Patent ID: 8185945
Filing Date: 2012-05-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a computer system, a method for selectively requesting certificates during initiation of secure communication sessions, the method comprising: receiving from a client a request to initiate a secure communication session, wherein the secure communication session is a secure sockets layer session; determining whether the client is going to use certificate-based authentication before any certificate is requested from the client, wherein the determination is made by identifying a location where the request to initiate the secure communication session was received, wherein the identified location is one of at least two possible locations, wherein the at least two possible locations comprise a port, wherein determining whether the client is going to use certificate-based authentication comprises identifying the port at which the request was received, wherein a first location of the at least two possible locations receives requests to initiate the secure communication session via certificate-based authentication, and wherein a second location of the at least two possible locations receives requests to initiate the secure communication session via another authentication mechanism; if the client is going to use certificate-based authentication, requesting a certificate from the client; and if the client is not going to use certificate-based authentication, attempting to authenticate using another authentication mechanism besides certificate-based authentication, not requesting the certificate from the client, and also preventing a dialog box from being displayed that indicates that the certificate should be selected, wherein the other authentication mechanism comprises an operating system-specific authentication mechanism.