Patent ID: 7549173

Claim:
A method for authorizing requested processing by an adjunct program module, the method comprising: receiving a request from a requester module wherein the request includes at least one parameter specified by an invocation interface of the adjunct program module and the at least one parameter includes at least an authorization interface of a requester module, the authorization interface specifying a manner in which a program module can request authentication; requesting a certificate of the requester module using the authorization interface of the requester; receiving a certificate of the requester module using the authorization interface of the requester; requesting authentication from the requester module by submitting authority challenges using the authorization interface, wherein the authority challenges are designed to establish that at least one of the requester module and a prior requester module has possession of a private key associated with the received certificate; receiving responses to the requesting authorization; determining whether the responses authorize processing in response to the request; if the responses do not authorize processing, aborting processing; if the responses do authorize processing: determining whether permissions associated with the certificate are satisfied; if permissions associated with the certificate are not satisfied, aborting the processing; if the permissions are satisfied, performing the processing.