Patent Description:
When signing into a web application (e.g., Facebook®, Google®), a user is taken through the OAuth <NUM> flow, which is used to perform authentication and authorization in most application types. It works by delegating user authentication to the service that hosts the user account and authorizing third-party applications to access the user account. This typically works well for web browsers, but is cumbersome for bots. OAuth <NUM> was initially built for redirection on the client side, not the server side. Thus, authenticating a bot user requires the user to copy a large string of numbers and characters (i.e., an identification number) that will bridge the bot channel and a third-party server. The current bot authentication protocol is clunky because users are required to copy and paste this large identification number, which significantly decreases the user experience and increases network traffic.

It is with respect to these and other general considerations that example aspects, systems, and methods have been described. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the examples should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background. <CIT> describes invoking chatbots in a channel based communication system. A system which enables bidirectional communication between users and enterprise data sources comprises a secure mobile communications platform, enterprise data sources that provide customer services and products to users through mobile communications platform, and remote user devices associated with users that consume such customer services and products. Each automated messaging bots provides a certain scope and capability for automatically engaging end users in conversational flow. The goal is for each automated messaging bot to help end users typically either resolve a question/problem or to fulfill a specific transaction, all via the messaging communications framework. <CIT> teaches that a client application running at a client device that is not authenticated with a content management system can receive, from a web site associated with the content management system, a request to authenticate with the content management system under a user account used to authenticate a current session between a browser application at the client device and the website with the content management system. The client application can then obtain a uniform resource locator (URL) with a nonce associated with the client application, and send a command to the browser application including the URL and nonce. The command can trigger the browser application to use the URL and nonce to authenticate the client application with the content management system under the user account with which the current session between the browser application and the website is currently authenticated.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a system and method for securely authenticating a user of a web application.

Most login experiences that use a bot to authenticate a user's credentials are clunky and inelegant. For example, suppose a user is communicating with a chat bot, and that bot must access the user's resources in a third-party service, e.g., the user's Instagram® data. In order for the bot to access that data, the user must authenticate with Instagram® and pass those credentials to the bot in a secure manner. However, this action crosses the trust boundary between the web browser hosting the Instagram® login and the messaging application hosting the bot. In traditional web and mobile applications, this is achieved via the OAuth <NUM> flow, which delegates access of user data to the application itself. However, with bots, this experience is subpar and not entirely secure.

In light of this subpar experience and lack of security, an improved version of the authentication flow is disclosed herein. For example, suppose the user is interacting with a first application (e.g., a messaging application or a chat application). In aspects, a web application may be accessed from the first application. The web application may be any third-party web application (e.g., a third-party chat bot) accessed within the first application. In aspects, the user may request the web application to access a second application that is remote from the first application (e.g., a third-party social-networking application such as Instagram®, Snap Chat®, Google®, Facebook®, etc.). The bot may then check if the user is authenticated for access to the second application. If the user has not yet been authenticated, then the bot may provide a login URL to the user. The login URL may open a browser window for inputting user credentials for the second application. Upon verifying the user credentials, the second application may then pass an access token back to a web service associated with the web application (e.g., a website owned by the bot developer).

However, at this point, the web service is unable to verify that the user who entered the user credentials for the second application is the same user accessing the web application (e.g., bot) within the first application. In this case, the web service may generate a nonce, which is a unique, arbitrary value. The web service may then call the first application's software development kit (SDK) to pass the nonce to the first application (e.g., a messaging application). In aspects, the web service also stores the nonce in a cache. After the first application receives the nonce, the first application may then re-transmit a secure message (which is invisible to the user) back to the web application, which message may include a user ID for the first application. The web application (e.g., bot) may then receive the nonce and check its cache (which includes a collection of stored nonces compiled by the web service) to ensure that a stored nonce matches the received nonce in the message. In aspects, the web application may match the received nonce with a stored nonce indexed to the user ID or simply based on matching the received nonce with a stored nonce from the collection of stored nonces (which, by definition, are each unique).

