US6035399A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Checkpoint object
Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
•
Filing: 1995-04-07
•
Granted: 2000-03-07
•
Expires: 2015-04-07
Abstract
Abstract An object oriented tool monitors the step-by-step progress of security administration within an electronic work flow to implement access control measures, and security administration policies that may include additional checks and balances, such as second party review, escalated authorization requirements, and trusted audit facilities. A security administration architecture for distributed electronic data processing systems preferably includes a checkpoint object that provides uniform characterization of milestone or transition states in administration activity, and which may be inherited by or refined to an administration activity object. A checkpoint object manager that is instantiated as a trusted third party object manages the state progression of checkpoint objects. As a result of checkpointing, checkpoint objects are resumed with their state advanced, reversed, or unchanged by the checkpoint object manager as appropriate. The checkpoint object manager also assures that all checkpoints are logged and monitored, and that resumptions are authenticated.
Inventors
- 👤 Keith S. Klemba
- 👤 Christopher J. Crall
- 👤 Thomas A. Palmer
- 👤 Joseph N. Pato
- 👤 Anne H. Anderson
- 👤 Gregory P. Carpenter
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 04:39
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F21/00; G06F21/50; G06F21/55; G06F21/554; G06F21/60; G06F21/604; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/46; G06F9/466
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim
102 words
An apparatus for monitoring step-by-step progress of security administration within an electronic work flow, comprising: a checkpoint object that provides uniform characterization of milestone and/or transition states in administration activity, where object class definition is inherited by or refined to an administration activity object; and a checkpoint object manager that is instantiated as a trusted third party object which manages state progression of checkpoint objects; wherein said checkpoint object manager further comprises at least one of: an action that resumes checkpointed objects with their state either advanced, reversed, or unchanged; and an action that assures that all checkpoints are logged and/or monitored.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
102 words
An apparatus for monitoring step-by-step progress of security administration within an electronic work flow, comprising: a checkpoint object that provides uniform characterization of milestone and/or transition states in administration activity, where object class definition is inherited by or refined to an administration activity object; and a checkpoint object manager that is instantiated as a trusted third party object which manages state progression of checkpoint objects; wherein said checkpoint object manager further comprises at least one of: an action that resumes checkpointed objects with their state either advanced, reversed, or unchanged; and an action that assures that all checkpoints are logged and/or monitored.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the checkpoint object manager further comprises: an action that assures that all resumptions are authenticated.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said checkpoint object must checkpoint to said checkpoint object manager to obtain second party approval.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said checkpoint object manager provides any of second party review, escalated authorization requirements, and trusted audit facilities.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
43 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said checkpoint object may inherit an object class having any desired security administration attributes; and wherein any object that has these attributes, or that has inherited this class, can then be managed by said checkpoint object manager.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
58 words
The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a task that may be performed as part of a process until it reaches a checkpoint, at which point the process check-ins a checkpoint object to said checkpoint object manager, wherein said checkpoint object cannot be checked-out of said checkpoint object manager unless criteria that implement security administration policies are met.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said checkpoint object allows suspension of a task, and said task may not resumed, except as authorized.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said checkpoint object manager escalates said checkpoint object upon failure to resume a suspended task, either by receiving authorization and/or by returning to said task within a predetermined time.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
231 words
The apparatus of claim 1, said checkpoint object further comprising one or more of the following attributes: an applicationID attribute which identifies a name of an application that sets the context for this checkpoint; an ApplCkPntState attribute that indicates a state of an object when a checkpoint is performed; an ApplResumeState attribute that indicates a state with which an object should resume; an ApplAuthRule attribute which is a signed authorization rule that is used by a current application, where said rule is indexed by states such that it governs authorization entitlements as said application's activities progress; a CkPntTimeLimit attribute that indicates a time limit that said checkpoint object may reside with said checkpoint manager, where if said time limit is exceeded, said checkpoint manager issues an event to signal escalation of checkpoint attention; a CkPntObjMgrID attribute that records a list of all checkpoint object managers that have currently serviced a checkpoint object; a CkPntDataPntrs[ ] attribute that provides a list of pointers to current checkpoint data, where said data is stored as binary data by said checkpoint object manager, such that if the data comprise a pointer, then only a pointer is returned by said checkpoint object manager; and such that if the data comprise actual data, then the data are stored by said checkpoint object manager; and a CkPntSeal attribute that provides a trusted seal of current checkpoint object information.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus of claim 1, said checkpoint object further comprising at least the following action: a Seal -- CkPntObj( ) action that computes a CkPntSeal attribute, where said CkPntSeal attribute provides a trusted seal of current checkpoint object information.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
59 words
The apparatus of claim 1, said checkpoint object manager further comprising one or more of the following attributes: an ApplCkPntCount attribute that provides a count of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager; and an ApplCkPntList[ ] attribute that provides a non-ordered list of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
192 words
The apparatus of claim 1, said checkpoint object manager further comprising one or more of the following actions: a Find( ) action that searches an ApplCkPntList attribute for objects that match a criteria of passed arguments, where said ApplCkPntList attribute provides a non-ordered list of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager; a Delete( ) action that is adapted to delete a checkpointed object, where authorization required for the Delete( ) action is associated with administration entitlements for said checkpoint object manager; a CkPnt( ) action that checkpoints an application object that contains the CkPntObj class behavior, where checkpointing an object captures all CkPntObj attributes and checks a suspended object in its present state into a CkPntObjMgr datastore, where said CkPntObjMgr holds this information, and waits for a next application service to check out said object and resume processing; a Resume( ) action that passes all checkpoint attributes for an identified checkpointed object to a calling object after first passing authorization rules to said calling object; and a Report( ) action that produces at least one report drawn from checkpoint object manager log/audit files and/or currently checkpointed data.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
