Digital library system with customizable workflow

• US 20040143597A1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kauffman, Steven Victor, Benson, Donald Edward
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A customizable workflow is specified in a script that is associated with an object that is to be processed by the workflow. Both the object and the script can be stored in a content management system, with the object and script associated with one another by way of identifying the script in metadata stored in the system for the object. The script can be located by locating the object. The script can specify a sequence of a plurality of workflow processes that are performed over the life of the object.

Claims

1. A method of processing an object stored in a data store, comprising:

associating a processing script with the object, wherein the script specifies a plurality of processing tasks;

locating the script by locating the object, in response to a request to process the object;

processing the object by executing the plurality of processing tasks as specified in the script.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of processing tasks includes a plurality of micro-workflow operations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data store is a content management system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the object is a multimedia object containing multimedia information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising customizing the script by changing the plurality of processing tasks.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of processing tasks is changed by changing a specification defining an order of processing the plurality of tasks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said associating a processing script with the object comprises selecting the processing script from among a plurality of processing scripts.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the processing script is selected based on characteristics of the object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said associating a processing script with the object comprises generating the processing script by specifying predefined micro-workflow processes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the processing script is generated using a graphical user interface (GUI).

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing script specifies executing at least two of the plurality of processing tasks in parallel.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of processing tasks is comprised of at least one of:

parsing metadata contained in the object by extracting the metadata and indexing the extracted metadata in association with the object;

storing the object to a tape storage medium;

copying a disc file containing the object;

erasing a disc file containing the object;

compressing a set of computer files in a directory into a single computer file;

opening a transaction associated with the object;

closing a transaction associated with the object; and

collapsing a plurality of metadata items associated with the object into a single metadata item.

13. A program product embodied on a computer readable medium of instructions for processing an object stored in a data store, comprising:

program instructions for associating a processing script with the object, wherein the script specifies a plurality of processing tasks;

program instructions for locating the script by locating the object, in response to a request to process the object;

program instructions for processing the object by executing the plurality of processing tasks as specified in the script.

14. The program product of claim 13, wherein the plurality of processing tasks include a plurality of micro-workflow operations.

15. The program product of claim 13, wherein the data store is a content management system.

16. The program product of claim 15, wherein the object is a multimedia object containing multimedia information.

17. The program product of claim 13, further comprising program instructions for customizing the script by changing the plurality of processing tasks.

18. The program product of claim 17, wherein the plurality of processing tasks is changed by changing a specification defining an order of processing the plurality of tasks.

19. The program product of claim 13, wherein said associating a processing script with the object comprises selecting the processing script from among a plurality of processing scripts.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein the processing script is selected based on characteristics of the object.

21. The program product of claim 13, wherein said program instructions for associating a processing script with the object comprises program instructions for generating the processing script by specifying predefined micro-workflow processes.

22. The program product of claim 21, wherein the processing script is generated using a graphical user interface (GUI).

23. The program product of claim 13, wherein the processing script specifies executing at least two of the plurality of processing tasks in parallel.

24. The program product of claim 13, wherein the plurality of processing tasks is comprised of at least one of:

parsing metadata contained in the object by extracting the metadata and indexing the extracted metadata in association with the object;

storing the object to a tape storage medium;

copying a disc file containing the object;

erasing a disc file containing the object;

compressing a set of computer files in a directory into a single computer file;

opening a transaction associated with the object;

closing a transaction associated with the object; and

collapsing a plurality of metadata items associated with the object into a single metadata item.

25. An apparatus for processing an object stored in a data store, comprising:

a metadata storage unit configured to store metadata associated with the object including an identifier of a script for processing the object; and

a processing unit configured to locate the script in response to a request to process the object, and to execute the script to process the object

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the plurality of processing tasks includes a plurality of micro-workflow operations.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the data store is a content management and the object is a multimedia object containing multimedia data.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) for customizing the script by changing the plurality of processing tasks.