Federated Graph Third-Party Decorator Integration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current systems utilizing the 'owner + decorator' model for providing access to a property graph break down when a large number of third-party 'decorator' network services are integrated, due to security concerns and data sovereignty issues, limiting the integration of third-party services as decorators in the graph.

Innovation Solution

A federated graph provider service integrates with third-party 'decorator' network services, allowing an arbitrarily large number of third-party-provided services to decorate data in a property graph through a unified network service API, while maintaining security and sovereignty by registering these services and issuing authentication tokens, enabling secure data access and combination.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If the 'owner + decorator' model is used to integrate third-party network services as decorators in a property graph, then data decoration capability is improved, but system security and data sovereignty are compromised

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata decoration capabilityVSAvoidsystem security
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an authentication service as an intermediary between the graph service and third-party decorator services. This mediator issues and validates authentication tokens, enabling secure communication without requiring direct trust relationships. The authentication service acts as a trusted third party that mediates access control, allowing decorator services to integrate with the property graph while maintaining security boundaries and data sovereignty.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If the 'owner + decorator' model is used to integrate third-party network services as decorators in a property graph, then data decoration capability is improved, but data sovereignty is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata decoration capabilityVSAvoiddata sovereignty loss
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the system into distinct components with clear boundaries: the graph service that owns the property graph, decorator services that provide additional data, and an authentication service that manages access. Each component maintains sovereignty over its own data and operations. The authentication tokens enforce these boundaries, ensuring that decorator services can access only the specific data they are authorized to decorate, thereby preserving data sovereignty while enabling integration.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Reliability

If authentication tokens are issued by the graph service to access decorator services, then secure access control is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccess control securityVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The authentication service provides universal authentication functionality that can be used across multiple decorator services and graph service interactions. Rather than implementing separate authentication mechanisms for each decorator service, the system uses a single universal token-based authentication approach. This multi-functional authentication mechanism handles access control for all decorator services uniformly, reducing overall system complexity despite the added security layer.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP3384420B1Extending a federated graph with third-party data and metadata
Publication Date: 2019.08.07 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • EP3384420B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3384420B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3384420B1 patent drawingFigure 3A

AI summary

Technologies are described herein for extending a federated graph with third-party data or metadata. A federated facet provider service registers with a federated graph provider service as a provider of a facet for a resource in a graph. For example, the federated facet provider service can provide a callback URL or a URI template for resolving the callback URL. When the federated graph provider service receives a request for a facet from a service client, the federated graph provider service determines a callback network address for the federated facet provider service and obtains an authentication token for the federated facet provider service. A response is provided to the service client that causes the service client to redirect to the federated facet provider service to obtain the requested facet utilizing the authentication token. The federated facet provider service provides the requested facet directly to the service client.