By implementing the authentication flow in this manner, a nonce is transmitted from the web service back to the first application (e.g., messaging application), which nonce is then securely and invisibly sent from the first application to the web application for verification. In this way, the user is authenticated without having to perform any additional action, resulting in a superior user experience and incurring no additional work on part of the developer.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustrations or specific examples. These aspects may be combined, other aspects may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the present disclosure. Example aspects may be practiced as methods, systems, or devices. Accordingly, example aspects may take the form of a hardware implementation, a software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Users are often burdened with clunky login experiences when attempting to interact with a bot inside a web application. For instance, as detailed above, a user may send a message to a bot within a messaging application. In some cases, the user may request the bot to access information associated with an account for a third-party application (e.g., the user's Instagram® account). The bot checks whether the user's identification from the messaging application (e.g., the user ID) is authenticated with the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®). If the user ID is not authenticated, the bot may transmit a login URL to the user. The user may then click on the login URL, which may result in opening a browser window associated with the third-party application. The user may then log into the user's account associated with the third-party application (e.g., the user's Instagram® account). Upon verifying the user's credentials, the third-party application may pass an access token to a web service associated with the bot (e.g., a website owned by the third-party bot developer). However, while the web service may receive the access token from the third-party application, current solutions cannot securely guarantee the identity of the user that opened the web browser to login into Instagram® is the same user utilizing the bot within the messaging application. As a result, the user traditionally experiences a non-intuitive and awkward authentication process with the bot.

The present disclosure describes a solution in which the user is not required to manually authenticate him- or herself to the web application (or to a web service associated with the web application). Instead, as described above, a nonce may automatically be generated and stored by the bot web service, which may then transmit the nonce to the messaging application. The messaging application may then invisibly transmit the nonce to the web application (e.g., bot). The bot verifies the received nonce by determining whether the received nonce matches a stored nonce within its cache (e.g., as stored by the bot web service). If the received nonce matches a stored nonce, then the user is authenticated and the user is allowed to access the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®). In some cases, an access token may be associated with the user ID for future access to the third-party application via the web application.

Not only do developers and users incur no additional work to authenticate the user to the web application, but the user experience is also significantly improved. Furthermore, the solution disclosed herein may be implemented across multiple devices on a variety of operating environments, further improving the user experience. For example, if a user is securely authenticated with a bot inside a messaging application on a laptop computer, the user may establish a subsequent secure connection with the bot inside the same messaging application running on a mobile device.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a distributed system <NUM> for securely authenticating a bot user via a web application.

A system <NUM> that securely authenticates user credentials for a third-party application (e.g., a social-networking application such as Instagram®, Facebook®, Snapchat®, etc.) to a chat bot within a messaging application (e.g., chat application) is provided. Such a system may be run on an electronic device including, but not limited to, client devices such as a mobile phone <NUM>, a tablet <NUM>, and a personal computer <NUM>. The disclosed system may receive device login credentials associated with third-party applications. The system may share those login credentials across multiple devices to ensure that the login process is seamless for the user.

In an example, a user may utilize a chat bot hosted within a messaging application (e.g., a chat application or "ChatApp"). The user may access the messaging application via any device associated with the user, e.g., client devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, which may execute the messaging application locally and/or may access the messaging application (e.g., via a browser) executing remotely (e.g., on servers <NUM>). In aspects, the third-party chat bot (hereinafter "bot") may be associated with a web service executing on one or more other servers, e.g., servers <NUM>. In further aspects, the bot may authenticate the user based on identification information passed from the messaging application to the bot (e.g., the user's messaging ID). In some cases, the user may request the bot to access third-party applications associated with the user (e.g., user accounts for Instagram®, Facebook®, Snapchat®, etc.). In aspects, these third-party applications may be hosted by one or more other servers, e.g., servers <NUM>. However, if the user ID has not been authenticated with such third-party applications, the bot will be unable to gain access. It is with respect to this situation that the present solution is directed.

In this case, the bot within the messing application may provide the user with a login URL associated with the requested third-party application. Upon activating the login URL, a window associated with the third-party application may open within the messaging application, enabling the user to log into the third-party application (e.g., on servers <NUM> via network <NUM>). The third-party application may then verify the user's credentials and forward an access token (or other authentication) to a website associated with the bot (e.g., hosted on servers <NUM>). However, in this case, the bot is unable to verify that the user who accessed the login URL is the same user accessing the bot via the messaging application. To address this situation, the bot website generates and transmits a nonce to the messaging application, which then retransmits the nonce to the bot via an invisible message. The bot can then verify the received nonce by comparing it to an index of stored nonces saved in a cache by the bot website. If the received nonce matches a stored nonce, then the user is authenticated and the bot may associate the user ID with the access token (or other authentication) for the third-party application. In aspects, once a user ID has been authenticated with the third-party application, a bot within the messaging application (running on the same device or another device of the user) may subsequently access the third-party application.

The access token and nonces associated with the system disclosed herein may be stored locally and/or remotely. An electronic device may utilize local data stored in local databases <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM>, remote databases stored on servers <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, or a combination of both. For example, mobile phone <NUM> may utilize local database <NUM> and access servers <NUM>, <NUM>, and/or <NUM> via network(s) <NUM> to securely authenticate a bot user via a web application. In other example aspects, tablet <NUM> may utilize local database <NUM> and network(s) <NUM> to securely authenticate a bot user, as well as store and transmit any associated access tokens or nonce values.

