Abstract: The invention provides a system and method for a network operating system. The system includes a complex data medium that enables the continuous reconciliation of the collaborative information process and product. The system generally increases productivity by enabling a network dynamic among knowledge workers. The system unifies e-mail and shared file management, synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, serial and parallel work flow, top-down and bottom-up collaboration, and information lifecycle management.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described that allow supplier information to be captured and processed for imported or exported products that have multiple supply sources. Each of the products may be classified under a plurality of HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) codes, which may then be assigned to the product. The assigned HTS codes may be entered and stored in a database of a trade compliance system. A plurality of certifications may be requested and obtained from the suppliers of the product. The certifications, which may include a COO certification or a NAFTA certification, for example, may be entered and stored in the database. Each certification may identify and certify one of the multiple supply sources for the product. Each certification may be associated with one of the plurality of HTS codes.

Abstract: A method for adapting a workflow of a content management system comprises setting an allowed action for a user, creating at least one information item depending on the allowed action for the user, in which the at least one information item comprises content to be published and a first information item status level indicative of a present status level of the content within the workflow, and executing the workflow which comprises stages each corresponding to a respective information item status level, such that a next stage of the workflow is determined based on a combination of different types of user status information, indicative of a status of the user, and the first information item status level.

Abstract: Various embodiments herein include one or more of systems, methods, software, and/or data structures to create collaboration enabled client applications. In some embodiments, web services are provided on one or more servers that may be called by processes within client applications to facilitate collaboration within a workspace, such as directly within a computer application. Some such web services may be application and data-agnostic, meaning that such web services are not aware of or do not care where application collaboration service calls come from, what their destination application is, or what data is being communicated. These web services, in some such embodiments, may be properly called by an authorized user. Virtual meeting places referred to as rooms may be created dynamically and may each include one or more collaborative services. To facilitate the dynamic creation of new rooms, room templates may be provided which allow new rooms to be easily and automatically created.

Abstract: An index selection mechanism allows for efficient generation of index recommendations for a given workload of a database system. The workload includes a set of queries that are used to access tables in a database system. The index recommendations are validated to verify improved performance, followed by application of the indexes. Graphical user interface screens are provided to receive user input as well as to present reports to the user.

Abstract: The invention concerns a system and a procedure for the administration of files by using electronical data processing equipment that are connected with each other by a network. In order to provide a unitary system to solve all modern office- and communication tasks instead of using a multitude of programs, systems and devices, it is suggested with the invention that at least one data processing installation features a user-related container file system whose function is based on the fact that the files of a particular user are collected into one single data file, wherein the access to the files of the data file occurs depending on access rights and wherein an automatic comparison of the data files with a replica existent within the system is being performed.

Abstract: A document management system includes a memory and a controller. The memory stores access privilege information configured to define, for each display style of a document element displayed in an electronic document, privileges of users or user groups regarding access to a document element having a display style. In response to a request from a user to perform an operation on a document element in an electronic document, the controller controls whether the operation is executed or not on the document element, using the access privilege information stored in the memory, in accordance with a privilege among privileges of the users or user groups for a display style of the document element, the privilege being a privilege of the user or a user group to which the user belongs.

Abstract: A system and associated method for collaboratively developing information. An information delivery system for information regarding rapidly evolving software products builds an initial information set and a vocabulary. The initial information set is released for annotations on the information set by contributing users. The vocabulary defines a group of terms and respectively associated confidence level that can be used in describing annotations. An access control list may be employed in authenticating contributing users in accessing the information delivery system to assure reliability of annotations. A reliable annotation having a confidence level satisfying a threshold confidence level is integrated with the information set according to an approval by a content owner.

Abstract: One or more data stores are maintained separately from a primary presentation storage within a document for storing, relating and for allowing use of arbitrary data that is associated with a computer-generated document between multiple data consumers. The data store exposes application programming interfaces (APIs) to the various pieces of data in the data store for allowing different data consumers to access and operate on one or more of the data pieces in real time. Multiple data consumers may access and edit the same piece of data concurrently, and any conflicting changes to a given piece of data are resolved. Each data consumer may accept or reject the change as well as make additional side-effect changes as a result of the original change. In this way, the data may be synchronized in real time across the data consumers.

