Patent Publication Number: US-8539594-B2

Title: Apparatus and method for managing identity information

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of Korean Patent application Nos. 10-2008-0123109, filed on Dec. 5, 2008, and 10-2009-0025132, filed on Mar. 24, 2009, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     The following description relates to information protection in a web service, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for managing identity information. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In general, when a user registers for a website such as a portal site, he/she inputs all user information required by the website into the website system. At this time, the user accepts an agreement that he/she will provide his/her own information, thereby providing his/her identity information to the website. 
     According to this method, once a user accepts such an agreement, all of his/her personal information is provided to the corresponding website, and the website obtains more of the user&#39;s personal information than needed. Also, in general, users must accept an agreement about deletion, holding period, etc., of personal information set by a website party, and thus have no right to control their personal information in the current method of registering for a website. 
     In the ID-WSF discovery service of Liberty Alliance, an identity provider (IdP) providing user identity registers information about what kind of information about a user it provides in a discovery server. And, when an identity consumer (IdC) consuming user identity needs user identity information, it searches for an IdP providing the information and requests the IdP to inquire about the user information. However, in this method, users are excluded from identity flow in which identity information is requested and provided, and thus users&#39; right to control their personal information is still weakened. Also, since a clear agreement on information provision and consumption is not made, it is not easy to solve a problem such as identity information leakage. 
     In another conventional method, users select IdPs, and the selection results are transferred to requesters who request identity. This method can strengthen users&#39; right of selection. However, this method does not involve a clear agreement on information provision and consumption, and thus a problem such as identity information leakage is still at issue. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following description relates to an identity information sharing method that can increase users&#39; degree of participation in providing identity information. 
     The following description also relates to an identity information sharing method that can facilitate resolution of a problem such as identity information leakage. 
     In a general aspect, there is provided an apparatus for managing identity information, including: a contract detail manager managing details of an identity information sharing contract made between a user and an identity provider (IdP) wanting to provide identity information about the user; an IdP selector selecting an IdP capable of providing the identity information about the user based on the details of the sharing contract when a request for the identity information about the user is input from an identity consumer (IdC); and an information provider obtaining information according to the identity information request from the selected IdP, and providing the obtained information to the IdC. 
     In another aspect, there is provided a method of managing identity information, including: receiving a request for identity information about a user from an identity consumer (IdC); selecting an identity provider (IdP) capable of providing the identity information about the user based on details of an identity information sharing contract made between the user and an IdP wanting to provide the identity information about the user; and obtaining information according to the identity information request from the selected IdP and providing the obtained information to the IdC. 
     Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the following description, the drawings, and the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an identity sharing system according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is block diagram of an apparatus for managing identity information according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  shows examples of details of a sharing contract according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flowchart illustrating a method of managing identity information according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     Elements, features, and structures are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings and the detailed description, and the size and proportions of some elements may be exaggerated in the drawings for clarity and convenience. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses and/or systems described herein. Various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the systems, apparatuses, and/or methods described herein will likely suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted to increase clarity and conciseness. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an identity sharing system according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     As shown in the drawing, the identity sharing system includes a plurality of identity providers (IdPs)  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3 , a plurality of identity consumers (IdCs)  30 - 1  and  30 - 2 , and an identity information management apparatus  20  that can be accessed by the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  and users and performs interaction between the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  and the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2 . 
     The IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  provide the users&#39; identity information in a web service, and the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  require the user information provided by the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3 . For example, the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  may be the portal sites which users want to register for. In this exemplary embodiment, the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  and the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  make an identity sharing contract with the users, and a component that manages the made sharing contract is included. More specifically, the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  transmit an identity sharing inquiry request message to the identity information management apparatus  20  based on the sharing contract made with the users. And, the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  process the identity sharing inquiry request from the identity information management apparatus  20 , and transfer a response to the identity sharing inquiry request based on the sharing contract made with the users. 
     The identity information management apparatus  20  performs interaction between the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  and the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2 . When the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2  request identity information of a specific user, the identity information management apparatus  20  searches for an IdP that can provide the corresponding information, and obtains and provides the information to the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2 . In other words, the identity information management apparatus  20  may serve to control the flow of identity information between the IdPs  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  and  10 - 3  and the IdCs  30 - 1  and  30 - 2 . 
       FIG. 2  is block diagram of an apparatus for managing identity information according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     As shown in the drawing, the apparatus for managing identity information according to an exemplary embodiment includes a communicator  200 , a contract maker  210 , a contract detail storage  250 , a contract detail manager  220 , an IdP selector  230 , and an information provider  240 . 
     The communicator  200  may be implemented by a communication module capable of network communication, for example, Internet communication. In this exemplary embodiment, the communicator  200  performs data transmission and reception between IdPs and IdCs. 
     The contract maker  210  makes an identity sharing contract between users and IdPs. For example, a user may check an information item permitted to be shared by an IdP among identity information, thereby making the sharing contract. Also, the contract maker  210  makes an identity sharing contract between users and IdCs. 
