JP2004206187A - Community management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a community service for easily realizing the transfer of the authority owned by a member. <P>SOLUTION: In a community consisting of members 2 having a common interest or background, a transfer certificate for certifying an authority transfer with a condition such as time band, frequency, or bearing of expense is issued, in response to a request from a transferor member having various authorities such as the right to use a service, to a member that is a transferee. When the transferee member uses the authority, the authentication of the transferee member and the verification of whether he/she satisfies the condition for using the authority or not are performed, and a license certificate for certifying the verification result is issued to a service providing agent 3. When the expense is generated by the use of the authority, a divisional charging is performed to the member concerned on the basis of the transfer certificate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an access control technique in a case where a right possessed by an individual is delegated to another member in a community on a network which is a set of individuals meeting some common criteria.
[0002]
[Prior art]
At present, there is a public key infrastructure technology (PKI: Public Key Infrastructure) as an electronic authentication and a specific method, which is used for digitizing business when a company or an individual applies for a government. In the application business, the parties themselves do not always apply, and there may be cases where an agent applies, and in this case, delegation of qualifications and authority from the parties themselves to the agent is required. Technologies for proving qualifications and rights include a rights management infrastructure (PMI) and an attribute certificate.
[0003]
Using these basic technologies, a proxy access technology to resources such as hardware, software, and data on a computer connected to a network has been proposed. As one of them, there is an access authority transfer device, a shared resource management system, and an access authority setting method described in Patent Document 1. In the invention, the delegator having the access right issues a delegation certificate proving temporary transfer of the access right to the target resource or limited transfer of a part of the right. The delegate obtains the certificate, generates an access request in which the proxy process request data and the delegate's signature are added, and the resource management server managing the resource receives the access request and receives the signature. And verify whether the access request is appropriate.
[0004]
Further, in Patent Document 2, a service provider that manages an online service to be delegated verifies the digital signature of the delegation certificate and verifies whether or not the delegation has been invalidated within the validity period. Certificate services to be performed have been proposed. This is characterized in that the delegator can invalidate the certificate even after issuing the delegation certificate.
[0005]
If a fee is newly incurred by exercising the delegated authority, determine whether the delegate or the delegate will bear the fee and investigate whether the bearer has the means to pay. , Need to make a claim. In Patent Document 3, a transferor transfers a settlement token issued by a settlement operator to a delegate, and a merchandise distributor verifies the settlement token acquired from the delegate and bills the settlement operator. The payment operator discloses a method of charging the delegate according to the payment token used. This is characterized in that the fee is reliably charged to the transferor.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-163235
[Patent Document 2]
US Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0083014
[Patent Document 3]
US Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0005839
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to the proxy access technology described in Patent Document 1, when a delegate as an agent makes an access request to a resource management server that manages resources, the delegate described in a delegation certificate accepted from the delegate. The resource management server constantly verifies the “exercise conditions for exercising authority” and determines whether to permit access. However, in order for a service provider that manages resources such as digital content to interpret the exercise conditions described in a delegation certificate issued by another company or member, the meaning of the terms between the two And the format must be determined in advance, and a function for all service providers to verify the exercising conditions is required. For this reason, the subject to which the authority can be delegated and the conditions that can be set as the exercise conditions are limited, and negotiation between the issuer and the service provider is required every time a new exercise condition is created or changed.
[0008]
In addition, in the above technology, the transfer certificate, the public key certificate for personal identification, and the attribute certificate for certifying the authority are managed by the delegator or delegate, which is costly and troublesome for members. It is less convenient. Further, it takes time for the service provider to verify the identity of the delegate who has accessed the service.
[0009]
Further, in the above technique, the delegator and the delegate indicated in the delegation certificate are each one (single). However, delegation of authority when there are multiple delegates, such as delegating the authority to view certain music content to a specific group for a certain period of time, or when purchasing a soccer ticket, soliciting the person who wants to buy it and collecting the ticket The above technique cannot cope with the delegation of authority in a case where there are a plurality of delegators, such as when collecting payment rights for purchase and wanting to collectively purchase tickets at a discount by group purchase discount.
[0010]
In addition, the delegate and the delegate, such as friends and family or members of the same company, are known and may have high trustworthiness with each other, but may meet some common criteria formed on the network. When the trustworthiness of the other party is unknown, such as between members of a community that is a set of individuals, it is necessary to manage the trustworthiness information that is an index for the delegator to select the other party to transfer.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention centrally manages the life cycle of recruiting, issuing, managing, verifying, and revoking a delegation certificate, and easily realizes the delegation of the authority of members.
[0012]
The community management system of the present invention manages information related to a member on a network established by the activity of a member managed by unique identification information, authenticates the member, and proves authentication success. A community member management unit that issues a certificate, issues a delegation certificate in response to a request from a first member terminal having authority, and issues a delegation certificate in response to a request from a second member terminal to which authority is delegated. Issue a temporary ID associated with the certificate, and in response to an access request from the second member terminal and a request from a service provider terminal that has accepted the ID, the exercise condition included in the delegation certificate Verification is performed to determine whether or not a license certificate indicating the verification result is issued. The certificate or attribute certificate of the second member, the delegation certificate, A license management unit that transmits the license certificate to the service provider; and a bill for a fee generated by exercising the delegated authority is received from the service provider and included in the delegation certificate. The system is characterized by including a community settlement agency that performs billing by dividing each member according to settlement conditions that are present and performing settlement agency processing.
