Method and apparatus for session management and user authentication

A system comprising:

• a persistent session for a user;
• a service executable in said computer system;
• a network terminal capable of receiving output from and transmitting input to said service;
• a session manager configured to notify said service when said user is connected to said network terminal, when said user is disconnected from said network terminal, and when said user is reconnected to said session via said network terminal;
• said service configured to send output to said network terminal when said user is connected to said network terminal, and when said user is disconnected from said network terminal, said service configured discontinue sending output to said network terminal during execution, while continuing to operate on behalf of said user.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for session management and user authentication comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to authenticate a user to a computer system using one-way authentication;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to initiate a persistent session for said user;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to maintain information for said persistent session associated with a user;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to initiate at least one service in said persistent session, said at least one service capable of execution while said user is disconnected from said persistent session;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to notify said at least one service when said user connects to a human interface device of said computer system and when said user disconnects from said human interface device;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to direct output of said service to said human interface device while said user is connected to said human interface device.