As should be appreciated, the various methods, devices, components, etc., described with respect to <FIG> are not intended to limit systems <NUM> to being performed by the particular components described. Accordingly, additional topology configurations may be used to practice the methods and systems herein and/or components described may be excluded without departing from the methods and systems disclosed herein.

<FIG> illustrates a communication system <NUM> for securely authenticating a bot user via a web application.

System <NUM> may begin with an initial connection process. The initial connection process may involve an electronic device, such as electronic device <NUM>. The electronic device <NUM> may be used to run an application, such as a messaging application (e.g., a chat application such as WhatsApp®, Facebook® Messenger, WeChat®, Slack®, etc.). A bot may be accessed within such messaging application. A user may request the bot to access a third-party application associated with the user. The bot may then check if the user identification from the messaging application (e.g., user ID) is authenticated with the requested third-party application (e.g., Instagram®). If so, the bot may proceed to access the third-party application as requested. If not, the bot (via the messaging application) may prompt the user to enter login credentials by redirecting the user to a login URL of the third-party application (e.g., on servers <NUM>). Once the user clicks on the URL provided by the bot, a window within the messaging application may enable the user to enter the login credentials associated with the third-party account. The window within the messaging application may be displayed on electronic device <NUM>, and the webpage associated with the third-party account may be provided by servers <NUM> to the electronic device <NUM> over network <NUM>. The login credentials may be compared with stored login credentials for the third-party account on servers <NUM>, which subsequently communicate an access token to a webpage associated with the bot, e.g., on servers <NUM>.

However, at this point, the bot within the messaging application is unable to verify that the user who accessed the login URL is the same user who is communicating with the bot within the messaging application. Accordingly, the bot webpage (on servers <NUM>) may generate a nonce, which is unique arbitrary number, may store the nonce in a cache accessible by the bot, and may pass the nonce to a software development kit (SDK) associated with the messaging application. That is, the bot webpage running on servers <NUM> may pass the nonce to the messaging application accessed on the electronic device <NUM> (e.g., the messaging application running either locally or remotely via a browser over network(s) <NUM>). The messaging application may receive the nonce and then retransmit it via a silent message to the bot within the messaging application. In aspects, a "silent" or "invisible" message is a message that is not visible to the user and/or not manually implemented by the user. The bot may then check its cache for a stored nonce matching the received nonce. If the stored nonce from the bot cache and the received nonce from the message match, then the bot may be securely authenticated to access the third-party application using the access token passed from the third-party login URL (e.g., on servers <NUM>) to the bot website (e.g., on servers <NUM>). The bot and/or the messaging application may further associate the access token for the third-party application with the user ID for the messaging application.

In some example aspects, the bot webpage servers <NUM> may communicate with electronic device <NUM> via network(s) <NUM>. Information may also be transmitted from the third-party application servers <NUM> to the bot webpage servers <NUM> via network(s) <NUM>. Network(s) <NUM> may include any combination of one or more local-area networks (e.g., LAN) and/or wide-area network(s) (e.g., WAN), private networks (e.g., intranet) and/or public networks (e.g., the Internet), for communicating information between electronic device <NUM>, servers <NUM>, and/or servers <NUM>.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a method <NUM> for securely authenticating a bot user via a web application.

As depicted, system <NUM> begins with a receive request operation <NUM>. In aspects, a user may be communicating with a chat bot within a messaging application (e.g., a Chat App). In some cases, in order for the user to access the bot, the messaging application may pass user identification information (e.g., a user ID) to a website hosting the bot. For instance, the bot website (e.g., executing on one or more servers) may provide chat bots as a service to various messaging applications. In further aspects, the bot may be hosted within the messaging application, but may be executed on and/or in direct communication with the bot website. As should be appreciated, while the present methods are described with reference to a "chat bot" accessed within a messaging application, any web application within another application may similarly authenticate a user according to the methods described herein.

At receive user request operation <NUM>, the bot via the messaging application may receive a request to access user information from a third-party application, such as Instagram®, Snap Chat®, Facebook®, etc..

At determine authentication operation <NUM>, the bot may determine whether the user identifier (e.g., user ID) for the messaging application is authenticated for access to the user's account for the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®). If the user ID has already been authenticated, the bot may respond "Yes" from authentication operation <NUM> back to the messaging application at receive request operation <NUM> and to receive access operation <NUM> for access to the third-party application, which access is allowed by the third-party application at allow access operation <NUM>. In some example aspects, when the user ID has been authenticated for access to the user's account on the third-party application, the bot (or the messaging application) may provide a notification to the user that the third-party account has already been authenticated.