[0013]
In the delegation certificate, the community member, the community unit, a role (role) unit in the community, or a combination thereof can be designated as a transfer target person. When the access request is accepted, it is verified whether or not the execution condition is satisfied from the attribute certificate for certifying the attribute of the third member issued by the community member management unit and the delegation certificate. Issuing a certificate.
[0014]
The license management unit manages the plurality of delegation certificates in association with each other, issues an integrated ID indicating the group of the delegation certificates, and exchanges the ID with the second or third member terminal and the service provider terminal. A delegation certificate integration unit is provided, which enables designation of the delegation certificate group by an integrated ID.
[0015]
The community member management unit calculates a credit point indicating a degree of trust based on the number of times the authority has been delegated and the number of times the member has exercised the authority, and searches or recruits a second member to which the first member delegates. Characterized in that the credit points can be used as conditions.
[0016]
In this specification, various documents such as an identity certificate, an attribute certificate, a delegation certificate, and a license certificate are all created as digitized data, and can be transmitted and received via a network. You can do it.
[0017]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
(Network configuration)
FIG. 1 shows a network configuration in a service (hereinafter, this service) that provides a community management system to which the present invention is applied.
[0018]
A company that operates the community management system 1 and provides a community service (hereinafter, referred to as a community service company) may be a community service company, a communication company, or the like.
[0019]
In FIG. 1, the member terminals 2-1 to 2-n, the service provider terminals 3-1 to 3-m, the payment provider terminals 4-1 to 4-p, and a certificate authority as a third party are provided. The certificate authority terminal 5 is connected to the community management system 1 via a network 6 such as the Internet.
[0020]
Members registered in this service can access the community management system 1 using the member terminals 2-1 to 2-n, participate in the community, and use services such as authority transfer described later.
[0021]
Operators that provide various services on a network (hereinafter, referred to as service providers), such as digital content distribution operators, net auction operators, and ticket sales operators, are provided by service provider terminals 3-1 to 3 Access the community management system 1 using −m, obtain the authentication information and the delegation certificate of the member, and provide the service to the member. In addition, it is possible to transmit to the community management system 1 a fee bill for members registered in this service.
[0022]
A service provider (hereinafter referred to as a payment service provider) that pays a fee for a bank, a credit company, a convenience store, or the like using the payment service provider terminals 4-1 to 4-p may be a community service service provider, It may be a business. Further, the settlement operator terminal may be operated jointly by a plurality of settlement operators.
[0023]
The certificate authority that uses the certificate authority terminal 5 is a third party organization that issues an electronic certificate to a community service provider, various service providers, members, and the like. The certificate authority terminal 5 sends a public key and a public key certificate for verifying signatures applied to various certificates such as a delegation certificate, an identity certificate, an attribute certificate, and a license certificate to a service provider. Used for acquisition and / or verification. The public key certificate is registered in advance by a community management company in a certificate authority. The steps of obtaining and verifying a public key and a public key certificate are performed as necessary in the following embodiments, and are not specified.
[0024]
(System configuration)
The system configuration and functional module configuration of the community management system 1 will be specifically described. The community management system 1 includes a community management server 10, a member management server 11, an affiliated service provider management server 12, and a settlement server 13. Also, the network 6 is omitted in the figure.
[0025]
The member management server 11, the affiliated service provider management server 12, and the settlement server 13 are assumed to be the existing facilities for the member management, the affiliated service provider management, the settlement management, etc., which the business operator that operates this service already has. The community management server 10 is a server device newly added by the business operator.
[0026]
Further, the community management server 10 includes a community member management unit 21, a license management unit 22, a community settlement agent unit 23, a member information DB 24, a community information DB 25, an authority transfer information DB 26, and a billing information DB 27. Here, the function of the community management server 10 is realized by one server device, but may be realized by a plurality of devices.
[0027]
The community member management unit 21 is connected to the member terminals 2-1 to 2-n via the network 6, generates various web contents, and publishes them to the network. Then, a new community member registration process, a new community registration, a member authentication process when using various services, an issuance of an identity certificate for certifying the identity of the member and management of an issuance log, and / or Issuance of attribute certificates for certifying attributes and management of issue logs. In addition, for each member who is a community member, a credit point indicating the degree of trust of the member is calculated and managed based on an index such as the number of times the authority has been transferred from another member and the number of times the member has exercised the authority.
[0028]
The community member management unit 21 holds a member information management table in which member information is registered in the member information DB 24. In the member information management table, member attributes such as member ID, name, handle name, age, address, mail address, matters of interest, and settlement information (for example, credit card number) are registered. These pieces of information may be data that refers to member information that the member management server 11 already has. Further, when the member participates in the community, information on the community ID of the participating community, the community name, the date of the community contract, the role of the member in the community (administrator, etc.), the authority delegated in the community (eg, delegation certificate) The attribute related to the community, such as information on the authority delegated in the community (eg, delegation certificate ID), the number of times the authority has been delegated in the community, and the number of times the delegated authority has been exercised, is the member information. Added to the management table.
[0029]
In addition, the community member management unit 21 holds a session information management table for managing temporary session information for exercising authority in the member information DB 24. The session information management table includes, for example, a handle ID allocated to a temporary session, an identity certificate and / or an attribute certificate of an authenticated member, or an ID of the certificate, information on a delegated authority to exercise. Information necessary for exercising the delegated authority, such as a delegation certificate ID, is temporarily stored.
