Patent ID: 7197764

Claim:
A computer implemented system for administration of access control to numerous resources and objects, comprising: a data store for storing objects; a controller for storing and operating resources; a client computer for executing an application program for requesting authorization to the resources and objects; a store of rules about requestors and resources and/or objects for determining whether requested authorizations should be allowed, wherein accessibility to one of a plurality of resources is determined in accordance with a hierarchical representation of said plurality of said resources, said hierarchical representation including at least one parent resource with a first accessibility level and an associated child resource with an accessibility level inherited from said at least one parent resource when a special parameter for said accessibility level is specified for said child resources, each accessibility level being used in adjudicating whether a user or group has access to data associated with a resource; an authorization mechanism in communication with the application program and store of rules for receiving authorization requests from the client computer, consulting the store of rules for determinations whether the requested authorization should be allowed, accessing the data store and/or controller as requested in an authorized request for resources and/or objects, and returning a result from the access to the client computer; and an administrative tool for creating and manipulating the rules about requestors and resources and/or objects, the administrative tool having an application programming interface.