Abstract: A facility for annotating media files is described. In various embodiments, the facility displays a timeline indicating a duration of the media file, determines that an annotation is associated with the media file, and displays in an area near the timeline an indication of the associated annotation. In various embodiments, the facility displays a timeline indicative of a duration of the media file, receives an indication to add an annotation at an annotation time relative to the duration of the timeline, receives and stores an annotation, associates the annotation with the annotation time, and displays an indication of the stored annotation at an area near the timeline.

Abstract: Provided are an apparatus for creating a workflow of a composition web service and a functionality information construction method for creating a workflow of a composition web service. The apparatus and method analyze procedural knowledge described in web documents to normalize and continuously accumulate functionality information required for performing a task, and automatically configure a workflow of a composition web service by combining pieces of the accumulated functionality information, thereby solving the problem of a discordance occurring when one composition web service is configured by dynamically combining multiple different web services.

Abstract: A method for creating and managing contact information in the context of an online social networking community. Each member of the social networking community creates a member profile containing contact information such as email address, telephone numbers, and street addresses. When a member joins a subgroup or secure network within the social networking community, the member's profile is shared with all other members of that secure network. The member's own contacts are also shared with all other members of the network such that one member of the network has access to all contacts of every other member of the network. Contact profiles are automatically updated as the owner of the profile provides new information to his or her profile. Duplicate entries are minimized by a matching feature that alerts members to the creation of possible duplicates and allows the members to merge, delete, or or ignore potential duplicate profiles.

Abstract: The workflow automation system is a secure online web-based system that automates any office workflow in a minimal amount of time by providing appropriate customizations and ASP.net forms, the customizations including name of the system, task-names, role names, names of actions on each task, order of tasks, etc. After the customizations, the workflow automation system is executable to provide each role; a secure login with a central HR repository; an application that the role is responsible for; active task(s) in the application, etc. The desired web forms can be made in ASP.net using the provided templates for forms, and controls to define what to do when by whom. The workflow automation system includes automatic sending of e-mail reminders to complete tasks after certain administrator-defined intervals, application tracking, parallel and sequential task processing, easy concealment of certain role names from others, and an easy method to provide Instructions on each web page.

Abstract: Electronic messages with system-generated network addresses are transmitted to recipients to enable access to specific locations in the workflow system. The network addresses may be used only once, are generated using secure identifications and/or can be generated randomly. These secure identifications can be created by encoding a large number into the network address. The recipient of this network address may be required to himself to the workflow system, for example, as a means for minimizing security risks to the workflow system. The network addresses generated to specific locations within a workflow system are intended for specific recipients but may be shared by the recipients as circumstances require. Electronic mail can be transmitted with specific electronic mail addresses encoded in the electronic mail message. The specific email address can be encoded into a “Reply-to” function. Alternatively, specific email addresses can be embedded into the message portion of the email message.

Abstract: A system stores documents in a repository and includes a repository for storing data representing a document. An interface processor receives and stores document data representing a first document and an associated document identifier. A document processor automatically parses and processes the received document data to identify and store data indicating: (a) internal document structure and characteristics, and (b) external document relationships. The internal document structure and characteristics include a compilation of searchable keywords and key values. The external document relationships include an association or hierarchical relationship between the first document and one or more different documents.

Abstract: A collaborative authoring application provides an authoring environment in which two or more users can edit a document concurrently. Each user edits a copy of the document, sends updates to a master copy of the document, and receives updates from the master copy of the document. The authoring environment generally inhibits the users from providing conflicting editing instructions to the master copy of the document. For example, each user can generate a content lock about one or more data units within the document. The authoring environment may synchronize content locks automatically and content only at the request of the user.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a document managing system includes a communication unit, a printing unit, a reading unit, a document-management-information storing unit, a discarding-information storing unit, an informing unit, and a management-information analyzing unit. The reading unit reads a document recorded on a recording medium and acquires a document file. The document-management-information storing unit stores, together with the document file, document management information including a confidentiality level of the document. The discarding-information storing unit stores plural kinds of discarding information for discarding a plurality of the recording media each of which is different depending on the confidentiality level of the document. The management-information analyzing unit acquires the discarding information corresponding to the confidentiality level of the document read by the reading unit and informing the discarding information from the informing unit.