[0030]
The community member management unit 21 holds a community information management table, which is registered when a member newly creates a community, in the community information DB 25. In the community information management table, for example, a community ID, a community name, an object of community interest, the number of members, a list of members, a community manager name, a contracted service provider name, and the like are registered.
[0031]
The license management unit 22 is connected to the member terminals 2-1 to 2-n via the network 6, and in accordance with a request from the member terminals 2-1 to 2-n, a delegation certificate describing authority delegation information. Issuance, verification of whether the exercise conditions included in the delegation certificate are satisfied, issuance of a license certificate proving that the conditions are satisfied, invalidation of the delegation certificate, and issued license Manage certificate issuance logs.
[0032]
Further, the license management unit 22 holds a delegation certificate management table registered when the delegation certificate is issued in the authority delegation information DB 26. In the management table, for example, a certificate ID, an issuer, a status indicating validity or invalidity, the number of times exercised, an expiration date, and the like are registered.
[0033]
In addition, the license management unit 22 holds a delegation document integration information table for managing a plurality of delegation certificates with one integrated ID in the authority delegation information DB 26. In the management table, for example, an integrated ID, IDs of a plurality of associated delegation certificates, and the like are registered.
[0034]
Further, the license management unit 22 is connected to the service provider terminals 3-1 to 3-m via the network 6, and has accessed in response to a request from the service provider terminals 3-1 to 3-m. The member certificate, the delegation certificate, and the license certificate are transmitted.
[0035]
The community settlement agency 23 receives a bill for a fee generated by exercising the delegated authority from the service provider terminals 3-1 to 3-m via the network 6, and receives the bill and the delegation. According to the payment conditions included in the certificate, a divided bill is created for the corresponding member, and the payment proxy process is performed via the payment server 13. The settlement server 13 is connected to the settlement operator terminals 4-1 to 4-p via the network 6.
[0036]
The settlement conditions are determined in accordance with one of the following methods of sharing the fee between the delegating member and the delegated member.
(1) Delegate member and delegate member are one-to-one: split into delegate member or delegate member or both
(2) When the delegate member and the delegate member are many-to-one: split by the delegate member, or split only by the delegate member, or both
(3) When the delegating member and the delegated member are one-to-many or many-to-many: Only those who exercised the authority split by the delegating member or split or delegated by the delegating member
Further, the community settlement agency 23 holds the bill received from the service provider and the divided bill created for the corresponding member in the bill information DB 27.
[0037]
(Hardware configuration)
As shown in FIG. 2, the community management server 10 includes a memory 101, a secondary storage device (called a hard disk) 102 such as a hard disk storing various programs (community management program, OS, etc.) and various data, and a hard disk 102 to a memory 101. A CPU 103 for loading and executing a program (for example, a community management program 100), an input / output interface 104, and a communication line 105 such as a bus connecting these components. A display device 106, an input device (keyboard or the like) 107, a drive 108 to which a portable storage medium is mounted, a network control device 109 for controlling data transmission to and from a communication line, and the like are connected to the input / output interface 104. Have been.
[0038]
The community management server 10 realizes the functional components 21, 22, and 23 that provide community services by the CPU 103 executing the community management program 100.
[0039]
The other terminals shown in FIG. 1, that is, the member management server 11, the affiliated service provider management server 12, the payment server 13, the service provider terminal 3, the payment provider terminal 4, and the certificate authority terminal 5 Except for the difference in the program, it has the same configuration as the community management server 10.
[0040]
(Identity certificate)
FIG. 3 shows an example of a data configuration of an identity certificate 30 issued and managed by the community member management unit 21. The identity certificate 30 is data for certifying the identity of the authenticated member, and includes data describing authenticator identification information (for example, member ID) for identifying the authenticated member, and community service of the issuer. It consists of a digital signature given to these data by the business operator. The identity certificate 30 shown in FIG. 3 includes a certificate ID, a member ID, an authentication domain name, a community name, an authentication method, a validity period, an issuer name, an issuer contact, an issue date and time, and a digital signature. ing.
[0041]
(Attribute certificate)
FIG. 4 shows a data configuration example of the attribute certificate 31 issued and managed by the community member management unit 21. The attribute certificate 31 is data for certifying the attribute of the authenticated member, and includes data describing attribute information such as a role, a gender, and the name of a community to which the attribute of the authenticated member is identified. , A digital signature applied to these data by the publisher's community service provider, and the like. The attribute certificate 31 shown in FIG. 4 includes a certificate ID, a handle name, a role, an authentication domain name, a community name, an authentication method, a validity period, an issuer name, an issuer contact, an issue date and time, and a digital signature. Have been.
[0042]
(Delegation certificate)
FIG. 5 shows a data configuration example of the delegation certificate 32 issued and managed by the license management unit 22. The delegation certificate 32 is data for certifying that the member who has the authority delegates the authority to the member who does not have the authority, and the data required as the delegation certificate 32 is information for identifying the delegator (delegation). Member ID), information identifying the delegate (delegated member ID, etc.) or information identifying the attribute of the delegate (community name, etc.), data identifying the delegation authority, and the publisher's community service business A digital signature applied to these data by a third party.
[0043]
The delegation certificate 32 shown in FIG. 5 includes a certificate ID, a delegation member ID, a delegated member ID, a community name, an authentication domain name, a target provider, a target service, a target authority, and conditions for exercising the authority (here. Here, for example, the period, time period, authentication method), revocation conditions for revoking the transfer certificate (here, revocation date, number of exercises), issuer name, issuer contact information, issue date and time, and digital A signature is included.
