(12) United States Patent
`US 6,768,999 B2
`(10) Patent No.:
`Jul. 27, 2004
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Prageretal.
`
`US006768999B2
`
`(54)
`
`ENTERPRISE, STREAM-BASED,
`INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
`
`(75)
`
`(73)
`
`Inventors: Randy Prager, New York, NY (US);
`Peter Sparago, Cheshire, CT (US)
`
`Assignee: Mirror Worlds Technologies, Inc.,
`New Haven, CT (US)
`
`(*)
`
`Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 457 days.
`
`(21)
`
`(22)
`
`(65)
`
`(63)
`
`(60)
`
`(61)
`(52)
`
`(58)
`
`(56)
`
`Appl. No.: 09/892,258
`
`Filed:
`
`Jun. 26, 2001
`Prior Publication Data
`
`US 2002/0055946 Al May 9, 2002
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`
`Continuation-in-part of application No. 09/398,611, filed on
`Sep. 17, 1999, now Pat. No. 6,638,313, which is a continu-
`ation of application No. 08/673,255,filed on Jun. 28, 1996,
`now Pat. No. 6,006,227.
`Provisional application No. 60/274,575, filed on Mar. 9,
`2001, and provisional application No. 60/240,480,filed on
`Oct. 13, 2000.
`
`Tint, C17 occ cccscccscescscsesescscsees GO6F 17/30
`U.S. Ch.
`ceccceccceccsteesseeees 707/102; 707/2; 715/500.1;
`715/526; 345/836
`Field of Search .................. 707/102, 2; 715/500.1,
`715/526; 345/838
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`2/1999 Butmanetal.
`5,867,665 A
`6/1999 Greenetal.
`5,913,024 A
`6/1999 Gooderunetal.
`5,918,018 A
`12/1999 Freemanetal.
`6,006,227 A
`5/2001 Thornton etal. ........... 715/500
`6,240,429 Bl *
`6/2001 Manderetal.
`6,243,724 Bl
`6,466,237 B1 * 10/2002 Miyao etal. ........... 345/838
`
`2/2003 DeStefano ........ 0... 715/526
`6,523,048 B2 *
`6,638,313 B1 * 10/2003 Freemanetal. ......... 715/500.1
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`User Guide Published by Mirror Worlds Technologies, Inc.
`of New Haven, Connecticut.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`Primary Examiner—Wayne Amsbury
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Cooper & Dunham LLP
`
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`Disclosed is a computer program product and method that
`operate an enterprise information system of at least one
`server and a numberor personal computers communicating
`with each other and with the server. The program product
`and method create object models that have a consistent
`structure from and about
`information assets that are of
`
`diverse types and come from diverse software, and display
`browse cards about the information assets in a time-ordered
`
`stream, together with glance viewsrelated to the document
`object models. The glance viewsare displayed essentially in
`real time in response to passing a cursor over respective
`browse cards on the display.
`
`5,867,494 A
`
`2/1999 Krishnaswamyetal.
`
`1 Claim, 9 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`——Delete|Edt|Forward|Pi
`Copy]Delete|ofFever | roparis | Reply |
`Date:9/27/2000 3:23 PM; Owner. tsabel
`
`Main Menu
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`View] Prefs| Toots | Help | Log Out
`
`Header
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 27, 2004
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`Sheet 1 of 9
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 27, 2004
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`US 6,768,999 B2
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`Universal Data Model Translation
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 27, 2004
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`Sheet 3 of 9
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`US 6,768,999 B2
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`Scopeware Agents are Translators into Scopeware Document Object Models
`Information Assets In a File-System
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`instantaneously Dynamic, Tailored, and Interactive Document Glance Views
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`US 6,768,999 B2
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`1
`
`ENTERPRISE, STREAM-BASED,
`INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
`
`REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
`AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
`
`This patent specification (1) claims the benefit of provi-
`sional applications No. 60/274,575 filed Mar. 9, 2001 and
`60/240,480,filed Oct. 13, 2000 (2) is a continuation-in-part
`of patent application Ser. No. 09/398,611 filed Sep. 17,
`1999, now USS. Pat. No. 6,638,313 which in turn is a
`continuation of patent application Ser. No. 08/673,255 filed
`Jun. 28, 1996 and now USS. Pat. No. 6,006,227, and (3)
`hereby incorporates by reference said prior applications in
`their entireties, as though fully set forth herein.