However, when the user ID for the messaging application has not yet been authenticated for access to the third-party application, the method may proceed to receive access request operation <NUM>. At request access operation <NUM>, the third-party application may receive a request for access from the bot. In response to the request for access, at provide login operation <NUM>, the third-party application may provide the bot website with a login URL associated with the third-party application (e.g., an Instagram® Login URL). At host login operation <NUM>, the bot website may host the login URL and provide the login URL to the messaging application. At receive/display operation <NUM>, the messaging application may receive the login URL and display the login URL to the user. At receive input/open window operation <NUM>, the messaging application may receive user input (e.g., via a click, touch, swipe, hover, etc., on the login URL) and may open a window within the messaging application to navigate via the bot website (at host operation <NUM>) to a webpage associated with the login URL for the third-party application. In aspects, when the user navigates to the login URL, a trust boundary <NUM> may be crossed between the messaging application and the third-party application.

At receive/verify user login operation <NUM>, when the user accesses the login URL and enters user credentials, the third-party application may receive and verify the user credentials for the user's account. For instance, the third-party application may compare the user credentials to a store of user credentials maintained by one or more servers executing the third-party application.

If the user credentials are verified, the third-party application may generate an authorization code and may pass (or send) the access token to the bot website at receive/verify user login operation <NUM>. In aspects, the authorization code may have a short expiration time (e.g., <NUM> minutes). In this case, at receive authorization/request access token operation <NUM>, the bot website may receive the authorization code from the third-party application and request an access token, which may have a longer lifetime. Based on the authorization code and/or any other suitable determination, at generate/send operation <NUM>, the third-party application may generate and send an access token (AT) to the bot website. At receive operation <NUM>, the bot website may receive the access token.

In some cases, as detailed above, in order to access the bot within the messaging application, the messaging application may pass the user ID to the bot website. In this case, the user ID may authenticate the user requesting access to the bot to the bot website. Additionally, whereas the bot may be a web application hosted by or accessed within the messaging application, the bot may be executed on and/or in direct communication with the bot website.

As detailed above, the bot website may be unable to verify that the user accessing the bot within the messaging application is the same user who entered user credentials into the login URL for the third-party application. Thus, at receive operation <NUM>, while the bot website may receive an access token for the user's account associated with the third-party application, the bot website may be unable to authenticate the user. In this case, at generate nonce operation <NUM>, the bot website may generates a nonce. A nonce is a unique arbitrary number that may only be used once. Additionally, at generate nonce operation <NUM>, the bot website may associate the access token (AT) received from the third-party application with the nonce and may store the nonce-AT in a cache. In aspects, the nonce may be indexed in the cache based on the user ID, or may simply be stored with the access token. In further aspects, the cache may include a collection of stored nonces.

At receive nonce operation <NUM>, the messaging application may receive the nonce from the bot website. In some aspects, the bot website may pass the nonce to the messaging application along with the user ID.

At pass operation <NUM>, the messaging application may pass the nonce back to the bot via an invisible message (not shown). That is, upon receiving the nonce from the bot website, the messaging application may identify the user (e.g., based on the user ID) and pass the nonce via an invisible message to the bot communicating with the user within the messaging application. As detailed above, an "invisible" message may be a message that is not visible to the user and/or not manually implemented by the user.

At receive operation <NUM>, the bot may receive the nonce from the messaging application and the bot may access the cache of nonces stored by the bot website at generate nonce operation <NUM> to perform determination operation <NUM>. As should be appreciated, while the bot is accessed from within the messaging application, the bot may be executing on and/or in direct communication with the bot website.

At determination operation <NUM>, the bot may determine whether the nonce received from the messaging application (e.g., the received nonce) matches a stored nonce within the cache. If the received nonce does not match a stored nonce, the user cannot be authenticated and the method ends. In this case, the bot may not access the user's account on the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®) and the bot may provide a notification to the user that the request to access the third-party application cannot be completed. Alternatively, if the received nonce matches a stored nonce in the cache, the method may progress to optional associate operation <NUM>.

At optional associate operation <NUM>, the bot (or the messaging application) may associate the access token for the third-party application with the user ID for the messaging application. In this case, for subsequent requests to access the user's account for the third-party application, the bot may determine that the user ID has been authenticated for the third-party application and the bot may proceed directly to allow access operation <NUM>.

