Patent ID: 7100207

Claim:
A method for providing at least one user with access to a plurality of computer resources, at least some of which utilize distinct protocols for receiving security information and for providing access to outside systems based on received security information, the method comprising: receiving a request from the at least one user identifying one of the plurality of computer resources; from a set of previously stored records each of which identifies one of the plurality of computer resources and contains security information for allowing access to the computer resource identified in the record, selecting one of the records of the set whose identification of one of the plurality of computer resources is related to the request's identification of one of the plurality of computer resources; and using the security information in the selected record to provide access to the computer resource identified in the request according to the distinct protocol utilized by that resource; wherein the request identifies a specific user; wherein the set of previously stored records is part of a database of records and each record of the database identifies one of the users identifies one of the plurality of computer resources, and contains security information for allowing the user identified in the record to access the computer resource identified in the record; wherein the set of previously stored records is obtained by identifying the records in the database whose identified user corresponds to the user identified in the request; wherein the request's identification of one of the plurality of computer resources comprises one or more values; wherein, for each record of the database, the record's identification of one of the plurality of computer resources comprises one or more values; and wherein the step of selecting one of the records of the set comprises: for each record of the set, comparing the one or more values from the record with the one or more values from the request to determine the number of matches between the values from the record and the values from the request; and wherein the selected record is the record whose values have the highest number of matches with the values from the request.