`
`INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF
`MATERIAL ON COMPACTDISC
`
`this patent specification incorporates by reference the
`contents of the compact disc attached hereto in duplicate
`(Copy 1 and Copy 2). Each disc is labeled in accordance
`with Rule 1.53(e)(6), with the collective names Scopeware
`2.0 and vision 1.0. The date of creation of the files on the
`disc is Jun. 25, 2001. The computer code on the compact
`disc was generated from correspondingly named source
`code. The namesofindividual files on the disc within these
`collective names, as well as the size of the individual files,
`are identified in the list of files attached to the Transmission
`Letter In Accordance with 37 CER. §1.52(e)(ii). The con-
`tents of the compact disc submitted herewith in duplicate
`and the contents of the list of files attached to said Trans-
`
`mission Letter are hereby incorporated by reference in this
`application as though fully set forth herein.
`
`FIELD
`
`this patent specification is in the field of systems for
`handling information by computer and more specifically
`relates to an enhanced system for handling heterogeneous
`items of information to store, manage, customize, organize
`and/or deliver such information regardless of its source and
`type in particularly efficient, easy-to-use, and intuitively
`understood.
`
`BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
`
`Traditional information management systems store and
`retrieve documents on the basis of attributes such as the
`
`name and storage location of a document. This, however,
`can get very unwieldy in typical usage, as more and more
`names and locations of documents becomea part of the
`storage and retrieval scheme. Althoughit is possible in some
`cases to search or order documents by other attributes, such
`as content and time of creation or revision, it maystill be
`necessary to specify which file folders, directories, or stor-
`age devices to search. If a user no longer remembers how a
`particular item of information was stored in a traditional
`system,
`it may be difficult or impractical
`to retrieve it
`efficiently.
`In an effort to alleviate these and other concerns with
`
`traditional storage and retrieval systems, and to provide a
`more effective and natural approach that better fits the way
`people tend to work with and think of items of information,
`a new system described herein uses approaches that rely
`primarily on an intuitive, time-associated way of dealing
`with information. The system is stream-based in that
`it
`creates time-ordered streams of information itemsor assets,
`beginning with the oldest and continuing through current
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`and on to future items. An information item or asset in this
`system can be any type—a file, an email message,
`bookmark, IRL, memo, draft, scanned image, calendarnote,
`photo, shopping list, voicemail, rolodex or business card, a
`video clip, etc. When a user tunes in a stream, ordinarily a
`receding parade of documents appears on the screen. The
`closest are nearest in time. When a new documentarrives,
`for example when a new email message comesin, it appears
`at the head of the stream, at the front of the parade. (When
`a newer message arrives, it steps in front of the parade.)
`Further-away documents are older.
`Ordinarily, a user stands at the line current in time and
`looks into the past, but the stream also extends into the
`future. If the user has a meeting next Tuesday at 10 AM,a
`note to that effect goes into the stream’s future, and a note
`about a meeting Wednesdaygoes in the stream in front of the
`note about next Tuesday. Documents in the stream flow
`steadily onward, as time does. Documentsin the future part
`of the stream flow toward the present; documents in the
`present flow toward the past. Newly arriving documents
`push older documents further into the past.
`The receding parade of documents is an efficient way to
`present information on a computer screen. The display uses
`foreshortening for a perspective effect to pack more infor-
`mation into limited space. For easy browsing, when the user
`touches a document on the screen with the cursor, a sum-
`mary of that document with a thumbnail vies appears
`immediately, without requiring clicking or other user action,
`as a browse card—a dedicated small window besides the
`receding parade of time ordered documents. The user con-
`trols the displayed stream with VCR-type controls, to move
`forward or back, to go toward or to the beginning or the end
`of time in the stream, to now, or to any date or time, past or
`future.
`
`An item of information in a stream need not be given a
`name, or a designation of storage location. In a traditional
`system, a requirement that all documents have names can
`have implications beyond the necessity of inventing and
`remembering names. For example, emails may not have
`names of their own but may need to be stashed inside some
`otherfile; to search for an email the user may needto go to
`this special mail file and search that file. In the system
`disclosed here, items of information such as emails do not
`need to be named and can be searched along with any other
`types of information items.
`Searchesin the disclosed system can be by a combination
`of three methods, search, browse, and time-order.
