Patent ID: 7237024

Claim:
A method for monitoring Web browsing activity across a network of affiliated sites and for enabling said sites to detect and to force re-authentication upon users who have had a period of network-wide inactivity longer than a site-specific maximum allowable inactivity period, wherein said network comprises at least one network authentication server (NAS) which maintains a network-wide activity tracking (NATr) cookie, said NATr cookie comprising a set of network-wide activity tracking (NATr) parameters for each registered user, and wherein each of said sites maintains a site-specific activity tracking (SATr) cookie which comprises a set of site-specific activity tracking (SATr) parameters for each registered user, the method comprising the steps of: (a) requesting, by a user, a page from a site in said network; (b) checking, by said site, whether the user has already been authenticated; (c) if the check result in step (b) is yes, then updating the user's SATr parameters and storing them into said SATr cookie; (d) checking said SATr cookie to determine whether the user has been inactive at said site for longer than said site's maximum allowable inactivity period P max ; (e) if the check result in step (d) is yes, then redirecting the user along with said P max and said site's return URL to a network authentication server (NAS) associated with said network to check the user's network-wide activity; (f) updating, by said NAS, the user's network-wide activity tracking (NATr) parameters and storing them into said NATr cookie; (g) inspecting the user's NATr parameters in said NATr cookie to determine whether the user has been inactive for longer than said P max ; and (h) if the check result in step (g) is yes, then forcing the user to re-authenticate.