US Patent 10007779 Methods and systems for gradual expiration of credentials

Methods and systems are provided to enable gradual expiration of credentials. Instead of depriving a user of all his access rights upon expiration of his credential (e.g., password), the user's access rights may be gradually restricted during a grace period after an expected or initial expiration time and/or before a final expiration time. The access right may be determined based on a duration from a time of the access request to the final expiration time or to the initial expiration time.