`Time-order in itself often makes it possible to locate
`documents. Often the user needs a document that showed up
`recently, this morning, or two days ago, or at some timethat
`can be pinned down with some degree of accuracy. Time-
`order together with browsing through the stream (and its
`glance views) makes it possible to glance quickly through
`the documents that are from the approximate timeofinterest
`and quickly pull out the right one. (While traditional systems
`can time-order documentsit often is difficult to intersperse
`in the list all recent emails, news updates, bulletin-board
`postings, URLs and other documents, let alone voicemail
`messages. Without a browsefeature for a stream as disclosed
`herein, sucha list can beoflittle value, whereas with browse
`and an all-encompassing stream that gets updated promptly
`with new material, one can sweep over large numbers of
`documents, get instance glances (summary, thumbnail, etc.)
`of each and find the right one fast.)
`Whensearching in a stream in the disclosed system, the
`user gets a new stream—a substream. One can search on any
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`3
`wordor phrase, as every word in every document is indexed,
`on document types and metadata, and on time-related data
`(e.g., show me all email from last March). If the user
`searches for an entity called Schwartz Bottling,
`the new
`substream will the narrative or documentary history of all
`dealings with that entity—first contacts, subsequent internal
`documents or communications, reports, calendar items, and
`so on.
`
`A substream in the disclosed system is in some ways
`similar to a folder or directory in a traditional system.
`Instead of a “Schwartz Bottling” folder in which the user has
`put documents by so naming them, he/she has created a
`substream with those document, and can saveit for later use
`or create it again as needed. The substream can do all a
`folder can but
`is much more powerful than a folder. A
`substream collects documents automatically; the use r has to
`put documents in a folder by hand, one by one. Asubstream
`can persist in that it continues to trap newly created or
`received documents that match it. If a user looks at the
`
`“Schwartz Bottling” substream tomorrow, she/he mayfind it
`has grown to include a new email or other documents that
`were interspersed automatically. A substream cantell a story,
`and include the future. A substream is non-exclusive, in that
`a document can belong to many substreams. A folder in a
`traditional system imposes on computers many of the
`obsolete, irrelevant limitations of a physical filing cabinet
`drawer or folder. A substream is an organizational tool that
`can make moreefficient use of computer characteristics than
`an analog of filing an retrieving physical documents.
`One reason for the efficiency of the disclosed system is
`that it handles all types of different documents, or items of
`information, in essentially the same way, even if the docu-
`ment is of a type or format unknown to the system. Each
`document when created, received or otherwise encountered
`is treated consistently according to a universal Document
`Object Model (DOM). As described below in more detail,
`the system processes the documentto create its Document
`Object Modes that includes various aids such as significant
`information about the document including items such as
`summary, type of document, thumbnail of the document,
`whois the document’ owner, who has permission to access
`the document, keywords, command options, time stamp,
`index, etc. This creation of a document’s DOM is done
`automatically, although the user can aid the process. It can
`be done by a translator agent or programmatically.
`The system creates a glance view or browsecard of each
`documentthat has the same overall format to make search-
`
`ing for and working with a document moreintuitive but also
`is specific to the documents in many ways. One important
`difference from traditional systems is that the browse card
`has command buttons that match the type of documents.
`While the commandsetfor traditional systems may use the
`same commandbutton set for different types of documents,
`in the disclosed system the commandset that showsin the
`displayed browse card is specific to the document—it has
`the unique combination of command buttons that make
`sense for that document. The command buttons uniqueto the
`browse card can be shown onthe card itself or separately.
`The browse card comeson the screen automatically when
`the cursor is over the corresponding documentin the dis-
`played stream; the user need not take any other action such
`as clicking on the document or taking an action calling a
`program that can open or work with the document.
`The universal DOM of a documentis created automati-
`cally as a new document of any type is added to the basic
`stream of information items. It is done for any existing,
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`legacy documents, when the system is first installed on a
`computer, and is done as any additional documents are
`created or otherwise come in. Metadata such as owner,date,
`access permission and keywordsare created as part of this
`automatic process.
`Access permission is a part of a document’s metadata, so
`permission levels need have the constraints of traditional
`information handling systems where a group or an indi-
`vidual typically has access to all documents in a particular
`folder or directory, or has a particular type of access to a
`folder.
