US 7,610,286 B1 · System and method for access control and for supply chain management via a shared bill of material

Abstract

A method and computer program product for securely uploading and downloading data from a client to a remote data storage location under control of a remote application program. The data is stored in encrypted form so that the data server has no access to the data. The data is associated with a bill of material (BOM) and may be accessed by users without providing access to the data space of the client. Also disclosed is a method and computer program so automatically assign access privileges to one or more users of data in a bill of material stored in a shared database such that the step of refining a role for the user for a data item automatically assigns access privileges for the user for the data and other related data items. Also described is linking BOMs to provide peer-to-peer access and views to different users. Also described is a method and software program that provides of propagation of data through the supply chain via one or more bills of materials.

Claims84

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

storing a database in a processing system, the database including:
a list of elements, each element having a unique identifier, one or more of the elements being for inclusion in at least one bill of materials (BOM) of a plurality of bills of material (BOMs);
and
one or more BOM data structures for storing the plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element of the list of elements and each branch of the tree defining a parent-child relationship, the one or more BOM data structures storing information on the parent-child relationships of the plurality of BOMs, two or more of the BOM being associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, and
providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the database to one or more users, each user associated with at least one entity
such that the database contain at least two BOMS having different owners,
wherein the database includes confidential information of at least one of the owners such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner and any designate(s) of the owner, and
wherein users are assigned roles with respect to different data stored in the database, such that access privileges to data and views of data to different users depends on the roles assigned to the different users.

5 more elements

A method of operating a processing system storing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs), the method comprising:

storing the plurality of BOMs in a database in a local or distributed processing system, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each BOM associated with an owner of a set of two or more owners and each element in each BOM associated with an owner of the set of owners, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same database, the storing including storing one or more data structures in the database configured to store the plurality of BOMs;
and
providing unrestricted access to confidential information in a particular stored BOM only to the owner associated with the particular BOM and to any designate(s) of the owner;
and
providing access to the stored BOMs to one or more users, each user being associated with at an entity,
wherein a role of a set of roles is assigned to one or more users for a particular element of a particular BOM, each role having an associated set of rules that define access privileges for a role-holding user for the particular element, and
such that the assigned role for a user for an element automatically defines the access privilege that the role-holding-user has to the element.

4 more elements

A method comprising:

storing a database in a processing system, the database including:
a list of elements, each element having a unique identifier, one or more elements of the list of elements being for inclusion in one or more of a plurality of bills of material (BOMs);
a list of entities;
and
one or more data structures for storing the plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element of the list of elements, elements of at least two of the BOMs associated with respective owners of a set of owners, the set of owners being in the list of entities, two or more of the BOMs being associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, and
providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the database to one or more users associated with one or more of the entities,
such that the database may contain two BOMS associated with two different owners,
wherein at least one of the BOMs includes confidential information of the owner of the BOM, such that access to the confidential information in the BOM is limited to the owner and to any entities designated by the owner of the BOM,
wherein database is arranged such that an entity may be designated a role for a particular element in a BOM,
wherein an access privileges for an entity for accessing confidential information for a particular element are automatically defined by the role designated to the entity,
such that the role designated for a particular entity automatically defines access privileges for any user associated with the particular entity for the particular element.

8 more elements

A method comprising:

storing a database in a processing system, the database including:
a list of elements, each element having a unique identifier, one or more of the elements being for inclusion in at least one bill of materials (BOM) of a plurality of bills of material (BOMs);
and
one or more BOM data structures for storing the plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element of the list of elements and each branch of the tree defining a parent-child relationship, the one or more BOM data structures storing information on the parent-child relationships of the plurality of BOMs, two or more of the BOMs being associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, and
providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the database to one or more users, each user being associated with an entity,
such that the database may contain BOMS having different owners,
wherein the database includes confidential information of at least one of the owners such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner and any designate(s) of the owner,
wherein one or more elements in the element list is associated with a respective owner of the set of owners,
wherein the list of elements includes an indication of ownership for each element associated with one of the owners, and
wherein the confidential information of an owner that owns a element in the list of elements includes confidential information in the list of elements,
such that unrestricted access to confidential information about a particular element in the element list that is associated with a particular owner is limited to the particular owner and to any designate(s) of the particular owner.

8 more elements

A method comprising:

storing a database in a processing system, the database including:
a list of elements, each element having a unique identifier, one or more of the elements being for inclusion in at least one bill of materials (BOM) of a plurality of bills of material (BOMs);
and
one or more BOM data structures for storing the plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element of the list of elements and each branch of the tree defining a parent-child relationship, the one or more BOM data structures storing information on the parent-child relationships of the plurality of BOMs, two or more of the BOMs being associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, and
providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the database to one or more users, each user being associated with an entity,
such that the database may contain BOMS having different owners,
wherein the database further includes a list of owners in the set of owners, each owner having an entry including a unique owner identifier in the list of owners.

4 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium configured with computer-readable code that when executed by one or more processors of a processing system cause carrying out a method for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs), the method comprising:

storing the plurality of BOMs in a local or distributed database, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each BOM associated with an owner of a set of owners and each element in each BOM associated with an owner of the set of owners, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same database, the storing including storing one or more data structures in the database configured to store the plurality of BOMs;
and
providing unrestricted access to confidential information in a particular stored BOM only to the owner associated with the particular BOM and to any designate of the owner;
and
providing access to the stored BOMs to one or more users, each user being associated with an entity,
wherein a role of a set of roles is assigned to one or more users for a particular element of a particular BOM, each role having an associated set of rules that define access privileges for a role-holding user for the particular element, and
such that the assigned role for a user for an element automatically defines the access privilege that the role-holding-user has to the element.

4 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium configured with computer-readable code that when executed by one or more processors of a processing system cause carrying out a method, the method comprising:

storing a database in a processing system, the database including:
a list of elements, each element having a unique identifier, one or more elements of the list of elements being for inclusion in one or more of a plurality of bills of material (BOMs);
a list of entities;
and
one or more data structures for storing the plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element of the list of elements, elements of at least two of the BOMs associated with respective owners of a set of owners, the set of owners being in the list of entities, two or more of the BOMs being associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, and
providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the database to one or more users associated with one or more entities,
such that the database may contain two BOMS associated with two different owners,
wherein at least one of the BOMs includes confidential information of the owner of the BOM, such that access to the confidential information in the BOM is limited to the owner and to any entities designated by the owner of the BOM,
wherein database is arranged such that an entity may be designated a role for a particular element in a BOM,
wherein access privileges for an entity for accessing confidential information for a particular element is automatically defined by the role designated to the entity,
such that the role designated for a particular entity automatically defines access privileges for any user associated with the particular entity for the particular element.

8 more elements

A system for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs) comprising:

means for storing the plurality of BOMs in local or distributed database, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each BOM associated with an owner of a set of owners and each element in each BOM associated with an owner of the set of owners, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same database, the storing including storing one or more data structures in the database configured to store the plurality of BOMs;
and
means for providing unrestricted access to confidential information in a particular stored BOM only to the owner associated with the particular BOM and to any designate of the owner;
and
means for providing access to the stored BOMs to one or more users, each user being associated with an entity,
wherein a role of a set of roles is assigned to one or more users for a particular element of a particular BOM, each role having an associated set of rules that define access privileges for a role-holding user for the particular element, and
such that the assigned role for a user for an element automatically defines the access privilege that the role-holding-user has to the element.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for access control and for supply chain management via a shared bill of material

Life of this patent

System and method for access control and for supply chain management via a shared bill of material

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims84