International Business Machines Corporation

Marc A Block

Edith H Stern

Barry Edward Willner

Asser Nasreldin Tantawi

Colin George Harrison

Alan G Ganek

Stephen Brady

Gopalaswamy Soora

Davis A Foulger

Barry Marks

Thomas E Newman

An apparatus and means enabling a user to operate across multiple service domains using a single IDENTIFIER, ID. A Cross Service Association Domain mapping system is used to allow the desired IDENTIFIER and common user integration. A user is able to employ a single appropriate ID to access any of a plurality of services. The apparatus associates and relates all the IDENTIFIERs associated with each common user by maintaining an image of all the IDENTIFIERs for each user for all that user's applications which bridge the service and/or domain boundaries. Once a user is identified with any of the associated user IDENTIFIERs, the means allows the connection and/or routing to and from even otherwise disparate services. Included are a method, apparatus, and architecture which satisfies the above requirements while providing domain service interrelation and a common user image for the resulting interrelation. It provides for real time collaboration for cooperative, shared, and adaptive service network entities. The invention is used to advantage in many existent and developing service and user applications including applications for service support, cross service end user interfaces, service media transformations and multi-media cross services.

Cross service common user image association

Growing community of inventors

Fairfield, CT, United States of America

Marc A Block