At allow access operation <NUM>, the third-party application may allow the bot to access the user's account on the third-party application. In some cases, before allowing access at allow access operation <NUM>, the third-party application may receive and verify the access token from the bot (or the messaging application). In aspects, the access token may be passed within the user ID to the third-party application, within a message from the bot (or the messaging application) to the third-party application, or otherwise.

At receive access operation <NUM>, the bot within the messaging application may receive access to information in the user account for the third-party application (e.g., photos posted to Instagram®). In some aspects, once the bot is authenticated with the third-party application, the bot may subsequently access the user account without repeated authentication (e.g., based on the user ID associated with the access token). In further aspects, the access token may be associated with an expiration date. After such expiration date, the bot (or the messaging application) may be required to re-authenticate with the third-party application.

By utilizing these steps, the third-party application servers, the bot website servers, and the electronic devices associated with the system disclosed herein may all communicate silently (or invisibly) to the user. Furthermore, the user and/or the developer may not incur an additional burden. For instance, successful authentication of the user may occur without the user being required to manually copy and paste a magic number and/or without the developer being required to verify a signature.

As should be appreciated, the various methods, devices, components, etc., described with respect to <FIG> are not intended to limit system <NUM> to being performed by the particular components described. Accordingly, additional topology configurations may be used to practice the methods and systems herein and/or components described may be excluded without departing from the methods and systems disclosed herein.

<FIG> illustrates an example interface associated with a chat bot within a chat application.

In order to initiate the system of securely authenticating a user of a bot accessed within a messaging application, the user may first open a message application (e.g., "Chat App") on an electronic device, such as mobile device <NUM>. In some aspects, the Chat App may include a chat bot for communicating with the user. For instance, to communicate with the chat bot, the user may enter a message 404A into an interface associated with the Chat App. In some cases, the user may request the chat bot to access information in the user's account associated with a third-party application (not shown). For instance, the user may request the chat bot to access photos that the user posted within the user's Instagram® account (not shown).

In response to receiving the request to access the third-party application, the chat bot may determine whether the user ID associated with the Chat App is authenticated to access the user account associated with the third-party application. If the user ID is authenticated, the chat bot may proceed to access the photos requested by the user within the user's Instagram® account. Alternatively, as illustrated by <FIG>, if the user ID has not been authenticated for the third-party application, the chat bot may provide a prompt to the user (from within the Chat App) that authentication is required.

<FIG> illustrates an example interface associated with a chat bot within a chat application displaying an authentication prompt.

In the event that the user ID has not been previously authenticated to access the requested third-party application, the chat bot within Chat App may prompt the user to log into the third-party application through an authentication prompt <NUM>. The user may select the authentication prompt <NUM>, which may open a window in the Chat App with a login URL for redirecting the user to the login page of the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®). As described previously, a user may log into the third-party application via the login URL and, upon verification of the user's login credentials, the third-party application may transmit an authentication code (and, thereafter, an access token) to a webpage associated with the chat bot.

However, at this point, the bot website is unable to verify that the user who entered the login credentials into the login URL is the same user accessing the chat bot within the Chat App. Accordingly, to authenticate the user, the bot website generates and caches a nonce, which is a unique arbitrary value. The nonce is then passed to the messaging application (Chat App), which then passes the nonce to the chat bot via a message that is invisible to the user. The chat bot may then verify that the received nonce matches the cached nonce that was created and cached by the bot website. If the received nonce and the cached nonce match, the user is authenticated and the chat bot can use the access token received from the third-party application (e.g., Instagram®) to access the photos requested by the user within the user's Instagram® account.

<FIG> illustrates an example of how a chat application may communicate with third-party application server(s) and bot website server(s).

In one example aspect, a user on an electronic device, such as mobile device <NUM>, may be prompted by the chat bot within a window of a chat application to enter login credentials for a third-party application. The user may select the authentication prompt <NUM> (see <FIG>) and be redirected to a login page of the third-party application. For instance, when the user selects the authentication prompt <NUM>, the prompt may change to a processing wheel <NUM>. Upon clicking the login URL (which may be provided in a window within or overlaying the interface associated with device <NUM>, not shown), the user may then enter login credentials into a webpage that is executing on and/or communicating via network(s) <NUM> with the third-party application server(s) <NUM>. The login credentials may be verified by the third-party application server(s) <NUM>, and an authorization code (and, thereafter, an access token) may be created and passed to the bot website server(s) <NUM> via network(s) <NUM>. Network(s) <NUM> may include any combination of one or more local-area networks (e.g., LAN) and/or wide-area network(s) (e.g., WAN), private networks (e.g., intranet) and/or public networks (e.g., the Internet), for communicating information between mobile device <NUM>, servers <NUM>, and/or servers <NUM>.

