Patent ID: 8943565
Filing Date: 2015-01-27
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of provisioning credentials to an automated software agent for accessing an insurance company web portal for the purpose of obtaining patient-specific information for a patient of interest, the method comprising: providing a credentials database for storing credentials useable by the automated software agent for accessing an insurance company web portal; associating, with a computer system, each credential with one or more roles the credential can enable on the insurance company web portal, without associating the one or more roles with any user, wherein each role comprises a user-independent role associated with the corresponding credential, wherein each credential is independent of any user; storing, with the computer system and in the credentials database, each credential and its associated user-independent roles; identifying, with the automated software agent, a credential for use in accessing a select insurance company web portal, wherein the credential is one of authorized for exclusive use by one instance of the automated software agent at a time, authorized for use by a finite number of concurrent instances of the automated software agent, or authorized for use by an unlimited number of concurrent instances of the automated software agent; querying, with the automated software agent, the database to determine if the identified credential can enable a select user-independent role or a select group of user-independent roles; querying, with the automated software agent, the database to determine if the identified credential is available for use; and providing, with the computer system, the identified credential to the automated software agent for its use in accessing the select insurance company web portal only if the identified credential can enable the select user-independent role or group of user-independent roles and the identified credential is available for use and, for each credential with a limited use role, after setting an in-use window having an in-use expiration time and associating the in-use expiration time with the identified credential and storing the in-use expiration time in the credentials database.