[0044]
(License certificate)
FIG. 6 shows an example of the data structure of the license certificate 33 issued and managed by the license management unit 22. The license certificate 33 shown in FIG. 6 includes a certificate ID, an identity certificate 30 and / or an attribute certificate 31, a delegation certificate 32, and a determination result for an exercise condition (here, for example, validity period, time zone, number of times , And the determination result for the whole), the issuer name, the issuer contact information, the issue date and time, and the digital signature. The license certificate is data indicating the result of determining whether or not the conditions for exercising the authority are satisfied based on the information of the delegation certificate 32. , A digital signature applied to these data by the publisher's community service provider. In FIG. 6, a copy of the identity certificate 30 or the attribute certificate 31 and a copy of the delegation certificate 32 are included. However, reference information to each certificate may be used.
[0045]
Each of the certificates shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 can be created by using an existing standard technology such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), which is a specification for describing a statement about security such as authentication and authorization.
[0046]
Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described. However, as a prerequisite, it is assumed that the member has already contracted with the community service provider and participated in the community in a conventional manner. Further, when the service provider is a member who has contracted with both the community service provider and the service provider, a mapping table for associating information (for example, a member ID) for identifying the members possessed by both providers. Suppose you already have one. This table is created with the consent of both companies and the members concerned, and is assumed to be created using a technique known as a technique related to single sign-on or the like.
[0047]
FIG. 7 shows a system configuration diagram relating to intensive proxy management of the life cycle of a delegation certificate by the community management system according to the first embodiment.
[0048]
The delegating member 2-A having the service use authority of the service provider (here, the location information service provider) and the delegated member 2-B having the authority delegated are contracted with the community service provider, and the community (here Participates in the elderly care community 41). Location service providers are affiliated with community service providers. The transfer member terminal 2-a, the transfer member member 2-b, the community management system 1, and the service provider terminal 3-a are connected to each other via the network 6.
[0049]
Hereinafter, the delegation member 2-A contracting with the location information service provider gives the delegated member 2-B participating in the same elderly care community 41 the exercise of the right to use the location information service (period, time period, An example in which the transfer is performed with an authentication method) will be described.
[0050]
(Delegation certificate issuance request processing)
FIG. 8 shows a procedure in which the delegation member 2-A issues the delegation certificate 32 to the delegated member 2-B as the first process of delegating authority. The transfer member 2-A first accesses the community member management unit 21 of the contracted community management system 1 from the terminal 2-a, and inputs login information (for example, a member ID and a password) (201).
[0051]
When the member authentication is completed (202), the delegation member 2-A accesses the delegation certificate issuance application screen (203, 204), and searches for, selects, and inputs the delegation member 2-B (205). .
[0052]
In the community management system 1, the license management unit 22 receives the input, determines whether the authority is delegable, and whether necessary items are input (206). Send the delegation content and a receipt confirmation notice requesting confirmation of whether or not to receive the delegation to 2-b (for example, by e-mail) (207). If the transfer is not possible, the transfer is returned to the transfer member 2-A, and the input is requested again. The delegated member 2-B having received the acknowledgment confirms whether or not to receive the delegation of authority (208), and transmits the result from the terminal 2-b.
[0053]
When the delegated member 2-B is delegated, the license issuing unit 22 issues the delegation certificate 32 based on the information input from the delegation member 2-A, and the delegation certificate management table in the authority delegation information DB 26. (209).
[0054]
Further, the community member management unit 21 registers the certificate ID uniquely assigned to the transfer certificate 32 at this time in the member information management tables of the transfer member 2-A and the transfer member 2-B in the member information DB 24. . Then, the result of the delegation certificate issuance request is notified to the delegation member 2-A (210).
[0055]
(Delegation certificate issuance application screen)
FIG. 9 shows an example of a delegation certificate issuance application screen for inputting the delegation content in step 205 described above. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 301 denotes information for identifying a delegate member who is the applicant, and here, it is a community name and a member ID. At 302, a transfer target person is input. As a specification method, it is possible to specify a specific member, a specific role (for example, an administrator role), or a community (here, a delegated member is specified as a specific member). When a specific member is designated, a member having a specific condition (for example, a credit point to be described later) is searched among community members from the member information 24, and the specific member can be determined. More specifically, a search screen may be displayed by pressing a search button in FIG. 9, and the search may be performed based on the member ID or credit points. Further, the search may be performed from a screen displaying a list of members and credit points or a list screen displaying a list of member attributes.
[0056]
In step 303, the target authority is input. Here, the service use right and the product purchase right can be selected as the rights that can be specified as an example. Further, as the detailed information of the service usage right, for example, a target service, a delegation authority type, a service provider, and an exercising condition (here, for example, a delegation period, a time zone, an authentication method, and a use count can be input). Further, as the detailed information of the product purchase right, for example, a store designation, a money designation, a category designation, a period designation, a product designation, a quantity designation, a charge burden, and a receiving method can be input. In this embodiment, an example in which the service use right is transferred is shown. An embodiment using the product purchase right will be described later. In step 304, an invalidation condition for invalidating the transfer certificate is designated. The expiration date can be specified as the expiration date, the number of times the authority has been exercised, and the like.
[0057]
(Exercise of delegation authority)
FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of a procedure in which the delegated member 2-B exercises the delegated authority. The delegated member 2-B first accesses the community member management unit 21 of the contracted community management system 1 from the terminal 2-b, and inputs login information (for example, a member ID and a password) (401).