121 words
A method for monitoring step-by-step progress of security administration within an electronic work flow, comprising the steps of: providing a checkpoint object that provides uniform characterization of milestone and/or transition states in administration activity, where object class definition is inherited by or refined to an administration activity object; providing a checkpoint object manager that is instantiated as a trusted third party object which manages state progression of checkpoint objects; checkpointing a checkpoint object; and further comprising at least one of the steps of: providing an action via said checkpoint object manager that resumes checkpointed objects with their state either advanced, reversed, or unchanged; and providing an action via said checkpoint object manager that assures that all checkpoints are logged and/or monitored.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
121 words
A method for monitoring step-by-step progress of security administration within an electronic work flow, comprising the steps of: providing a checkpoint object that provides uniform characterization of milestone and/or transition states in administration activity, where object class definition is inherited by or refined to an administration activity object; providing a checkpoint object manager that is instantiated as a trusted third party object which manages state progression of checkpoint objects; checkpointing a checkpoint object; and further comprising at least one of the steps of: providing an action via said checkpoint object manager that resumes checkpointed objects with their state either advanced, reversed, or unchanged; and providing an action via said checkpoint object manager that assures that all checkpoints are logged and/or monitored.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of: interrupting a task; checkpointing a checkpoint object; and providing an action via said checkpoint object manager that assures that all resumptions of said interrupted task are authenticated.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of: checkpointing said checkpoint object to said checkpoint object manager to obtain second party approval.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of: providing via said checkpoint object manager any of second party review, escalated authorization requirements, and trusted audit facilities.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 13, wherein said checkpoint object may inherit an object class having any desired security administration attributes; and wherein any object that has these attributes, or that has inherited this class, can then be managed by said checkpoint object manager.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of: performing a task as part of a process until it reaches a checkpoint; and checking-in a checkpoint object to said checkpoint object manager, wherein said checkpoint object cannot be checked-out of said checkpoint object manager unless criteria that implement security administration policies are met.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of: suspending a task with said checkpoint object manager, wherein said task may not resumed, except as authorized.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: escalating said checkpoint object with said checkpoint object manager upon failure to resume a suspended task, either by receiving authorization and/or by returning to said task within a predetermined time.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
230 words
The method of claim 13, said checkpoint object comprising one or more of the following attributes: an applicationID attribute which identifies a name of an application that sets the context for this checkpoint; an ApplCkPntState attribute that indicates a state of an object when a checkpoint is performed; an ApplResumeState attribute that indicates a state with which an object should resume; an ApplAuthRule attribute which is a signed authorization rule that is used by a current application, where said rule is indexed by states such that it governs authorization entitlements as said application's activities progress; a CkPntTimeLimit attribute that indicates a time limit that said checkpoint object may reside with said checkpoint manager, where if said time limit is exceeded, said checkpoint manager issues an event to signal escalation of checkpoint attention; a CkPntObjMgrID attribute that records a list of all checkpoint object managers that have currently serviced a checkpoint object; a CkPntDataPntrs[ ] attribute that provides a list of pointers to current checkpoint data, where said data is stored as binary data by said checkpoint object manager, such that if the data comprise a pointer, then only a pointer is returned by said checkpoint object manager; and such that if the data comprise actual data, then the data are stored by said checkpoint object manager; and a CkPntSeal attribute that provides a trusted seal of current checkpoint object information.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 13, said checkpoint object comprising at least the following action: a Seal -- CkPntObj( ) action that computes a CkPntSeal attribute, where said CkPntSeal attribute provides a trusted seal of current checkpoint object information.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of claim 13, said checkpoint object manager comprising one or more of the following attributes: an ApplCkPntCount attribute that provides a count of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager; and an ApplCkPntList[ ] attribute that provides a non-ordered list of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
191 words
The method of claim 13, said checkpoint object manager comprising one or more of the following actions: a Find( ) action that searches an ApplCkPntList attribute for objects that match a criteria of passed arguments, where said ApplCkPntList attribute provides a non-ordered list of checkpoint objects that are currently checkpointed by the checkpoint object manager; a Delete( ) action that is adapted to delete a checkpointed object, where authorization required for the Delete( ) action is associated with administration entitlements for said checkpoint object manager; a CkPnt( ) action that checkpoints an application object that contains the CkPntObj class behavior, where checkpointing an object captures all CkPntObj attributes and checks a suspended object in its present state into a CkPntObjMgr datastore, where said CkPntObjMgr holds this information, and waits for a next application service to check out said object and resume processing; a Resume( ) action that passes all checkpoint attributes for an identified checkpointed object to a calling object after first passing authorization rules to said calling object; and a Report( ) action that produces at least one report drawn from checkpoint object manager log/audit files and/or currently checkpointed data.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4455093A
Cited
US4503499A
Cited
US5133075A
Cited
EP0457684A2
Cited
US5032979A
Cited
EP0495310A2
Cited
US5305456A
Cited
EP0592072A2
Cited
US5539906A
Cited
US5802542A
Cited
US5483649A
Cited
US5542078A
Cited
US5764890A
Cited
US5680461A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2003-03-07 | 2003-09-06 | 2004-03-07 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2007-03-07 | 2007-09-06 | 2008-03-07 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2011-03-07 | 2011-09-06 | 2012-03-07 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |