Methods and systems for fast account setup

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12580994-B2
Application number	US-202418753793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2024
Priority date	Feb 2, 2012
Publication date	Mar 17, 2026
Grant date	Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for collecting, storing, and transmitting account information in a matchable form, and for using this information to quickly set up accounts. Account information is maintained and shared between one or more client devices and an intermediate server. Account information can be reconciled locally to determine whether to add or enable an active account or an account proxy to a client device. Account proxies can be quickly enabled by a single user action. The methods and systems allow enabled accounts and account proxies to be removed from a first client device without propagating the deletion to a second client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing executable instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
collecting, from a client device, a first non-identifying account information for an account, wherein the first non-identifying account information comprises a first timestamp; collecting, from a server, a second non-identifying account information for the account, wherein the second non-identifying account information comprises a second timestamp; determining the first non-identifying account information differs from the second non-identifying account information; comparing the first timestamp and the second timestamp; and updating, on the client device, in response to the comparing, the first non-identifying account information with the second non-identifying account information if the second timestamp is later than the first timestamp.

2 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising updating, on the server, in response to the comparing, the second non-identifying account information with the first non-identifying account information if the first timestamp is later than the second timestamp.

3 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
logging into the server from the client device for a first time; and updating, on the client device, in response to the logging in and the determining, the first non-identifying account information with the second non-identifying account information.

4 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first non-identifying account information is stored in an active account repository on the client device.

5 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the server is a cloud computing server configured to provide cloud computing services to the client device and wherein the second non-identifying account information is stored in a key value store on the server.

6 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first non-identifying account information and second non-identifying account information include account names information.

7 . A method comprising:
collecting, from a client device, a first non-identifying account information for an account, wherein the first non-identifying account information comprises a first timestamp; collecting, from a server, a second non-identifying account information for the account, wherein the second non-identifying account information comprises a second timestamp; determining the first non-identifying account information differs from the second non-identifying account information; comparing the first timestamp and the second timestamp; and updating, on the client device, in response to the comparing, the first non-identifying account information with the second non-identifying account information if the second timestamp is later than the first timestamp.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising updating, on the server, in response to the comparing, the second non-identifying account information with the first non-identifying account information if the first timestamp is later than the second timestamp.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
logging into the server from the client device for a first time; and updating, on the client device, in response to the logging in and the determining, the first non-identifying account information with the second non-identifying account information.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first non-identifying account information is stored in an active account repository on the client device.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the server is a cloud computing server configured to provide cloud computing services to the client device and wherein the second non-identifying account information is stored in a key value store on the server and wherein the first non-identifying account information and second non-identifying account information include account names information.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first non-identifying account information and second non-identifying account information include account names information.

13 . A non-transitory machine readable medium containing executable instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method for account setup, the method comprising:
updating, on a server, a first account information associated with a first client device of a user in response to the first client device adding an account; sending, in response to updating the first account information on the server, a push notification to a second client device of the user indicating that the account is new to the second client device; and providing to the second client device, in response to a message from the second client device responsive to the push notification, account information to allow an account data structure to be set up on the second client device, wherein the account data structure is configurable to add the account to the second client device.

14 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the account data structure comprises a collection of data representing the account.

15 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising updating, on the server, a second account information associated with the second client device in response to the second client device adding the account information representing the account.

16 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the server is a cloud computing server configured to provide cloud computing services to the first client device and the second client device.

17 . A method for account setup, the method comprising:
updating, on a server, a first account information associated with a first client device of a user in response to the first client device adding an account; sending, in response to updating the first account information on the server, a push notification to a second client device of the user indicating that the account is new to the second client device; and providing to the second client device, in response to a message from the second client device responsive to the push notification, account information to allow an account data structure to be set up on the second client device, wherein the account data structure is configurable to add the account to the second client device.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the account data structure comprises a collection of data representing the account.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising updating, on the server, a second account information associated with the second client device in response to the second client device adding the account information representing the account.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the server is a cloud computing server configured to provide cloud computing services to the first client device and the second client device.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mcdougall Michael
• Ko Steve S
• Scalo John William
• Coffman Patrick L
• Everitt Aaron Matthew

Classifications

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L67/567

  Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers · CPC title

• H04L67/01

  Protocols · CPC title

• G06F21/45

  Structures or tools for the administration of authentication · CPC title