`
`Search results are integrated into a substream, at the right
`place, when and as they becomeavailable. The user can start
`using an incomplete substream and watch it build up. If the
`search must extend over a number of computers or even
`servers, and some are unavailable at the time, the results that
`come in when any becomeavailable are integrated into the
`substream at the right places.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates a screen that can serve as a default view
`
`when a software product according to a preferred embodi-
`ment is opened on a computer; the labels that are added are
`not normally a part of the displayed screen.
`FIGS. 2-8 are flowcharts illustrating processes in an
`example of a preferred embodiment.
`FIGS. 9 and 10 are examples of configurations in a
`preferred embodiment.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates a default screen seen on a PC or other
`
`equipment working with the disclosed system. It can show
`up upon turning on the computer, or upon calling the
`disclosed system. As seen in FIG. 1, the screen illustrates a
`receding stream of documents, with the most recent docu-
`mentsat the front. Passing the cursor over a documentin the
`stream causes that document’s “glance view” or “browse
`card” to appear on the screen. The glance view of a docu-
`ment is so labeled in FIG. 1. The screen also includes the
`following features appropriately labeled in FIG. 1: (a) the
`Search Field is an area in which the user can type one or
`more words for which the system will search in documents
`(information assets) in the displayed part of the stream
`and/or in additional information assets that might not be
`displayed;
`(b)
`the Main Menu is where the user sets
`preferences, finds help information, logs out, and/or per-
`forms other operations; (c) the Header contains information
`such as links, command buttons and choice boxes used to
`navigate; (d) the Stream View Options allow the user to
`configure the presentation of the stream of information
`assets; (e) the Document Glance allows quick scanning of
`information assets that are visible on the screen, and pre-
`sentation of more detailed information on the selected
`information asset; (f) the Type Glyphs identify the nature of
`an information asset at a glance (e.g., a Word document);
`and (g) the Thumbnails is a graphic representation of the
`type of document(e.g., an audio file, an email, an event,
`etc.). The User Guide published by the assignee hereof (a
`copy is submitted concurrently with thefiling of this appli-
`cation with an IDS form) further describes the operation of
`a relevant example and, together with the programs con-
`tained in the compact disc submitted herewith, provides a
`more detailed disclosure of a preferred embodiment.
`Certain particularly novel features of the disclosed system
`are described below by reference to flowcharts and block
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`Step S209 assigns keywords to the information asset. The
`software agents Doc Feeder or Crawler can assign
`keywords, and the user can manually assign or add key-
`words. Step $210 generates and assigns to the IA a Globally
`Unique DocumentID, e.g. as 64 bit code unique to the IA.
`Step S211 determines and assigns to the IA document
`operations that are unique to the IA. Depending on the IA,
`these operations or command buttons can be basic, such as
`“View” and “Reply.” They can be content-specific, such as
`“Play” for multimedia information assets. They can be
`solution-specific, such as “Fax” of Purchase.” They can be
`user-specific, such as “Delete” allowed to only certain users.
`An important point
`is that
`the operations or command
`buttons assignedto a particular [A match the IA and need not
`be the same for different information assets,as is the typical
`case with traditional information managementsystems. Step
`$212 assigns optional operations or commandbuttonsto the
`IA. They include, for example, commandsto send the IA to
`an optical character recognition (OCR)service that can be a
`separate service, IP, HTTP-based or an asynchronousopera-
`tion. Alternatively, the optional operation can be another
`OCRoperation that can perform OCR ona selected part of
`the IA, or on digital graphic portions or can involve multi-
`part associations. At step $213,
`the information asset is
`submitted to an indexing engine (asynchronous service)
`Again, this can be a separate service, IP, HTTP-based. This
`step can indexall or selected fields of the IA, including but
`not limited to the IA summary, title, permissions, IA text,
`keywords, time, metadata, and content-type. At step S214
`the DOM created as described above is submitted to a
`
`5
`diagrams. More detailed information on a particular
`example of implementation of these and other features of the
`system are evident from the software on the attached com-
`pact disc, which is the best mode knownto the inventors at
`the time of filing this patent application.