However, as detailed above, the third-party bot website server(s) <NUM> may be unable to verify that the user who entered credentials into the webpage associated with the third-party application is the same user accessing the chat bot within the chat application. At this point, the bot website server(s) <NUM> may receive the access token and create a nonce. The nonce may be cached with the access token and the nonce may then be passed back to the chat application (e.g., Chat App) that is running on mobile device <NUM>. The chat application may then pass the nonce to the chat bot within the chat application via an invisible message. The chat bot may then compare the received nonce with the cached nonce. If the received nonce and the cached nonce match, the chat bot (or the Chat App) may then associate the user ID for the Chat App with the access token received from the third-party application server(s) <NUM>.

The communication among the chat application, the chat bot, the third-party application and its servers, and the third-party bot website and its servers may occur in the background (i.e., invisible to the user). In this way, the user is not required to enter a "magic number" received from the third-party bot website, or otherwise manually authenticate him- or herself. Thus, the nonce generation and verification is automatic and secure.

<FIG> illustrates a successful authentication of a bot user via a web application.

After the bot ensures that the received nonce value and the cached nonce value match, then a login successful message <NUM> may be displayed on mobile device <NUM>. Additionally, the chat bot may access requested information associated with the user's account for the third-party application. Subsequently, once authenticated, the chat bot may access the user's account for the third-party application based on the access token associated with the user ID for the Chat App. However, as discussed previously, if a triggering event occurs or a certain time period elapses, for example, the access token may be invalid and/or expired. In this instance, a bot user may need to re-enter login credentials into the third-party application to retrieve a new access token, which may require re-authentication of the bot user to the third-party bot website.

<FIG> and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operating environments in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respect to <FIG> are for purposes of example and illustration and are not limiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that may be utilized for practicing aspects of the disclosure, as described herein.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example physical components (e.g., hardware) of a computing device <NUM> with which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. The computing device components described below may have computer-executable instructions for implementing an authentication manager <NUM> on a computing device (e.g., server computing device and/or client computing device). The computer-executable instructions for an authentication manager <NUM> can be executed to implement the methods disclosed herein, including a method of automatically authenticating a bot user via a web application. In a basic configuration, the computing device <NUM> may include at least one processing unit <NUM> and a system memory <NUM>. Depending on the configuration and type of computing device, the system memory <NUM> may comprise, but is not limited to, volatile storage (e.g., random access memory), non-volatile storage (e.g., read-only memory), flash memory, or any combination of such memories. The system memory <NUM> may include an operating system <NUM> and one or more program modules <NUM> suitable for running an authentication manager <NUM>, and, in particular, an nonce generator <NUM>, a nonce verifier <NUM>, an application communication manager <NUM>, and/or UX Component <NUM>.

The operating system <NUM>, for example, may be suitable for controlling the operation of the computing device <NUM>. Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operating systems, or any other application program and is not limited to any particular application or system. This basic configuration is illustrated in <FIG> by those components within a dashed line <NUM>. The computing device <NUM> may have additional features or functionality. For example, the computing device <NUM> may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in <FIG> by a removable storage device <NUM> and a non-removable storage device <NUM>.

As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored in the system memory <NUM>. While executing on the processing unit <NUM>, the program modules <NUM> (e.g., authentication manager <NUM>) may perform processes including, but not limited to, the aspects, as described herein. Other program modules that may be used in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, and in particular for automatically authenticating a bot user via a web application, may include nonce generator <NUM>, nonce verifier <NUM>, application communication manager <NUM>, and/or UX Component <NUM>, etc..

For example, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of the components illustrated in <FIG> may be integrated onto a single integrated circuit. Such an SOC device may include one or more processing units, graphics units, communications units, system virtualization units and various application functionality all of which are integrated (or "burned") onto the chip substrate as a single integrated circuit. When operating via an SOC, the functionality, described herein, with respect to the capability of client to switch protocols may be operated via application-specific logic integrated with other components of the computing device <NUM> on the single integrated circuit (chip). Embodiments of the disclosure may also be practiced using other technologies capable of performing logical operations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced within a general-purpose computer or in any other circuits or systems.

The computing device <NUM> may also have one or more input device(s) <NUM> such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound or voice input device, a touch or swipe input device, etc. The output device(s) <NUM> such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. The computing device <NUM> may include one or more communication connections <NUM> allowing communications with other computing devices <NUM>. Examples of suitable communication connections <NUM> include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.

