Patent ID: 7478419

Claim:
A method, comprising: accessing a first policy definition comprising one or more policy constraints, wherein each policy constraint specifies one or more acceptable values for each of one or more vocabulary items of the first policy definition; accessing a second policy definition comprising one or more other policy constraints, each of which specifies one or more acceptable values for one or more other vocabulary items of the second policy definition; wherein one of the acceptable values of the first policy definition and of the acceptable values of the second policy definition for a single vocabulary item common to both the first and second policy definitions are configured in a hierarchical relationship, wherein a narrower one of the acceptable values for the common vocabulary item is defined as a subset of a broader one of the acceptable values for the common vocabulary item; wherein the narrower one of the acceptable values inherits all semantics from the broader acceptable value; determining an intersection policy definition comprising one or more intersection policy constraints specifying one or more acceptable values for the vocabulary item common to both the first and second policy definitions, wherein said determining comprises specifying the narrower one of the acceptable values in one of the one or more intersection policy constraints for the common vocabulary item; and communicating with a device in a distributed computing environment according to the determined intersection policy definition.