Patent ID: 7561578

Claim:
A method of traversing an access control identifier (ACI) across intervening service facilities along a network communication path to retain session data throughout a session, comprising the steps of: sending a data request having a header with an ACI from a data source toward a final data destination over a communications path, said path having a first intervening service facility and a second intervening service facility between said data source and said final data destination, said first intervening service facility including at least a first service application with a first memory and a first inter-service transport mechanism, said second intervening service facility including at least a second service application with a second memory and a second inter-service transport mechanism; receiving said data request at said first intervening service facility; reading said ACI in said header and writing said ACI to said first memory; transferring said ACI to said second intervening service facility using said first inter-service transport mechanism and writing said ACI to said second memory; retaining said ACI in said second memory and also transferring, using said second inter-service transport mechanism, said ACI's to a third memory in said second service facility for use later in the session; applying said first service application to said data request; forwarding said data request to said second intervening service facility over said communications path; applying said second service application to said data request by said second service facility; writing said ACI's from said second memory back into said header and placing said data request back on said communications for forwarding to said final data destination such that said ACI's are retained throughout said session; and said communications path including a communications stack having a plurality of layers, said steps of reading and writing being performed at any of said layers having a layer thereabove which does not transition session data.