Computer storage media may include tangible storage media such as RAM, ROM, electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device <NUM>. Any such tangible computer storage media may be part of the computing device <NUM>. Computer storage media may be non-transitory media that does not include a carrier wave or other propagated or modulated data signal.

<FIG> and <FIG> illustrate a mobile computing device <NUM>, for example, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, wearable computer (such as a smart watch or head- mounted display for virtual reality applications), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and the like, with which embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced. In some aspects, the client may be a mobile computing device. With reference to <FIG>, one aspect of a mobile computing device <NUM> for implementing the aspects is illustrated. In a basic configuration, the mobile computing device <NUM> is a handheld computer having both input elements and output elements. The mobile computing device <NUM> typically includes a display <NUM> and one or more input buttons <NUM> that allow the user to enter information into the mobile computing device <NUM>. The display <NUM> of the mobile computing device <NUM> may also function as an input device (e.g., a touch screen display). If included, an optional side input element <NUM> allows further user input. The side input element <NUM> may be a rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element. In alternative aspects, mobile computing device <NUM> may incorporate more or less input elements. For example, the display <NUM> may not be a touch screen in some embodiments. In yet another alternative embodiment, the mobile computing device <NUM> is a portable phone system, such as a cellular phone. The mobile computing device <NUM> may also include an optional keypad <NUM>. Optional keypad <NUM> may be a physical keypad or a "soft" keypad generated on the touch screen display. In various embodiments, the output elements include the display <NUM> for showing a graphical user interface (GUI), a visual indicator <NUM> (e.g., a light emitting diode), and/or an audio transducer <NUM> (e.g., a speaker). In some aspects, the mobile computing device <NUM> incorporates a vibration transducer for providing the user with tactile feedback. In yet another aspect, the mobile computing device <NUM> incorporates input and/or output ports, such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audio output (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port) for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of one aspect of a mobile computing device. That is, the mobile computing device <NUM> can incorporate a system (e.g., an architecture) <NUM> to implement some aspects. In one embodiment, the system <NUM> is implemented as a "smart phone" capable of running one or more applications (e.g., browser, e-mail, calendaring, contact managers, messaging clients, games, and media clients/players). In some aspects, the system <NUM> is integrated as a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant (PDA) and wireless phone.

One or more application programs <NUM> may be loaded into the memory <NUM> and run on or in association with the operating system <NUM>. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. The system <NUM> also includes a non-volatile storage area <NUM> within the memory <NUM>. The non-volatile storage area <NUM> may be used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system <NUM> is powered down. The application programs <NUM> may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area <NUM>, such as email or other messages used by an email application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system <NUM> and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area <NUM> synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory <NUM> and run on the mobile computing device <NUM>, including the instructions for automatically authenticating a bot user via a web application (e.g., nonce generator <NUM>, nonce verifier <NUM>, application communication manager <NUM>, and/or UX Component <NUM>, etc.).

The power supply <NUM> may further include an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.

The visual indicator <NUM> may be used to provide visual notifications, and/or an audio interface <NUM> may be used for producing audible notifications via an audio transducer <NUM> (e.g., audio transducer <NUM> illustrated in <FIG>). In the illustrated embodiment, the visual indicator <NUM> is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer <NUM> may be a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply <NUM> so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor <NUM> and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface <NUM> is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer <NUM>, the audio interface <NUM> may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the microphone may also serve as an audio sensor to facilitate control of notifications, as will be described below. The system <NUM> may further include a video interface <NUM> that enables an operation of peripheral device <NUM> (e.g., on-board camera) to record still images, video stream, and the like.

As should be appreciated, <FIG> and <FIG> are described for purposes of illustrating the present methods and systems and are not intended to limit the disclosure to a particular sequence of steps or a particular combination of hardware or software components.

<FIG> illustrates one aspect of the architecture of a system for processing data received at a computing system from a remote source, such as a general computing device <NUM> (e.g., personal computer), tablet computing device <NUM>, or mobile computing device <NUM>, as described above. Content displayed at server device <NUM> may be stored in different communication channels or other storage types. For example, various documents may be stored using a directory service <NUM>, a web portal <NUM>, a mailbox service <NUM>, an instant messaging store <NUM>, or a social networking service <NUM>. The authentication manager <NUM> may be employed by a client that communicates with server device <NUM>, and/or the authentication manager <NUM> may be employed by server device <NUM>. The server device <NUM> may provide data to and from a client computing device such as a general computing device <NUM>, a tablet computing device <NUM> and/or a mobile computing device <NUM> (e.g., a smart phone) through a network <NUM>. By way of example, the computer system described above with respect to <FIG> may be embodied in a general computing device <NUM> (e.g., personal computer), a tablet computing device <NUM> and/or a mobile computing device <NUM> (e.g., a smart phone). Any of these embodiments of the computing devices may obtain content from the store <NUM>, in addition to receiving graphical data useable to either be preprocessed at a graphic-originating system or post-processed at a receiving computing system.