[0058]
When the member authentication is completed (402), the delegated member 2-B accesses the available authority list screen and selects the authority to exercise (403).
[0059]
The community member management unit 21 of the community management system 1 first issues a session ID. The session ID is configured by combining a system ID uniquely associated with the community management system 1 and a handle ID composed of temporary and random characters and numerals in accordance with a predetermined format. Next, an identity certificate for certifying the identity of the delegated member is issued and stored. Further, the handle ID and each certificate or certificate ID are stored in the session information management table of the member information DB 24 so that the identity certificate and the delegation certificate corresponding to the selected exercise authority can be uniquely specified from the handle ID. I do. These are stored in a memory or a database table in a form associated with the session ID.
Next, the session ID is transmitted to the delegated member terminal 2-b (404).
[0060]
It is desirable that the session ID be encrypted and transmitted in order to reduce the risk of falsification or forgery by a malicious member. Further, in the network 6 between the delegated member terminal 1-b, the community management system 1, and the service provider terminal 3-a, there is a danger of eavesdropping by a malicious third party, and therefore, the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is used. It is desirable to secure the confidentiality of the communication path using an encrypted communication technique such as that described above, and transmit and receive the session ID. Next, the delegated member accesses the service provider terminal 3-a from the terminal 2-b, and requests the exercise of the delegated authority, that is, the provision of the service. At this time, the session ID is notified (405).
[0061]
The service provider decodes the received session ID, specifies the community management system 1 from the system ID, and sends a license certificate 33 to the community management system 1 from the service provider terminal 3-a based on the session ID. Is requested (406).
[0062]
At this time, in order to avoid security risks such as eavesdropping, falsification, and spoofing, the network 6 between the service provider terminal 3-a and the community management system 1 encrypts information using an encryption communication technology such as SSL. Authentication, client authentication, and server authentication must be performed. Next, the license management unit 22 of the community management system 1 searches the session information management table of the member information DB 24 from the handle ID included in the session ID, specifies the delegation certificate 32 and the personality certificate 30, and exercises authority. Verify whether the conditions are met. Specifically, it is verified whether the authenticated member is the delegated member or not, and whether the delegation period, time zone, authentication method, etc., which are the exercise conditions included in the delegation certificate, are satisfied (407).
[0063]
As a result of the verification, when the exercise of the authority is not permitted, the fact is notified to the service provider terminal 3-a, and the exercise of the authority is rejected (408).
[0064]
If the exercise of authority is approved, a license certificate 33 including the data of the result of verification, the identity certificate 30 or reference data to the certificate, and the delegation certificate 32 is issued, and the service business of the request source is issued. Is transmitted to the user terminal 3-a (409).
[0065]
The service provider verifies the validity of the digital signature given to the received license certificate 33, then verifies the verification result of the exercise condition, and permits the delegated member 2-B to exercise the authority ( 410).
[0066]
The authorized delegated member 2-B exercises authority and enjoys service provision. In this embodiment, the location information service of the location information service provider provided on the network is used from the delegated member terminal 2-b (411).
[0067]
Next, the service provider notifies the license management unit 22 of the community management system 1 of the exercise result from the terminal 3-a (412).
[0068]
The license management unit 22 of the community management system 1 notifies the delegation member terminal 2-a that the authority has been exercised via the community member management unit 21 (413). Further, the community member management unit 21 calculates the credit points, and registers the credit points and the exercise information in the member information management table (the calculation and use of the credit points will be described in detail later). The license management unit 22 creates an exercise log, verifies the revocation conditions (expiration date and number of exercises) included in the delegation certificate, and if the revocation conditions are satisfied, the delegation certificate in the authority delegation information DB 26. The status of the transfer certificate held in the certificate management table is changed to invalid. (414).
[0069]
Further, in the above embodiment, the delegation member 2-A is notified that the authority has been exercised after the authority is exercised in the processing step 413. However, the delegation member 2 is notified in step 409 before the license certificate 33 is issued. -A may be notified that the authority will be exercised. If necessary, the license certificate 33 may be issued after obtaining the consent of the transfer member 2-A. As a result, the delegation member 2-A can confirm at an early stage whether the delegated authority is used improperly.
[0070]
As described above, when an authorized member transfers authority to another member, the community management system 1 issues, manages, verifies, and invalidates the transfer certificate 32, thereby reducing the burden on members and service providers. With less, flexible delegation of authority becomes possible.
[0071]
(Delegation of authority to groups with specific attributes)
In the above embodiment, the relationship between the delegate member and the delegate member is one (single), respectively. Next, the second delegate member delegates the authority to one having one or more specific attributes with an exercise condition. Examples of the present invention will be described. Here, the specific member attribute includes, for example, the name of a participating community, a specific role (such as an administrator) in the community, and the like.
[0072]
(Delegation certificate issuance request processing)
The flow for issuing the transfer certificate in the second embodiment is the same as the flow shown in FIG. 8, and the differences will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the transfer member inputs the application information from the transfer certificate issuance application screen shown in FIG. The community management system 1 that has received the delegation certificate issuance request performs an acknowledgment process of steps 207 and 208 for a delegate who matches the items described in the delegate designation column 302 as needed (for example, the community At the time of transfer, the administrator of the community may perform the reception confirmation processing or may be omitted). In step 209, a delegation certificate 32 is issued to the specific role or community using the community name or the specific role or a combination thereof as information for identifying the delegated member in accordance with the application information.