`FIG. 2 illustrates creation of a universal data object model
`of a documents in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
`This is an important part of the disclosed system that helps
`makepossible the efficient handling of heterogeneous docu-
`ment types in a mannerthat users find easy and intuitive. A
`document object model (DOM) can be thought of as a
`document shell of the information asset (IA) that contains,
`anon other items, a thumbnails of the information asset,
`permission rights, and metadata. The DOM is created from
`the IA and is stored in a desktop computer and/or a server,
`either independently of the IA itself or with a replica (copy)
`of the IA. From there, the system makes the DOM (with a
`pointerto its IA or replicated IA) to the desktop user or to
`users that have access to the document through some com-
`puter connection.
`As seen in FIG. 2, the process of creating a DOMstarts
`with the uploading at step $201 of information assets
`(documents)
`through a browser or a client software
`application, or step S202 with uploading using a software
`application agent called Doc Feeder in a specific embodi-
`mentof the disclosed system. At the following steps, which
`need not be performed in the order of their description
`below, a DOM ofthe JA is created. The IA uploadedat step
`$201 or $202 can comprise structured or unstructured data.
`At step S203 the process determines the content type of the
`storage service. This can be a database thatis a file reference
`IA,e.g., if it is a type that the system recognizes. Ifit is, the
`with a pointer to the actual location of the IA on a network
`system includes content-type specific metadata in the docu-
`or a localfile system,or it can be a database that contains the
`ment’s DOM: MIME/content type information, a glyph of
`actual IA in a repository such as a user’s computer or a
`the application that creates/views the content-type, and/or
`centralized repository. The document object model so gen-
`the system assigns other content-type data to the DOM shell.
`erated is made available for use in step $215.
`If step S203 determines that the IA is an unknown content
`FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate methods of creating document
`type, it assigns to the DOMacontent-type for “unknown
`object models from information assets. As seen in FIG. 3,
`content-type.” Step S204 extracts text from the information
`three type of information assets are involved—new infor-
`asset, for example, in a text document, this step extracts the
`mation assets 301, modified information assets 301, and
`text of the document. Step $205 extracts text that may not
`deleted information assets 303. All cometo a file system
`be within but may be associated with the information asset,
`304. At step S305, agents specific to the disclosed embodi-
`for example, the time stamp of the document, the owner of
`mentof the system known as Scopeware 2.0 translate the IA
`the document, and possibly other textual information thatis
`into a DOM,ie., create a DOM shell for the IA, with
`or can be associated with the document. Other possible
`attributes as discussed in connection with FIG. 2. At step
`examplesare attributes of the IA such asfile reference path,
`S306, Scopeware agents translate the IA modifications into
`database/repository path,
`file metrics such as size,
`an updated DOM and time-stamp the change so the new
`encryption, other identification information, etc. Step S206
`time-stamp becomesa part of the DOM and the modified IA
`generates a thumbnail picture of the IA. The thumbnail can
`can be placesin the stream of documentsat a place reflecting
`be a reduced-size picture of the document, for example of
`the new time-stamp. At step S307, Scopeware agents
`the first page, and can be converted to a graphic image
`execute actions for removing the deleted IA from the reposi-
`format. Other examples of thumbnails are JPEG, MPEG,
`tory of documents. The display, such as that seen in FIG. 1
`BMP, GIF, AVI, or other still or moving imagefiles repre-
`reflects the actions takes at steps $305, S306 and S307. As
`sentative of some aspect of the IA. Step $207 produces an
`a result of step S305, the stream on the display showsat 308
`automatic summaryofthe IA,e.g., a replica of its first 500
`the new IA (provided the time period where the new IAfits
`words, or first 10 sentences, or some other information
`is being displayed). As a result of step S306, the modified IA
`copied or otherwise derived from the IA. Step S208 creates
`appears at 309 in its correct place in the displayed receding
`a permission list unique to the IA that defines the owner of
`stream of documents. As a result of step S307, the deleted
`the IA (e.g., its creator), and lists of people or entities and
`documents is removedat 310 from the displayed stream, and
`groups that can access the IA or the DOM of that JA for
`the remaining. In FIG. 4, a programmatic information sys-
`reading and/or writing purposes. This permission list can be
`tem received new, modified and deleted information assets
`defined by the user for the particular IA orfor a class of IAs,
`for storage and distribution to appropriate translation agents
`or can be created automatically, e.g., by software agents
`as illustrated. In other respects,
`the FIG. 4 arrangement
`called Doc Feeder or Crawling agent in a particular embodi-
`corresponds to that of FIG. 3, so the description of corre-
`mentof the described system, or by programmatic mapping
`sponding portions will not be repeated.
`such as LDAP, Active Directory, NTDS or some other
`mapping. Alternatively, at least for some documents,
`the
`At least some of the document object model created as
`permission list can be default setting.
`described above becomesa part of a glance view or browse
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`US 6,768,999 B2
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`card of the type illustrated in FIG. 1. An important feature
`of the system disclosed here is to conveniently display such
`a glance view in a natural and intuitively accepted way to
`facilitate operations.
`Traditional user interfaces for computers typically present
`lists or graphical icons of “documents” (including but not
`limited to computer files, emails, web pages, images and
`other types of electronic information). These lists and icon
`displays provide only a limited amountof information about
`the document—typically,
`title and application type only,
`although additional information as well in some cases. This
`can make it difficult for users to identify the document
`without downloading and/or opening the document with its
`associated application. For example, in Windows 2000, the
`user interface displays a small temporary pop-up window of
`the document’s title, application type, author and size when
`the user hovers his cursor on the document icon; however,
`the pop-up window appears only after a brief delay, usually
`1-2 seconds and is for documents that are on the screen at
`the time, which tend to be a small part of the many
`documents typically stored in or accessible through a user’s
`computer.
`In contrast, the disclosed system creates a pop-up window
`for heterogeneous documents of known and unknown appli-
`cation types that appears instantly, as perceived by the user,
`as he/she hovers the cursor over the document’s represen-
`tation in the user interface. In the example of FIG. 1,this
`representation is an index card in a cascading flow of
`overlapping index cards (called “browse cards”), and the
`pop-up windowis called a “glance view”. This glance view
`not only contains the document’s title, application type and
`owner, but also may contain rich multimedia cues (such as
`a thumbnail imageofthe first page of the document, a WAV
`or MP3 previewofan audiofile, or an animated GIF preview
`of a video file), text summaries and document operations
`specific to the document’s application type and access
`permissions. For example, if the user has write permission
`for a document,
`the “Edit” operation will be visible and
`available; however, if not, the Edit operation will not be
`visible or available. These document operations are
`interactive, allowing users to select available operations
`directly.
`Referring to FIG. 5 for an illustration of the instanta-
`neously dynamic,tailored, and interactive document glance
`view feature of the disclosed system, at S501 a user hovers
`his or her computer cursor over a document’s browse card.
`Essentially instantly, at least as perceived by the user, and
`without any mouseclicking or other action on the part of the
`user, step S502 processes the information needed for a
`glance view to appear on the screen, and at S503 the glance
`view appears next to the browse card, using a technology
`such as Dynamic HTML.If the user clicks on a document’s
`browse card, as detected by the test at step S504, and as
`executed by the user at S505, step S506 causes the glance
`view to becomefixed and step S507 causes it to remain in
`the display. The glance view does not change until the user
`clicks on another document’s browsecard. If the user does
`
`not click on any browse card, as determined by the test of
`step S504, the glance view will instantly change as the user
`moves his cursor over other browse cards, to reflect the
`glance view of the underlying browse card. If the user has
`clicked on a browse card to fix the glance view as a
`stationary window,the user can then select any of the visible
`and available document operations, by taking the “yes”
`branch of step S508 and selecting at S509 an available
`operation (as earlier described, the operations or command
`buttons that show are specific to the document). At step S510
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`the system executes the selected operation (command) and
`the display reflects this at S511. If at step S508 the user takes
`the “no” branch, she can continue ro hover the cursor over
`the stream of browse cards and repeat the process, at step
`$512. If at S504 the system determines that the user has not
`clicked to fix a glance view, the glance view information
`essentially instantly changes at S513 as the user moves the
`cursor over other browse cards, and the new glance views
`appear on the screen at S514.
`FIG. 6 illustrates a process involving another important
`feature of the disclosed system—granular permissions for
`access to information assets that allows clients to receive
`seamless and uniform access to contents without necessitat-
`
`ing changes to existing network security and accessrights.
`In traditional systems, a network administrators typically
`would grant access to specific network drives and file
`folders. The permission typically would allow a user to
`access the entire folder or drive, or would deny access to an
`entire folder or drive, rather than to a particular information
`asset or document.
`
`In the disclosed system, each information asset is acces-
`sible through specific access permission for each client or
`designated group of clients. Examples of access stage per-
`missionsare read, write, and aware. Read pe