Abstract: Creation, association, and/or placement of search forums for searches strings enable users to discuss aspects of both searches and elements associated with the searches, and further enable the users to view discussions from other users. The search forum may be generated from variations of the search string. In addition or alternatively, search strings may be associated with existing item forums, category forums, and tag forums. Search forums may be placed with, for example, search results or with items, categories, and/or tags, among other possibilities, to provide user access to the search forums.

Abstract: The subject application is directed to a document processing workflow system and method. On an associated display, a web output is generated and a document processing instructions is received for commencing an operation on a document processing device. A workflow manager commences a workflow instance based upon the received document processing instruction. The workflow instance includes ascertaining the status of the operation, generating an error signal based upon the status, and generating an image on the display that corresponds to the output of the document processing device resulting from the operation. The workflow instance also includes the receipt of a location specified by the user for a data storage that is associated with the operation, and exchanging electronic document data with the user-specified data storage location.

Abstract: A method, system, and data structure for implementing a workflow. The workflow divides a general work task of an enterprise into activities and associated relationships with respect to participating roles in the workflow. A checklist file is generated for each participating role. Each checklist file is stored in a first database. Each checklist file specifies activities of each participating role and at least one relationship element for each activity of each participating role. The at least one relationship element of a first activity in the checklist file of a first participating role of the participating roles includes a dependency relationship. A plurality of checklist instances is generated. Each checklist instance being stored in a second database. Each checklist instance corresponds to an associated checklist file and records a status of each activity and of each relationship element in the associated checklist.

Abstract: Method, system and article of manufacture for scheduling queries. In particular, the scheduling options made available to a user for a particular unit of work are determined dynamically at the time of scheduling. In this way, the execution cost, for example, of a particular unit of work can be taken into account when determining which scheduling options to make available. In addition, or alternatively, system availability and/or user parameters may be accounted for when determining which scheduling options to make available.

Abstract: A computer-based system for collaborative editing of documents has a computer-based control module and computerized workstations. The system has a database connected to the control module that stores a document in the database as linked character objects. Each character object represents one particular character of the document, includes a unique object identifier, and represents a type of the particular character. The character object represents the particular character being linked to a first character object representing a character preceding directly the particular character in the document and to a second character object representing a character following directly the particular character in the document. The control module receives and processes editing commands. The system has a propagation module for transmitting propagation messages to the workstations participating in the collaborative editing of the document, propagation messages including the character objects inserted or deleted in the database.

Abstract: A workflow includes an activity that takes advantage of spreadsheet calculations. For a spreadsheet activity, calculation and extraction of values from a spreadsheet is performed. Thus, spreadsheet calculations are integrated into workflows without user intervention. Values from previous activities in the workflow may be obtained and provided to the spreadsheet (e.g., cell values are set, modified, or adjusted). The spreadsheet may then be recalculated using these obtained values. Moreover, values from the spreadsheet may be used in subsequent parts of the workflow. Also, any number of spreadsheet activities may be incorporated into a workflow, and one spreadsheet activity may provide values to a second spreadsheet activity in the workflow.

Abstract: A method and system for efficient code review performed during the software development. The method and system include storing information about a plurality of authors and reviewers; detecting code to be reviewed by analyzing a code repository with respect to recent code modifications; creating a code review invitation according to the stored information about a plurality of authors and reviewers; distributing the code review invitation to a respective reviewer; recording comments for review code from the respective reviewer; measuring coverage of the reviewed code; applying metrics to the code review invitations and the comments; measuring code review characteristics based on the applied metrics.

Abstract: For a software component to be installed on a target computer system a product dependency graph is determined which identifies additional software components required by the to-be-installed software component as prerequisite or corequisite software components. For each of these software components a corresponding installation facility is determined. Then a process model is generated being executable by a Workflow Management System (WFMS). The WFMS process model comprises a directed graph of activities, wherein each software component of the product dependency graph is associated with an activity such that when the activity is executed the installation facility corresponding to each of the software components is performed. Moreover, the WFMS process model is generated in a way that the sequence of activities in the directed graph is not violating the dependencies of the software components in the product dependency graph. Finally the WFMS process model is inserted in the WFMS as the provisioning process.