[0073]
(Exercise of delegation authority)
Next, the flow for exercising the delegated authority in the second embodiment is the same as the flow shown in FIG. 10, and the differences will be described with reference to FIG.
[0074]
After the delegated member accesses the community management system 1 (401) and is authenticated (402), the delegated member selects the delegated authority to the member having the specific attribute from the available authority list screen (403). ), The community management system 1 first issues a session ID as in the first embodiment. Next, an attribute certificate 31 that certifies the attribute of the member, which is different from the identity certificate 30 of the first embodiment, is issued. Next, the community management system 1 stores the handle ID and the handle ID in the session information management table of the member information DB 24 so that the attribute certificate and the delegation certificate corresponding to the selected exercise authority can be uniquely specified from the handle ID included in the session ID. Save each certificate or certificate ID. Then, it transmits to the delegated member terminal (404).
[0075]
The delegated member having received the session ID accesses the service provider terminal and requests the exercise of the authority delegated based on the session ID (405).
[0076]
The service provider requests the community management system 1 to issue the license certificate 33 based on the received session ID (406).
[0077]
In step 407, the community management system 1 verifies whether the conditions for exercising the authority are satisfied (407).
[0078]
At this time, it is verified whether the authenticated member has the required attribute. As a result of the verification, if the exercise of the authority is approved, a license certificate 33 including the data of the verified result and the attribute certificate 31 and the delegation certificate 32 is issued (409).
[0079]
At this time, the data required as the attribute certificate is information for certifying the attribute of the member, and information for identifying an individual (for example, a member name) is not necessarily required. In other words, the authority can be exercised anonymously or by a group consisting of a plurality of members. Steps (410 to 414) from the issuance of the license certificate 33 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0080]
As described above, the delegation member can delegate authority to a person or a group having a specific attribute. Also, a delegated member having a specific delegated attribute can anonymously exercise the delegated authority.
[0081]
FIG. 11 shows a system configuration diagram relating to group charging for a community using the many-to-one authority transfer according to the third embodiment. The delegating members 2-D to 2-N and the representative member 2-C have contracted with a community service provider and participated in the community (here, the sports support community 42). Also, the transfer members 2-D to 2-N and the representative member 2-C register information (for example, credit card number or the like) for performing payment when purchasing a product in the member information management table of the member information DB 24. Suppose In addition, the service provider (here, the ticket seller) is affiliated with the community service provider. The transfer member terminals 2-d to 2-n, the representative member terminal 2-c, the community management system 1, and the service provider terminal 3-b are connected to each other via the network 6.
[0082]
Hereinafter, the transfer members 2-D to 2-N transfer the settlement right to the representative member 2-C participating in the same sports support community 42 under conditions such as a purchase object, a purchase deadline, and a payment burden ratio. An example in which a delegated member collectively purchases tickets from a ticket sales company will be described.
[0083]
(Authority transfer request process)
In the first and second embodiments, the delegation member starts by requesting a delegation certificate issuance from the delegation certificate issuance application screen shown in FIG. 9, but in the third embodiment, the member (referred to as a representative member) 2-C who desires the delegation is designated. An embodiment of requesting authority transfer to another community member will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a procedure in such a case.
[0084]
First, the representative member 2-C accesses the community member management unit 21 of the contracted community management system 1 from the terminal 2-c, and inputs login information (for example, a member ID and a password) (501).
[0085]
When the member authentication is completed (502), the representative member 2-C inputs the recruitment information from the authority transfer recruitment screen (the authority transfer recruitment screen will be described later) (503).
[0086]
In the community management system 1, the license management unit 22 receives the input, selects and notifies the recruitment target based on the recruitment target and application condition information to which the recruitment information is input and the recruitment target person based on the member information management table of the member information DB 24 (504).
[0087]
The transfer members 2-D to 2-N having received the notification access the application screen of the community management system 1 from the terminals 2-d to 2-n and transmit the authentication information (505).
[0088]
After performing the authentication process (506), the community management system 1 verifies whether the recruitment has been closed (507), and if not closed, transmits an application screen (508) on which delegated recruitment contents are displayed. If the deadline has already been closed, an application failure notification is sent. When the delegation member accepts the recruitment content (509), the delegation member transmits a delegation certificate issuance request from the terminals 2-d to 2-n (510).
[0089]
Upon receiving the issuance request, the license management unit 22 of the community management system 1 issues and stores the delegation certificate (511).
[0090]
At this time, the delegation certificate includes the designation of the target product and the conditions of charge sharing, etc., based on the information specified from the delegation recruitment screen. Next, it is verified whether or not the recruitment deadline condition (for example, the deadline date) input on the delegation recruitment screen is satisfied (512). If the requisition deadline is satisfied, the collected delegation certificates are managed so as to be managed with one ID. The transfer ID information including the certificate ID of the transfer certificate and the integrated ID assigned for management is created in the transfer ID information table of the authority transfer information DB 26 (513). If not, continue recruiting.
[0091]
Then, a transfer certificate acquisition notice is transmitted to the representative member terminal 2-c, and the representative member 2-C exercises authority as shown in FIG. 14 (514).
[0092]
As described above, when a plurality of persons delegate authority to the representative (one) (many-to-one), the transaction can be performed once by using the integrated ID. There is no need to pass the session ID corresponding to the certificate to the service provider, and the service provider does not need to perform an acquisition transaction with the community management system for the certificate.
