System for performing collaborative tasks

• US 20040186762A1
• Filed: 01/27/2004
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Virtualagility Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Agility Management Partners, Inc.
• Inventors: Kelley, Kevin, Ahlgren, Janet, Palmer, Gorham, Rudolph, Stuart E., Beaven, Douglas F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A system for performing collaborative tasks which permits collaborators to determine the form of a model of the collaborative work, to modify the model in the course of the collaborative work, and to use the model to access information related to the collaborative work. A graphical user interface permits collaborators to view the model and the information accessible via the model in various ways as well as to modify the model and the information. Collaborators are organized into groups and a collaborator'"'"'s group membership determines how the collaborator may access and modify the model and the related information. The information related to the collaborative work includes documents, discussions, email, reminders, and alerts. In a disclosed embodiment of the system, the model is made up of model entities which belong to hierarchies. A model entity may be a member of more than one hierarchy and the different hierarchies are used to provide different views of the model.

Claims

1. A system for supporting an arbitrary activity involving collaborators, the system comprising:

a processor which has access to a representation of a model of the activity, the form of the model being defined by the collaborators and the representation providing access to information relating to the activity; and

an interface to the system for the collaborators, the interface being provided by the processor and the interface permitting a collaborator to perceive and modify the model'"'"'s form and to perceive and modify the information to which the representation of the model provides access.

2. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the representation of the model includes representations of the information.

3. The system set forth in claim 2 wherein:

the interface further permits a collaborator to perceive the model as sorted according to values of the included representations of the information.

4. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the model further includes representations of further information; and

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive how the further information is related to the model and to perceive the further information.

5. The system set forth in claim 4 wherein:

the interface further permits the collaborator to modify the further information.

6. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the further information is a document that is accessible to the system.

7. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the further information is a message sent to the collaborator by another collaborator.

8. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the further information is an alert that indicates a change in the model that is relevant to the collaborator.

9. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the further information is a reminder generated by the system for the collaborator.

10. The system set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the further information is a discussion concerning the model among the collaborators.

11. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the representation of the collaborator-defined model of the activity permits the model to be viewed in a plurality of ways; and

the interface permits the model to be viewed according to the plurality of ways.

12. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the model includes model entities that have relationships one to another;

the representation of the model includes representations of the model entities and of their relationships;

access to the information is provided via the representations of the model entities; and

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive the model entities and the relationships and to modify the relationships.

13. The system set forth in claim 12 wherein:

there is a plurality of types of model entities;

a representation of a model entity specifies the represented model entity'"'"'s type; and

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive the type of a model entity.

14. The system set forth in claim 12 wherein:

the relationships includes a first relationship and a second relationship, the second relationship including a model entity that also belongs to the first relationship; and

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive the first relationship and/or the second relationship.

15. The system set forth in claim 12 wherein:

a representation of a model entity includes representations of the information.

16. The system set forth in claim 15 wherein:

the interface further permits a collaborator to sort the model entities according to values of the included representations of the information.

17. The system set forth in claim 15 wherein:

the model further includes representations of further information that are related to the representations of the model entities;

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive how the related representations of further information are related to the model entities and to access the related representations of information.

18. The system set forth in claim 17 wherein:

the interface further permits the collaborator to modify the further information.

19. The system set forth in claim 18 wherein:

the further information is a document that is accessible to the system.

20. The system set forth in claim 18 wherein:

the further information is a message sent to the collaborator by another collaborator.

21. The system set forth in claim 18 wherein:

the further information is an alert that indicates a change in the model that is relevant to the collaborator.

22. The system set forth in claim 18 wherein:

the further information is a reminder generated by the system for the collaborator.

23. The system set forth in claim 18 wherein:

the further information is a discussion concerning the model entity among the collaborators.

24. The system set forth in claim 17 wherein:

there is a plurality of types of model entities;

a representation of a model entity specifies the represented model entity'"'"'s type;

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive the type of a model entity; and

a related representation of further information may be related to a representation of a model entity of any type.

25. The system set forth in claim 12 wherein:

the collaborators have different access privileges with regard to particular ones of the model entities; and

the interface determines what a collaborator perceives of the model entities according to the collaborator'"'"'s access privileges.

26. The system set forth in claim 12 wherein:

the model includes model entities having a hierarchical relationship.

27. The system set forth in claim 26 wherein:

the hierarchical relationship includes a first hierarchy and a second hierarchy, the second hierarchy including a model entity that also belongs to the first hierarchy; and

the interface permits the collaborator to perceive the first hierarchy and/or the second hierarchy.

28. The system set forth in claim 27 wherein:

There is a plurality of the first hierarchies; and

the second hierarchy includes model entities from different ones of the first hierarchies.

29. The system set forth in claim 27 wherein:

there is a plurality of the second hierarchies; and

the model entity belongs to more than one of the second hierarchies.

30. A graphical user interface for a system that supports an arbitrary activity involving collaborators, the system including a processor that has access to a representation of a model of the activity, the form of the model being defined by the collaborators and the model including representations of model entities and of relationships of the model entities to one another and the model entities providing access to information relating to the activity and the graphical user interface being provided by the processor and comprising:

a first window wherein the model entities and their relationships are displayed and wherefrom a collaborator may select a model entity; and

a second window wherein the collaborator may perform an operation on the selected model entity, the second window being displayed simultaneously with the first window.

31. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 30 wherein:

the operation is modifying the relationships of the selected model entity.

32. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 30 wherein:

the operation is accessing the information via the selected model entity.

33. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 30 wherein:

the relationships include a plurality thereof; and

the first window shows the model entities according to the plurality of relationships.

34. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 33 wherein:

the first window permits the collaborator to select which relationship the first window shows the model according to.

35. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 30 wherein:

the collaborators have different access privileges with regard to particular ones of the model entities; and

what a collaborator perceives of the model entities in the first window is determined by the graphical user interface according to the collaborator'"'"'s access privileges.

36. The graphical user interface set forth in claim 30 further comprising:

a third window wherein an interface to third-party software is displayed, the third window being displayed simultaneously with the first window.