Abstract: Calendar applications typically require users to enter information about unfinished tasks and notify users of the unfinished tasks by generating reminders at set times. Collaboration on shared content is not effective unless all collaborators are aware of a current status, a current version of the shared content, and modifications made to the shared content. Functionality can be implemented to link the calendar application to the shared content via an interface to enable the collaborators to store different versions of the shared content, access the shared content from any location via the calendar application, and receive notifications of the modifications made to the shared content. Moreover, the calendar application being used to control access to the shared content among the collaborators can also ensure collaboration without the need for configuring and using a version controlling system or collaborative servers.

Abstract: The invention is a contact, calendar, workflow, and intelligence gathering application that allows a user, such as a financial advisor to collect, codify and analyze objective and subjective data regarding clients, corporate/institutional accounts, contacts/prospects, financial products and market trends. The invention assists a financial advisor in batch calling, scheduling work, delegating tasks and facilitating associative intellect, allowing a user to test hunches or “wispy thoughts” to discovery client and market trends.

Abstract: A user-dedicated storage area (97) of a cellular phone (10) is retained in a storage server (9) on a network (6). Software purchased by a user via a sales server (12) is not transferred directly to the user's cellular phone (10) but is stored in the user-dedicated storage area (97) of the user. The user downloads the software from his or her own dedicated storage area (97) to his or her own cellular phone (10) before using the software.

Abstract: A method of configuration controlling a hierarchy of data arrays is disclosed, each data array in the hierarchy having at least one version, each version of each data array in the hierarchy being associated with one version of at least one other data array in the hierarchy, each data array comprising at least one data entry, each data entry comprising a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising a version field and at least one characteristic field having a characteristic, the version field indicating which version of that data array the associated characteristic fields belong to. The method comprises the steps of: (i) defining a package of data arrays comprising a predetermined version of at least two data arrays in the hierarchy and in which at least one of the data arrays is to be updated to a new version based on a previous version; and (ii) appending a new version indicator indicative of the new version to each data entry having the previous version in the at least one of the data arrays.

Abstract: Presentation methods are determined from a work context and/or user preferences. The presentation methods can be combined in any manner with various navigational methods and working modes, to present any type of enterprise data to a user.

Abstract: Clickstream data collected from a panel of internet users is used to generate and present internet activity metrics. Data collected from a community of internet users may be augmented by clickstream data store content, third party content, search results, and other sources to form estimates of internet activity, such as traffic, that is structured and analyzed to produce metrics of nearly any internet web site or domain. The estimate of the panel's Internet activity may be refined by applying a domain-specific bias adjustment to the estimate. Applying the domain-specific bias adjustment to the estimate may include applying a weight to a subset of the data that connotes a specific domain from the panel of Internet users.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and system for workflow management to automate the creation of event-task entries directly from flowcharts. The method and system of the present invention includes an entry described as MFIN. A MFIN is defined as a flowchart of a process that can be triggered by one or more events. When flowcharts are finalized, they are “published”, in which the system automatically parses the flowcharts, and populates a “published flowcharts table” with information regarding the tasks required to process each event, together with logical decisions, and timers (for tickler notifications) to be started. Instances of the MFINs are executed upon the occurrence of one or more events by looking up the entry in the “published flowcharts table” for that event, and triggering the specified tasks for the specified users.

Abstract: A method and system of computer-assisted business resource automation that is applicable to a variety of business enterprise requirements including, but not limited to customer relationship management and sales force automation. The system provides improved an apparatus and method for automating the production of business resources such as documents and presentations. The system further provides an apparatus and method for analyzing the associated processes of the enterprise and providing business intelligence such as sales analytics. In particular, aspects of the invention include, but are not limited to: a hierarchical architecture that simplifies customization and maintenance of enterprise software, the encapsulation of data within reusable intelligent advisor objects, and the flexible integration of a variety of expert systems functionality and other apparatus and means of artificial intelligence therein.