As should be appreciated, <FIG> is described for purposes of illustrating the present methods and systems and is not intended to limit the disclosure to a particular sequence of steps or a particular combination of hardware or software components.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary tablet computing device <NUM> that may execute one or more aspects disclosed herein. In addition, the aspects and functionalities described herein may operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions may be operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. User interfaces and information of various types may be displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types may be displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which embodiments of the invention may be practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.

In aspects, a processor-implemented method of authenticating a user of a web application in provided. The method includes receiving, by a first application hosting a web application, a request to access a second application, where the second application is remote from the first application. When access to the second application is not authorized for the web application, the method includes opening a window within the first application that provides a link to the second application, where the link is operable to receive user access credentials for the second application. The method further includes receiving, by the first application, a nonce from a web service associated with the web application and sending, by the first application, the nonce to the web application via an invisible message. Based on a match between the sent nonce and a stored nonce of a collection of stored nonces, the method also includes receiving authentication of the user of the web application and opening a window within the first application for accessing the second application via the web application.

In further aspects, a system for authenticating a user of a web application is provided. The system includes at least one processing unit and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processing unit cause the system to perform a method. The method includes receiving, by a first application hosting a web application, a request to access a second application, where the second application is remote from the first application. When access to the second application is not authorized for the web application, the method further includes opening a window within the first application that provides a link to the second application, where the link is operable to receive user access credentials for the second application. Additionally, the method includes receiving, by the first application, a nonce from a web service associated with the web application and sending, by the first application, the nonce to the web application via an invisible message. The method also includes receiving a confirmation that the sent nonce matches a cached nonce and, based on the confirmation, opening a window within the first application for accessing the second application via the web application.

In still further aspects, a computer storage medium is provided. The computer storage medium includes computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processing unit perform a method of authenticating a user of a web application. The method further includes receiving, by a first application hosting a web application, a request to access a second application, where the second application is remote from the first application. When access to the second application is not authorized for the web application, the method further includes opening a window within the first application that provides a link to the second application, where the link is operable to receive user access credentials for the second application. Additionally, the method includes receiving, by the first application, a nonce from a web service associated with the web application and sending, by the first application, the nonce to the web application via an invisible message. Based on a match between the sent nonce and a stored nonce of a collection of stored nonces, the method includes receiving authentication of the user of the web application and opening a window within the first application for accessing the second application via the web application.

The embodiments of the disclosure described herein are implemented as logical steps in one or more computer systems. The logical operations of the present disclosure are implemented (<NUM>) as a sequence of processor-implemented steps executing in one or more computer systems and (<NUM>) as interconnected machine or circuit modules within one or more computer systems. The implementation is a matter of choice, dependent on the performance requirements of the computer system implementing the disclosure. Accordingly, the logical operations making up the embodiments of the disclosure described herein are referred to variously as operations, steps, objects, or modules. Furthermore, it should be understood that logical operations may be performed in any order, unless explicitly claimed otherwise or a specific order is inherently necessitated by the claim language.

Claim 1:
A processor-implemented method (<NUM>) of authenticating a user of a web application to allow access to a second application, comprising:
receiving (<NUM>), by a first application hosting the web application, a request to access the second application, wherein the second application is remote from the first application;
when access to the second application is not authorized for the web application based on a user identifier for the first application, displaying (<NUM>), by the first application, a link to the second application, wherein the link is operable to receive user access credentials for the second application;
wherein the second application receives (<NUM>) the user access credentials and verifies the user access credentials for an account of the user;
wherein upon verifying the user access credentials, the second application sends an access token to a web service associated with the web application;
receiving (<NUM>), by the first application, a nonce from the web service associated with the web application, wherein the web service generates the nonce in response to receiving the access token from the second application;
sending (<NUM>), by the first application, the nonce to the web application via a secure message, the secure message being at least one of not visible to the user, not manually implemented by the user;
determining (<NUM>), by the web application, whether the sent nonce matches a stored nonce of a collection of stored nonces, wherein if there is a match between the sent nonce and a stored nonce of a collection of stored nonces, the web application is authenticated to access the second application; and
opening a window within the first application for accessing the second application via the web application.