with a wireless communication mechanism, for example, a wireless modem. This paradigm may remain useful for a considerable number of applications and users, but there has been a growing need for a mobile paradigm in which the Internet can be instantly accessed by mobile devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants. The mobile devices are generally designed small in size and light in weight. With increasing data processing capabilities in the mobile devices, more and more users start carrying the devices around to materialize their unproductive time into productive time. As more commonly seen, regular mobile phones can return calls, check voice mail or make users thereof available for teleconferences anywhere and anytime, but desired mobile phones, not just reactive to calls but also proactive, can meld voice, data, and personal information with manager-like functionality into a single handset that can effectively, through a host computer, access a myriad of public and enterprise information services in the Internet.
The evolution of the mobile phones or the mobile devices has been fueled by the demand of users for immediate access to the information they are looking for. For example, a traveler may request an exact flight schedule when he is on his way to airport, or a trader may purchase shares of stock at a certain price. The pertinent information from these ideas or transactions may include the airline and the flight number for the traveler as well as the number of shares and the price thereof being purchased by the trader. To be timely informed, a preferable way is to communicate the information requests electronically into the wireless data network. The data network, for example, connects to a flight information server or stock quote server so that the desired flight information or the current stock price can be retrieved therefrom on demand. However, it becomes troublesome or impractical to key in lengthy information queries electronically into the data network through a mobile device that typically has a keypad with a few buttons, much less functional compared to a keyboard in a personal computer system. There is therefore a great need for a method and system for efficiently communicating desired transactions into a data network through which the transaction can be performed or pertinent information can be retrieved without the need to key in such every time the transactions or the information are desired. In many cases the desired information in a user account, especially regarding personal matters, is preferred to be confidential. Thus there is further a need for a generic solution that provides a method and means for self-provisioning an account entry to a user account that has the proprietary information therein accessible only through the account entry.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above described problems and has particular applications to systems of self-authentication by authorized users using devices that have limited computing power. Cellular phones are the typical example that has very little computing power and memory to satisfy the power long lasting and portability requirement, others include Internet-enabled electronic appliances that generally have computing powers at a minimum so as to reduce the cost thereof for market popularity. All these devices, considered as thin devices or clients herein, in data networks, provide users with portable, convenient, and instant access to information being sought in the Internet; for example, retrieving a list of stock quotes using a mobile phone or viewing a list of interested news stations on Internet-connected TVs. In both examples, the mobile phone and a remote control of the TV have very limited user interface to receive inputs from users. One of the important aspects of the present invention is to provide a generic solution for communicating desired ideas or transactions from other devices with rich user interface to such a thin client through a self-provisioned account entry.
While administrated user authentication systems over data networks have been used extensively in areas such as administered network computers and electronic commerce in the Internet, the present invention disclosing a method and system for self-provisioning, through a first device, e.g. the cellular phone or the remote control, a rendezvous to ensure secure access to a user account by other devices through the rendezvous yields unexpected results. The administrated user authentication systems in computer networks generally require each account holder to remember his username and associated password. If the username and password were ever lost or forgotten, the corresponding account becomes abandoned or must be clarified by a system administer. The disclosed invention, however, allows a user to self-provision an account entry or a rendezvous with a set of credential information, which does not require the user to write down or remember the credential information in order to access his account. Further, the user is the only one who knows the credential information created in an authenticated and secure communication session for the rendezvous, thereby the account becomes truly proprietary. Moreover through the rendezvous, the present invention for the first time allows efficient means for communicating personalized information into a database by utilizing other computers running an HTML browser with more familiar graphic user interface while allowing a thin device running a micro browser to access the same personalized information stored in the database.
According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for provisioning, through a thin device, a rendezvous to a user account in a server to ensure secure access to the user account by a networke
Laursen Andrew L.
Martin, Jr. Bruce K.
Rossmann Alain S.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas LLP
Heckler Thomas M.
Openwave Systems Inc.
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