Abstract: Systems and methods for enabling a host application and uses thereof access to otherwise inaccessible information configured solely for use by other types of applications. The information may be exposed for use by the host application as information elements (e.g., metadata). During execution the host application may dynamically access these information elements using references specifying the information elements. These references may be used to retrieve pieces of information for display and/or modification by users. The content provided by the application may have an associated smart tag or uniform resource locater that specifies the reference. Further, for particular content, references may be generated from a structural abstraction representing the structure of the content. The structural abstraction may have one or more nodes corresponding to one or more respective sections of the content.

Abstract: In an information processor which records many contents or has many contents already recorded therein, and can generate an arbitrary combination of the contents, a weight is computed for each of the contents based on either data stored in a history data file or data stored in a display data file and data stored in a filtering data file, and a content is selected from the contents stored in a content file based on the weight. The selected content is related with a package corresponding to the data stored in the filtering data file.

Abstract: Systems and computer products that efficiently determine how columns, tables, and queries associated with a database are related to each other. The present invention enables a user to see at a glance in which queries certain columns and tables are used. The present invention may be implemented with a query miner module that includes a query browser module that improves browsing through queries and their components over the past. The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides an easy to use graphical interface showing the queries, tables, and columns in a tree structure. Further, the preferred embodiment of the present invention presents information about relationships and dimensions associated with a database and about columns, tables, and queries to the user without discernable lag time between the user's request and the generated information.

Abstract: A computer that is programmed with software attaches one object (“from-object”) to another object (“to-object”) by preparing a new duplicate of certain metadata in the from-object, without copying any content of the from-object. The new duplicate metadata is stored in memory for use in identifying the from-object and the to-object as being attached. If the from-object itself has any existing attachments, e.g. to a group of additional objects, there already exists a group of existing metadatas that form existing attachments between the from-object and the group of additional objects. In such a case, the computer still prepares, without content copying, a group of new metadatas to identify the relationship between a corresponding additional object and the from-object. Some embodiments also identify the to-object within each metadata in the group of new metadatas, thereby to identify a path of objects through which an additional object is accessible.

Abstract: A computer that is programmed with collaboration software receives a new value of an attribute (or property or characteristic) which is specific to a label (or tag or category) as applied to an object managed by the computer. The computer does not use the new value to overwrite a corresponding old value in existing metadata. Instead, the computer is programmed to hold the new value in an incremental label application for the object. The computer is further programmed to respond to a request for the object's label application, by retrieving the incremental label application, and a full application of said label to said object. The computer uses attribute values in the incremental label application to update corresponding attribute values in a copy of the full label application, in a time sequence based on the time of creation of incremental label applications, thereby to generate a current label application.

Abstract: A swarm can develop around a piece of content. The swarm can include the original content, changes to the original content, the persons contributing the changes, and metadata, such as comments contributed by members of the swarm. A swarm can also include statistics generated about the content, such as the size of the swarm, the growth and/or death rates of the swarm, the longevity of the swarm, the intensity of the swarm, the persistence of the swarm, and the direction of the swarm. Swarms and their behaviors can be used to validate or invalidate content.

Abstract: A computer that is programmed with collaboration software receives a change to be made to an object that can be of any type among several predetermined types such as message, document, contact, discussion and meeting. The object is represented as an aggregate of identifiable parts shareable by users, including at least a content part, a lock part, and an access-control part. Each version of the object is represented by a set of identifiers of these parts. In response to receipt of information identifying the change, the computer automatically identifies a specific part to be changed from among multiple parts of the object. Thereafter, the computer automatically creates a new instance of the specific part which contains the change as per the received information. The computer automatically stores a new version of the object as a new set that includes a new identifier of the new instance of the specific part.

Abstract: Processes, systems and computer program products for data management. A distributed map is provided that maps data from a first dimension level in a hierarchy to a second dimension level in the hierarchy. The data is aggregated from the first dimension level to the second dimension level based on the mapping. The distributed map is partitioned across multiple devices.

