Patent ID: 7225462
Filing Date: 2007-05-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for managing information concerning users of a network web site, the system comprising: a web server for providing access to various network resources, including web pages and applications; an applications server coupled to the web server for running two or more protected applications, to which access is restricted to authorized users; a customer profile and registration application operating in conjunction with the web server and applications server for receiving user login information and authenticating users, wherein said customer profile and registration provides single sign-on capability, such that a user can access two or more restricted applications via a single login; a user directory server for centrally managing information concerning users, said user directory server being coupled to (i) a first database for storing user credentials for a plurality of users, and (ii) a second database for storing user profile information for a plurality of users, wherein said user profile information and said user credentials can be added, modified, deleted or retrieved by operations carried out within at least one of said applications, the user directory server storing a categoryID for at least one user, such that different categories of users are stored in different locations of a directory, with each category having a name, a storage context, and a search context, the storage context defining where entries are stored in the directory, and the search context defining a directory scope over which user IDs are unique, the user directory server maintaining a cache of inactive directory objects, and when a request is received for a directory object, the user directory server accesses the cache and reuses the directory objects, and when the cache is full and a directory object is released to the cache, the directory object is discarded; and a functional server returning an instance of the user directory server, the functional server maintaining a pool of user directory server instances and allocating instances from the pool in a round robin fashion.