Patent ID: 7434253

Claim:
An authentication method for authenticating a first computing device to a second computing device, the authentication method comprising the first computing device sending to the second computing device a certificate identifying the first computing device to the second computing device, and the second computing device at least attempting to map the certificate to an account of the first computing device at an authentication server, the method further comprising: sending a mapping extension indicator from the first computing device to the second computing device separate from the sending of the certificate, the mapping extension indicator specifying that the first computing device can send to the second computing device mapping information to aid the second computing device in locating the account of the first computing device at the authentication server; acknowledging from the second computing device to the first computing device that the second computing device can accept the mapping information separate from the sent certificate pursuant to the received mapping extension indicator; sending the mapping information from the first computing device to the second computing device separate from the sending of the certificate; and locating, by the second computing device, the account of the first computing device at the authentication server based on the sent mapping information.