Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Kerry S Schwartz

James E Allard

David R Dickman

Luis Fernando Abdala

Boyd Cannon Multerer

Kim A Stebbens

The multi-server, location-independent authentication certificate management system overcomes the limitations of the existing systems by automating the authentication certificate request, grant and installation processes. Much of the data used to create the authentication certificate request is readily available information, such as: requestor identification, Internet locus, date, time. The authentication certificate management system populates the certificate request with the available data and then prompts the user to provide the additional data in a simple manner, verifying the form and format of the input data. This automation of the authentication certificate request generation minimizes the number of malformed authentication certificate requests. In addition, the authentication certificate management system is capable of being installed on a shared basis, wherein multiple servers and/or multiple services are provided with the authentication certificate from a centralized source. The authentication certificate management system automatically tracks the expiration date of the authentication certificate and also ensures the secure storage of the RSA encryption cryptographic key pair as well as the authentication certificate itself.

Multi-server location-independent authentication certificate management

A client computer has a facility for encapsulating location information, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), for a resource that is available on a server computer. The facility is especially well-adapted for use with Internet documents. The location information for such a resource is encapsulated into an object known as an Internet shortcut. The Internet shortcut may created through a drag and drop operation from a link to the desktop. Appearing as an icon, the shortcut is used to gain access to the underlying resource. The Internet shortcut icon holds a link to a remote resource and will automatically activate the web browser when selected. The Internet shortcut icons may be implemented as objects that are visible on the desktop of the operating system. File operations such as copy, delete, and copy may be performed on the Internet shortcut icon through a context menu. In addition, Internet shortcuts may be transferred to E-mail, facsimile, floppy disk destinations through a context menu.

Automatically activating a browser with internet shortcuts on the desktop

A client computer has a facility for encapsulating location information, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), for a resource that is available on a server computer. The facility is especially well-adapted for use with Internet documents. The location information for such a resource is encapsulated into an object known as an Internet shortcut. The Internet shortcut appears to a user as an icon that may be used to gain access to the underlying resource. The Internet shortcut icon holds a link to a remote resource and will automatically activate the web browser when selected. The Internet shortcut icons may be implemented as objects that are visible on the desktop of the operating system. File operations such as copy, delete, and copy may be performed on the Internet shortcut icon through a context menu. In addition, Internet shortcuts may be transferred to E-mail, facsimile, floppy disk destinations through a context menu.

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Kerry S Schwartz