Context administrator

Abstract

A context management and administration system includes a context manager, which manages the context of plural applications programs, and an administration suite, which oversees and manages the manager. Context administration can include setting up and maintaining subject data definitions, intervening in context manager operations, providing security functions to protect sensitive context information against tampering by unauthorized users, etc.

1 . At least one computer readable medium encoded with a program that, when executed, performs a method of administering a context management system that manages a context, the method comprising: 
 configuring a subject data definition which defines a plurality of subjects in the context using, for each subject, subject data that comprises a data item usable by a plurality of applications comprising at least a first application and a second application, the data item having a set of values comprising at least a first value corresponding to the first application and a second value corresponding to the second application, the set of values identifying the subject in the context, the value of the data item corresponding to the first application being exchangeable with the value of the data item corresponding to the second application when a user switches from the first application to the second application to retain the context.    
   
   
       2 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 identifying one or more available context managers to administer.    
   
   
       3 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein identifying further comprises: 
 pinging possible context manager addresses to find the available context managers.    
   
   
       4 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 maintaining in the subject data definition, information identifying which applications are allowed to access the subject.    
   
   
       5 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 storing with each application a value which is a function of but not equal to a passcode for the application.    
   
   
       6 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 encrypting the passcode to form the value.    
   
   
       7 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 maintaining an inventory of applications whose context is managed.    
   
   
       8 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 maintaining a map relating User IDs to login identifiers formatted for each application in the inventory.    
   
   
       9 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 configuring communication parameters for the available context managers.    
   
   
       10 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 generating a status report for the system.    
   
   
       11 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 intervening in a context management process.    
   
   
       12 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein intervening further comprises: 
 forcing an application out of a context.    
   
   
       13 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein intervening further comprises: 
 canceling a transaction in progress.    
   
   
       14 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein intervening further comprises: 
 shutting down a context manager.    
   
   
       15 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 communicating with a context manager using a hypertext transport protocol.    
   
   
       16 . The at least one computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the hypertext transport protocol is HTTP 1.1.  
   
   
       17 . An apparatus comprising: 
 at least one processor programmed to manage and administer a context, the at least one processor programmed to implement:    a context manager; and    an administration suite for configuring a subject data definition, the subject data definition defining a subject in the context using subject data that comprises a data item usable by at least a first application and a second application, the data item having a set of values comprising at least a first value corresponding to the first application and a second value corresponding to the second application, the set of values identifying the subject in the context, the value of the data item corresponding to the first application being exchangeable with the value of the data item corresponding to the second application when a user switches from the first application to the second application to retain the context.    
   
   
       18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the administration suite further comprises a context administrator and a context server.  
   
   
       19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the context server implements: 
 a passcode service;    a user mapping agent (UMA) service; and    a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) service.    
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one processor is programmed so that the LDAP service further comprises: 
 a data storage module in which the passcode service stores encrypted passcodes and in which the user mapping agent service stores user-mapping data.