Abstract: A method and system for incorporating trusted metadata in a computing environment is described. One illustrative embodiment is a system comprising at least one functional module configured to query a personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report from an informer network that includes the computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including a subjective assertion regarding the quality of an item or an expression of a degree of trust in an informer; and at least one functional module configured to perform a task in the computing environment based at least in part on results of a query of the personalized database of trusted metadata.

Abstract: A system and method links one or more disparate community awareness management (CAM) datasets for a community awareness program (CAP) with one or more spatial layers to create linked CAM datasets. One or more data attributes common to a CAM dataset and a spatial layer are identified, and the link is defined between the CAM dataset and the spatial layer. The spatial layer and the linked CAM dataset then may be queried using a single input query. Features from the spatial layer and features from the linked CAM dataset that match the query are generated for display. In one embodiment, a system and method manage CAP assets, transactions, interest areas for the CAP, and buffer areas for the CAP. An audience utility enables entering and maintaining audience data for the CAP. A journal utility enables making journal entries for one or more audience members, CAP assets, transactions, and/or other CAM data. A link document utility enables linking one or more documents to CAM data.

Abstract: A method of, and a computer for, processing a query. The method includes receiving the query in a first language at a computerized messaging device, the first language being one of different languages. A template in the first language is then selected from one of the different languages and query data corresponding to the first language is retrieved from a database of query data. The method includes populating the template with template data corresponding to the first language to define a query response in the query language, and communicating the query response from the device to a recipient.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include methods (and corresponding systems and computer program products) that augment visual elements in documents with rich media content and provide the rich media content based on user interaction with the augmented visual elements in the documents. The disclosed embodiments analyze a document for qualified visual elements. The disclosed embodiments determine keywords associated with the visual element, generate an association of the visual element and the keywords, and embed the association in a corresponding augmented document. When a user reviews the augmented document in a client system and moves a pointer over the augmented visual element, a piece of rich media content related to the keywords are transmitted to the client system to be displayed as an overlay in close proximity to the visual element where the mouse-over occurred.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for coordinating and/or tracking workflows are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises performing a workflow having a series of two or more processing operations and, for each of the two or more processing operations, calculating an identifier and adding at least one metadata entry corresponding to said each of the two or more processing operations to a set of metadata entries corresponding to a digital object.

Abstract: In an application executing in multiple computers connected by a network, an instance of the application is deleted from a group of instances that share a resource, such as a database. Specifically the to-be-deleted instance is shut down, followed by deleting connectivity between the to-be-deleted instance and the network, and then deleting an object of the to-be-deleted instance. Each of these acts is performed automatically without user input, once the user issues an instruction to delete the to-be-deleted instance.

Abstract: A method and system for tracking authorship of content in data is described, wherein the method and system may be employed in collaborative text editing systems or in word processing applications to identify and track the contributions of individual authors. The method comprises aligning at least a portion of data from old or reference data with at least a portion of the data from new or target data, repeating the acts of aligning at least a portion of the data, storing any aligned data until no significant alignment of the data is obtained, and storing any unaligned data and authorship information.

Abstract: The present invention provides a computer implemented method, data processing system and computer program product for limiting instances of a client-server program within a plurality of platforms in a restricted distributed network. The data processing system receives an invocation of the client-server program. The data processing system assigns a write file to the client-server program wherein the write file has a write file name and the write file is on a distributed file system accessible to the plurality of platforms. The data processing system determines whether the write file is available. Responsive to a determination that the write file is available, the data processing system opens the write file for writing wherein the write file is associated with the client-server program. The data processing system, responsive to a determination that the write file is available, forms an addressing file having addressing information of a first instance of the client-server program.

Abstract: A system and method for managing electronic files and tasks in a way that is intuitive to the users, mimicking their environment, but “Process-Blind’. The system and method comprise a configurable structure that facilitates the accurate filing and subsequent locating of electronic files in underlying document/record management applications. The manager enables users, with permissions, to communicate with each other regarding these files and their work through ad-hoc workflows that are created by the user as needed, then retained as documentation of events. The manager provides an efficient, secure, auditable handling of unstructured data that is free of predetermined inflexible processes and is not dependant on specific underlying document management software.