[0093]
Further, even in the case of one-to-one delegation, the integrated ID can be applied even when delegation of a plurality of authorities is required.
[0094]
(Authority transfer screen)
FIG. 13 shows an example of the authority transfer recruitment screen in step 503 described above. Reference numeral 601 denotes information (here, a community name and a member ID) for identifying the representative member 2-C who is the proposer. At 602, a recruitment target person is specified. As a specification method, it is possible to specify a specific member, a specific role (for example, an administrator role), or all community members (here, all community members are specified). At 603, the target authority is specified, and the same contents as the target authority 303 on the transfer certificate issuance application screen in FIG. 9 can be specified.
[0095]
In the third embodiment, an example in which the product purchase right is transferred is shown. At 604, application conditions of the transfer member, such as age restrictions, gender restrictions, and regional restrictions, are specified. At 605, conditions for closing the recruitment (for example, deadline date, target number of transfer certificates, etc.) are specified.
[0096]
(Group billing for community)
FIG. 14 shows a community management system 1 in which the representative member 2-C purchases a product (here, a ticket) from a service provider (here, a ticket sales company) using the delegated authority, and receives a charge. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure which collects a charge from each delegation member according to a delegation certificate.
[0097]
The step in which the representative member 2-C, which is the delegated member, obtains the session ID from the community management system 1 is the same as the processing of 401 to 404 in FIG. However, in the step 404, the integrated ID is stored in the session information management table of the member information DB 24 in association with the handle ID instead of the transfer certificate ID. Further, in the network 6 between the representative member terminal 1-c, the community management system 1, and the service provider terminal 3-b, information is encrypted using an encryption communication technique such as SSL, as in the first embodiment. It is desirable to transmit and receive.
[0098]
The representative member 2-C having acquired the session ID accesses the service provider terminal 3-b from the terminal 2-c, and requests the purchase of a product, that is, the provision of a service. At this time, the community agency settlement unit 23 of the community service provider is designated as the settlement unit, and the session ID is notified (701).
[0099]
The service provider makes a credit request to the community proxy settlement unit 23 of the community management system 1 based on the received session ID (702).
[0100]
Next, the community agent settlement unit 23 specifies the identity certificate or / and the attribute certificate and the integrated ID from the handle ID included in the session ID and the session information management table of the member information DB 24. Further, the delegation certificate is specified from the integrated ID and the delegation document integrated information table of the authority delegation information DB 26, and it is verified whether or not the condition for exercising the authority is satisfied. Specifically, it is verified whether or not the authenticated member is a delegated member, whether or not the product is specified by the delegation certificate, and whether or not the price exceeds the specified amount (703). .
[0101]
As a result of the verification, if the purchase is not approved, the fact is notified to the service provider terminal 3-b, and the purchase is rejected (704).
[0102]
If the delegation condition is satisfied, the data of the credit confirmation result is transmitted to the requesting service provider terminal 3-b (705).
[0103]
The purchased merchandise is provided to at least the representative member 2-C or the transfer members 2-D to 2-N, and a service is provided (706).
[0104]
At this time, if the product is digital content such as an electronic ticket that can be sent over a network, information (such as an email address) necessary for electronic sending to the terminal 2-c or 2-d to 2-n by email or the like. is necessary. In the case of a thing like a paper ticket, information such as an address and a name for sending is required.
[0105]
The service provider terminal 3 obtains the personal information necessary for sending the product directly from the representative member terminal 2-c, or obtains the personal information from the community management system 1 and sends the product. In order to prevent the leakage of personal information at the time of transmission, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-55919, without disclosing member's personal information to a service provider through a community management system, A technique for sending an advertisement may be used.
[0106]
The merchandise is provided to the representative member 2-C (or the member terminal 2-c) or the transfer members 2-D to 2-N (or the member terminals 2-d to 2-n) by these methods. Next, the service provider terminal 3 creates a bill and sends it to the community management system 1.
[0107]
In the community management system 1 that has received the bill, the community settlement acting unit 23 performs a divided billing process for each delegate member and the representative member according to the fee burden condition included in the delegation certificate, and Then, the settlement request is transmitted to the settlement operator terminals 4-1 to 4-k of each member (708). Next, the delegation member terminals 2-d to 2-n are notified that the authority has been exercised (709).
[0108]
Finally, create an exercise log, calculate credit points, register credit points and exercise information in the member information management table, and verify the revocation conditions (expiration date and number of exercises) included in the delegation certificate If the revocation condition is satisfied, the status of the delegation certificate held in the delegation certificate management table in the authority delegation information DB 26 is changed to invalid (710).
[0109]
As described above, many-to-one authority transfer from a large number of transfer members to the representative member has been realized. In addition, the service provider using the transfer of settlement rights has been able to collectively charge the community. As a result, members can receive services such as group discounts by purchasing products jointly. Further, there is no need to directly exchange money between members when purchasing a product. Further, it is possible to purchase a product without disclosing personal information such as a credit card number to a service provider and a joint purchaser. The service provider can also sell to a large number of members at once, and the billing process can be consolidated at one time.
[0110]
(Calculation and use of trust points)
As described above, after the delegated member exercises the authority, the trust point is calculated in the community management system 1 (step 414 in FIG. 10, step 710 in FIG. 14).
[0111]
This trust point is an index for selecting a partner (delegated member) to be transferred by the delegating member when the trustworthiness of the partner is unknown in the community on the network. Hereinafter, the method and the use method will be described.
