Cross-platform single sign-on accessibility of a productivity application within a software as a service platform

Abstract

A Cross-Platform Single Sign On (CP-SSO) experience is provided herein to enable users to access multiple services via a single login when working across different platforms. A user may work across different platform when using multiple devices, when using multiple browsers on a single device, or when an integrated application requires a separate login for access within a host web application or portal service. A proxy token service manages login requests and authentication tokens after a given service has been logged into once by a user, so that the user does not need to provide login credentials on subsequent requests for the given service. By enabling a CP-SSO experience, network efficiency is improved, and the user experience is also improved as users do not need to supply authentication credentials as frequently and may freely choose to use multiple platforms instead of limiting usage to a single platform.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for providing cross-platform single sign-on accessibility of a productivity application within a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, comprising:
 receiving a request to display the SaaS platform including the productivity application;   requesting, from a proxy token service, access to the productivity application within the SaaS platform;   receiving a response from the proxy token service that redirects the request to a directory service;   requesting, from the directory service, access to the productivity application within a SaaS platform;   receiving a response from the directory service including an authorization code;   posting the authorization code to the proxy token service;   receiving an access token from the proxy token service, wherein the proxy token service is operable to acquire the access token in response to redeeming the authorization code at the directory service;   providing the access token to a productivity application service for receiving authorization to access the productivity application; and   displaying the productivity application within the SaaS platform.