Group access management system

Abstract

A system for limiting group access is provided. A representative system includes a group access management system operable to store a plurality of resource lists, the resource lists comprising at least one contact and at least one group comprising at least one member and further comprising a group class of service marker associated with the at least one group. The system further comprises a network service router coupled to the group access management system and being operable to route a service request, if the service request includes an adequate class of service marker with respect to the group class of service marker. Methods and other systems for limiting group access are also provided.

1 . A system for limiting group access, comprising:
 a group access management system operable to store a plurality of resource lists, the resource lists comprising at least one contact and at least one group comprising at least one member, said at least one group further comprising a group class of service marker associated with said at least one group;   a network service router coupled to the group access management system and being operable to route a service request, if the service request includes an adequate class of service marker with respect to the group class of service marker.   
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one group further comprises a rule. 
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a service manager coupled to the network service router and operable to retrieve said at least one group from the group access management system and execute the rule, showing said at least one group as accessible in response to the rule.   
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the rule comprises indicating the group is accessible in response to a particular subset of said at least one member of said at least one group being accessible. 
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the rule comprises indicating the group is accessible in response to all members of said at least one group being accessible. 
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the rule comprises indicating the group is accessible in response to any member of said at least one group being accessible. 
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the group further comprises a show group status. 
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one group further comprises a group attribute associated with said at least one group. 
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein said group attribute comprises a mask to prevent the group from being viewable by other network users. 
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein said group attribute allows every user to view said at least one group. 
   
   
       11 . A method for managing group access, comprising:
 creating a group comprising at least one member;   storing the group in a group access management system on a network; and   assigning a class of service level to the group.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving a request from a user to add the group to a profile associated with the user and stored in the group access management system.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 checking a class of service marker associated with the user; and   adding the group to the profile in response to the class of service marker.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 receiving a permission from an administrator of the group access management system; and   adding the group to the profile upon receiving permission from the administrator.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 denying addition of the group to the profile without a permission from an administrator of the group access management system.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 assigning a rule to the group.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 receiving a request for a status with respect to the group;   executing the rule; and   updating the status base upon a result of executing the rule.   
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the rule comprises:
 waiting for a subset of members of the group to be accessible before indicating a status of accessible for the group.   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the subset comprises a particular subset of members of the group. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 assigning an attribute to the group; and   using the attribute to mask the group from a plurality of non-member users.