[0112]
In the processing step of calculating the credit points (Example 1: Step 414 in FIG. 10, Example 3: Step 710 in FIG. 14), a plurality of indices are calculated by a calculation method predetermined by the community manager. Calculated based on the data, the community member management unit 21 of the community management system 1 registers in the member information management table in the member information DB 24. As an example of the index data, some information of the delegated members recorded in the member information management table such as the number of times the authority is delegated, the number of times the delegated authority is exercised, and the number of days in the community can be used. is there. To calculate credit points, for example,
Credit points = (number of times authority is exercised) / (number of times authority is delegated) x 100
It is calculated by such a calculation method. This credit point is disclosed in a community, for example, on a homepage or the like so that other members can refer to it in a ranking format or the like.
[0113]
As described above, by calculating the above-mentioned credit points based on the number of times of delegation of authority and publishing them in the community, one index for the delegation member to select a delegate to be transferred when the trustworthiness of the other party is unknown Can be used as
[0114]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, members participating in a community on a network can easily realize transfer of their own authority.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration, a system configuration, and a functional module configuration in a service provided by a community management system.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of each device included in the community management system.
FIG. 3 is a data configuration example of a certificate.
FIG. 4 is a data configuration example of an attribute certificate.
FIG. 5 is a data configuration example of a transfer certificate.
FIG. 6 is a data configuration example of a license certificate.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a service configuration for providing the community management system according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a transfer certificate issuance request process.
FIG. 9 is an example of a transfer certificate issuance application screen.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process of exercising delegation authority.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a service configuration for providing a community management system.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of authority transfer recruitment and transfer approval processing.
FIG. 13 is an example of an authority transfer recruiting screen.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a group charging process for a community.
[Description of Signs] 1 ... Community management system, 2 ... Member terminal, 3 ... Service provider terminal, 4 ... Payment provider terminal, 5 ... Certificate authority terminal, 6 ... Network, 10 ... Community management server, 11 ... Member Management server, 12: Affiliated service provider management server, 13: Settlement server, 30: Identity certificate, 31: Attribute certificate, 32: Delegation certificate, 33: License certificate

Claims (11)

A community management system that manages authority required for use of a service provided by a service provider held by a member belonging to the community in a community that is a set of members managed by unique identification information, ,
It has a license management department,
The license management unit,
A delegation member holding an authority related to enjoying the digital information service issues a delegation certificate certifying the delegation of the authority when the authority is delegated to the delegated member,
When the delegated member makes a request for exercising the transfer right to the terminal of the service provider, the request for exercising the transfer right satisfies the exercise condition based on the request from the terminal of the service provider. Verifying whether or not the license server satisfies the exercising condition, and issues a license certificate to the service provider terminal, and the service provider terminal provides a service to the delegated member terminal. A community management system characterized by making it possible to do things. The community management system according to claim 1,
The delegation certificate includes information for specifying the delegation member, information for specifying the delegated member, information on the delegation authority, conditions for exercising the delegation authority, and invalidation for revoking the delegation certificate. And a community management system comprising: The community management system according to claim 2,
The license management unit receives, from the service provider terminal, a notification that the delegation authority has been exercised,
Generating an exercise log of the delegation authority,
A community management system for verifying a revocation condition included in the delegation certificate, and invalidating the delegation certificate if the revocation condition is satisfied. The community management system according to claim 2,
The delegation certificate includes a settlement method of a fee related to the service provided based on the delegation authority,
Further, the community management system includes:
From the service provider terminal, accept a bill for the service provided,
A community management system, comprising: a community settlement agency that performs a settlement agency process in accordance with the settlement method. The community management system according to claim 4,
A community management system, wherein the community settlement agency notifies the delegation member terminal that the delegation authority has been exercised. The community management system according to claim 1,
Manages member information relating to the member's identity and / or attributes, and, in response to a request when the delegated member exercises the delegated authority, the member's identity certificate and / or attribute certificate It has a community member management department to issue,
The license management unit, when issuing the license certificate,
Community management for verifying, based on the delegation certificate and the identity certificate and / or attribute certificate of the delegated member, whether or not the request for exercising the delegation authority satisfies an exercising condition. system. The community management system according to claim 1,
The license management unit,
Issue an integrated ID for identifying a delegation certificate group including a plurality of the delegation certificates,
A community management system for managing a plurality of delegation certificates with the member terminal or the service provider terminal by using the integrated ID. The community management system according to claim 4,
The community management system, wherein the community settlement agency performs settlement processing on at least one delegated member and / or delegated member in accordance with settlement conditions described in the delegation document. The community management system according to claim 1,
The community member management unit, for the service provided by the delegated member based on the delegation authority, receives a notification of the result of exercising the delegation authority from a service provider terminal that provided the service, and Notify the member terminal of the exercise result,
Managing the delegation authority of the delegated member and the result of the delegated member exercising the delegation authority;
Calculating the credit points of the delegated member based on predetermined criteria,
A community management system characterized in that registration is performed in a state where it can be referred to from other member terminals. The community management system according to claim 9,
The community management system according to claim 1, wherein said delegating member for delegating authority refers to said trust point when searching for a delegated member to which said authority is delegated. The community management system according to claim 10,
The community member management unit includes:
A community management system, wherein a trust point of the delegation member is calculated based on the number of times the delegation member has been delegated authority and / or the number of times the delegation member has exercised the delegation authority.

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