Implementation of security barriers in a usage based licensing server data structure

A process carried out in a usage-measuring server for controlling access to usage data collected in a usage-based licensing system and metric data generated therefrom, comprising:

• receiving a log-in communication from a remote user containing the user's user name and password;
• using said user name and password to authenticate the identity of the user;
• if the user is not authenticated, sending an access denied message;
• if the user is authenticated, sending an inquiry to the user requesting him to identify which data the user wants to view and/or download;
• receiving a message indicating which data is/are of interest;
• consulting configuration data to determine if this user has access to the requested data;
• if not, sending an access denied message;
• if the user is allowed to have access to the requested data then retrieving and transmitting the requested data to the user.

A process carried out in a usage-measuring server for controlling access to usage data collected in a usage-based licensing system data structure containing, among other things, usage data and metric data generated therefrom, comprising:

• receiving a log-in communication from a remote user containing the user's user name and password;
• using said user name and password to authenticate the identity of the user;
• if the user is not authenticated, sending an access denied message;
• if the user is authenticated, sending an inquiry to the user requesting him to identify which data the user wants to view and/or download;
• receiving a message indicating which data is/are of interest;
• determining if there are links in said data structure that directly or indirectly couple a data entry representing said authenticated user to the requested data;
• if not, sending an access denied message;
• if there are such links, then retrieving the portion of the requested data to which the user is allowed to have access and transmitting it to the user.

A server computer programmed with program means for performing the following functions:

• 1) receiving a log-in communication from a remote user containing the user's user name and password;
• 2) using said user name and password to authenticate the identity of the user;
• 3) if the user is not authenticated, sending an access denied message;
• 4) if the user is authenticated, sending an inquiry to the user requesting him to identify which data the user wants to view and/or download;
• 5) receiving a message indicating which data is/are of interest;
• 6) determining if there are links in said data structure that directly or indirectly couple a data entry representing said authenticated user to the requested data;
• 7) if not, sending an access denied message;
• 8) if there are such links, then retrieving the portion of the requested data to which the user is allowed to have access and transmitting it to the user.

A server computer programmed by program means for performing the following functions:

• receiving a secure log-in communication from a remote user containing the user's user name and password;
• using said user name and password to authenticate the identity of the user;
• if the user is not authenticated, sending a secure access denied message;
• if the user is authenticated, sending a secure inquiry message to the user requesting him to identify which client(s), which provisioning lists and/or which resource(s) and/or usage data, metric data and/or CSU data is/are of interest and, if metric, raw usage data and/or CSU data is of interest, which of the metric, raw usage data, and/or CSU data the user wants to view and/or download;
• receiving a secure message from said user indicating which client(s) and resource(s) are of interest and, if the metric, usage or CSU data of the identified client(s) and resource(s) are of interest, which metric, raw usage data, and/or CSU data the user wants to view and/or download;
• consulting configuration data to determine if this user has access to data for the client(s) and/or resource(s) and any metric, raw usage and/or CSU data the user requested;
• if not, sending a secure access denied message;
• and
• if the user is allowed to have access to the data of the client(s) and resource(s) identified, then retrieving and transmitting by one or more secure messages the requested data to the user.