Granted Patent B2

US 7,200,661 · App. 09/741,425 · Granted Apr 3, 2007

Abstract

Claims (75)

1. A method of registering one or more workstations associated with a computer network, comprising the steps of:

enabling a client terminal to access the computer network;

determining whether the client terminal comprises a workstation object;

if a determination is made that the workstation object is not present on the client terminal, obtaining workstation registration information including at least one of a client terminal name, a client terminal location, and an Internet protocol address corresponding to the client terminal;

locating an import service;

transmitting the workstation registration information from the client terminal to the import service;

accessing criteria to enable creation of the workstation object;

creating the workstation object based on at least a portion of the workstation registration information; and

receiving the workstation object at the client terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of locating the import service uses a Domain Name System.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the Domain Name System provides the client terminal with an Internet protocol address for the import service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workstation object comprises client terminal information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workstation object comprises user profile information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workstation object comprises an Internet protocol address for the client terminal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workstation object comprises information regarding a server in communication with the client terminal.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of removing the workstation object from the client terminal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of removing may be performed automatically after a predetermined period of time.

10. A system for registering one or more workstations that are associated with a computer network, comprising:

a client terminal that enables a user to access the computer network;

a workstation object determining module that determines whether the client terminal comprises a workstation object;

an import service locating module, in communication with the workstation object determining module, that locates an import service if a determination is made that the workstation object does not exist on the client terminal;

a registration information transmitting module, in communication with the import service locating module, that obtains workstation registration information including at least one of a client terminal name, a client terminal location, and an Internet protocol address corresponding to the client terminal, and transmits the workstation registration information from the client terminal to the import service;

a workstation object creating module that creates the workstation object based on at least a portion of the workstation registration information;

a workstation object storing module that stores the workstation object.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the import service locating module uses a Domain Name System to locate the import service.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the Domain Name System provides the client terminal with an Internet protocol address for the import service.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a criteria applying module that applies at least one criteria when creating the workstation object.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the workstation object storing module stores the workstation object at the client terminal.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the workstation object comprises client terminal information.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the workstation object comprises an Internet protocol address for the client terminal.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the workstation object comprises information regarding a server in communication with the client terminal.

18. A method of registering one or more workstations associated with a client terminal, comprising the steps of:

determining whether the client terminal comprises a workstation object;

if a determination is made that the workstation object is present on the client terminal, obtaining workstation registration information corresponding to the client terminal;

determining whether an identifier for the workstation object has been modified;

registering the one or more workstations associated with the workstation object if a determination is made that the identifier for the workstation object has not been modified; and

updating the workstation object to include the workstation registration information.

19. A method of registering one or more workstations associated with at least one client terminal, comprising the steps of:

establishing a communication with the at least one client terminal;

obtaining workstation registration information corresponding to the at least one client terminal;

creating, remotely from the client terminal, a workstation object based on at least a portion of the workstation registration information; and

transmitting the workstation object to the at least one client terminal.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising the step of applying at least one criteria to the workstation registration information.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the workstation object comprises client terminal information.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the workstation object comprises an Internet protocol address for the at least one client terminal.

23. The method of claim 19 , wherein the workstation object comprises information regarding a server in communication with the at least one client terminal.

24. A method of registering one or more workstations associated with a client terminal, comprising the steps of:

determining whether the client terminal comprises a workstation object;

if a determination is made that the workstation object is present on the client terminal, obtaining workstation registration information corresponding to the client terminal;

calling an import service to determine whether an identifier associated with the workstation object has been modified;

if the identifier associated with the workstation object has modified enabling the import service to locate the workstation object; and

synchronizing the workstation with the workstation object, including updating the identifier associated with the workstation object.

25. A method for enabling a service to perform at least one task, comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one task that is requested to be performed by the service;

enabling the service to determine a system that is capable of performing the at least one task;

determining whether the service has rights to perform the at least one task;

if a determination is made that the service has rights to perform the at least one task, granting permission to the system to perform the at least one task;

searching a policy governing the service for criteria relating to the at least one task; and

determining whether the policy identifies at least one rule to be applied to perform the at least one task.

26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising the step of applying the at least one rule to perform the at least one task, if the at least one rule is identified.

27. The method of claim 25 , further comprising the step of performing at least one task whether or not at least one rule is identified.

28. The method of claim 25 , wherein the system is a directory.

29. The method of claim 25 , wherein the step of searching a policy comprises searching a policy object.

30. A device for enabling a service to perform at least one task, comprising:

a receiving module that receives at least one task that is requested to be performed by the service;

a system determining module that determines a system that is capable of performing the at least one task;

an access determining module that determines whether the service has rights to perform the at least one task using the system;

a system accessing module that accesses the system if a determination is made that the service has access rights to perform the at least one task using the system;

a searching module that searches a policy governing the service to identify rules related to the at least one task; and

a rule determining module that identifies one or more rules to be applied to the at least one task.

31. The device of claim 30 , further comprising a rule applying module that applies the one or more rules to be applied to the at least one task.

32. The device of claim 31 , further comprising a task performing module that performs the one or more tasks.

33. The device of claim 30 , further comprising a task performing module that performs the one or more tasks.

34. The device of claim 31 , Wherein the system is a directory.

35. The device of claim 31 , wherein the searching module searches a policy object.

Assignments (15)