     The contract detail storage  250  is implemented by a data storage. In this exemplary embodiment, the contract detail storage  250  stores details of the identity information sharing contract made between users and IdPs or IdCs by the contract maker  210 . 
     The contract detail manager  220  manages the details of the identity information sharing contract that is made by the contract maker  210  between users and IdPs, which provide the users&#39; identity information, and stored in the contract detail storage  250 . Also, the contract detail manager  220  manages the details of the identity information sharing contract that is made by the contract maker  210  between users and IdCs, which need the users&#39; identity information, and stored in the contract detail storage  250 . In this exemplary embodiment, the contract detail manager  220  may update or delete the details of the sharing contracts stored in the contract detail storage  250 . 
     When a request for identity information about a user received from an IdC is input through the communicator  200 , the IdP selector  230  selects an IdP that can provide the identity information about the user based on the details of the sharing contract stored in the contract detail storage  250 . 
     In this exemplary embodiment, when two or more IdPs are selected, the IdP selector  230  provides information about the selected IdPs to the user and selects one of the IdPs selected by the user. 
     The information provider  240  obtains information according to the identity information request from the IdP selected by the IdP selector  230  and provides the obtained information to the IdC. 
       FIG. 3  shows examples of details of a sharing contract according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     As shown in the drawing, details of a sharing contract according to an exemplary embodiment include general details, a sharing purpose, an access control policy, a privacy protection policy, a security policy, an expansion policy, a shared item, an entity electronic signature, and a user electronic signature. 
     The sharing purpose describes a use of shared identity information. For example, the use of identity information may be, for example, registration for a website, or purchase of a product. The access control policy describes a policy for controlling access to shared identity information. The privacy protection policy may be information about how long inquired information should be kept and then discarded when an IdC requests inquiry about the identity information. The security policy includes information about a method in which an IdP, an IdC and a user authenticate each other, whether to perform message encryption when a message is transferred, and an encryption method. The expansion policy is an element for representing a policy to be expanded later. 
     The shared item is information about data items permitted to be shared between both parties that actually make an identity sharing contract. In this exemplary embodiment, the shared item may consist of shared dictionaries. A shared dictionary denotes a category of shared data, and shared items denote items permitted to be shared in the category. 
     For example, it is assumed that there is a dictionary “personal profile,” a first name, a last name, an address, a telephone number, and an e-mail address are included in the personal profile, and a bank account, a bank name of the bank account, a depositor, a bank balance, a loan account, a bank name of the loan account, a loaner, and a loan balance are included in a dictionary “finance.” 
     When both parties only share the first name, the last name and the address among the personal profile information and the account information among the financial information, the shared item consists of {personal profile, {first name, last name, address}} and {finance, {bank account, bank name of bank account, depositor, bank balance}}. 
     The entity electronic signature denotes an electronic signature of an IdP or IdC making the identity sharing contract, and the user electronic signature denotes an electronic signature of a user for the identity sharing contract. In an exemplary embodiment, the electronic signatures may be omitted according to mutual consent. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flowchart illustrating a method of managing identity information according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     When an identity information request is received from an IdC (operation  400 ), identity items requested by the IdC are extracted (operation  410 ). For example, the identity items may be {first name, last name} corresponding to a part of a personal profile dictionary. 
     Then, it is checked whether or not there is an IdP permitted to share user information about the requested items based on sharing contracts made between IdPs and a user (operation  420 ). 
     At this time, when there are a plurality of IdPs capable of providing the information about the identity items requested by the IdC (operation  430 ), information about the IdPs is provided to the user, and the user selects one of the IdPs (operation  440 ). 
     Then, the selected IdP is requested to inquire about information about the identity items, and the result of inquiring about identity information of the user is received in response to the request (operation  450 ). 
     Subsequently, the received inquiry result is output to the user (operation  460 ), and provided to the IdC (operation  470 ). Additionally, the inquiry result is output to the user, and when the user approves sharing of the inquiry result, it is provided to the IdC. 
     The present invention can be implemented as computer readable codes in a computer readable record medium. The computer readable record medium includes all types of record media in which computer readable data are stored. Examples of the computer readable record medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, and an optical data storage. Further, the record medium may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave such as Internet transmission. In addition, the computer readable record medium may be distributed to computer systems over a network, in which computer readable codes may be stored and executed in a distributed manner. 
     As apparent from the above description, a sharing contract about data items shared by an IdP, IdC and a user who is an entity of identity is made, thereby solving a problem that all of the user&#39;s identity information is provided to the IdC according to the user&#39;s comprehensive agreement. 
     In addition, a user can be located in the middle of the flow of user identity information occurring between IdPs and IdCs and select an IdP and information to be transferred, and thus it is possible to strengthen the user&#39;s right to control his/her personal information. 
     Furthermore, by intervening in identity information flow, a user can minimize the probability of information leakage, and it can be clearly determined based on a sharing contract that is responsible for personal information leakage. 
     It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments of the invention described above. However, as long as modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents, they should not be misconstrued as a departure from the scope of the invention itself.