Patent ID: 7703023

Claim:
A method comprising: associating each of a plurality of personas of a client with a corresponding one of a plurality of other clients comprising a first client and a second client, wherein each persona: provides an external representation of the client; is configured for use with a plurality of service providers over a network, the plurality of service providers providing a plurality of services of different types comprising a first service of a first type and a second service of a second type; and is accessible via a client account using a single sign-in credential provided via a client computer, wherein the client account is managed by a persona manager module as part of an authentication system located on the network and the client account includes client data to represent the client to the plurality of services of different types, the authentication system being separate from at least one of the service providers and the client computer; and automatically interacting with the first client in the first service using the corresponding persona associated with the first client and interacting with the second client in the second service using the corresponding persona associated with the second client through the authentication system, wherein the authentication system is configured such that, once the client is signed-in to the first type of service using the single sign-in credential, each of the plurality of services of different types including the second service is accessible to the client without the client submitting an additional sign-in credential.