System-wide selective action management

• US 20040267877A1
• Filed: 02/25/2004
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: OʼBrien, James William, Costa, Manuel, Rodriguez, Pablo R., Matheson, Caroline Elizabeth, Shapiro, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,290,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A system-wide selective action management facility is provided. Such a facility can support selective action management for multiple applications executing on one or more computer systems (including the operating system and its components, such as a file system). A system-wide action management facility can log actions performed on the computer system(s) and record relationships between such actions (e.g., between actions of different sources, including different documents, different applications and even different computer systems). When a user discovers a mistake, the tool allows the user to select one or more past actions (i.e., the “mistake”) for removal or replacement with one or more correction actions. The tool can also re-execute dependent actions to restore the relevant state of the system at the time of the designation, absent the “mistake”. As such, actions throughout the system can be selectively undone, fixed and/or redone in an exemplary system-wide selective action management tool.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recording action information pertaining to an action of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second computer-related source;

executing an action management operation on the action of the first computer-related source and the recorded action of the second computer-related source.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering the first computer-related source with an action management module that receives action information about actions associated with multiple computer-related sources.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering the second computer-related source with an action management module that receives action information about actions associated with multiple computer-related sources.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting selection of the recorded action of the first computer-related source from a plurality of recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source in accordance with causal relationships among the recorded actions.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source in accordance with chronological relationships among the recorded actions.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to undo the recorded action of the first computer-related source.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to redo the recorded action of the first computer-related source.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action of a different action type.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action of the same action type having different action parameters.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with multiple actions.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the second computer-related source is an application.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the second computer-related source is an inactive application and further comprising:

executing the inactive application responsive to execution of the action management operation.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the second computer-related source is a document object.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the second computer-related source is a document object.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the second computer-related source is a computer process.

18. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

recording action information pertaining to an action of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second computer-related source;

executing an action management operation on the action of the first computer-related source and the recorded action of the second computer-related source.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer process further comprises:

registering the first computer-related source with an action management module that receives action information about actions associated with multiple computer-related sources.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer process further comprises:

registering the second computer-related source with an action management module that receives action information about actions associated with multiple computer-related sources.

21. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer process further comprises:

detecting selection of the recorded action of the first computer-related source from a plurality of recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source.

22. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer process further comprises:

displaying recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source in accordance with causal relationships among the recorded actions.

23. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer process further comprises:

displaying recorded actions of the first computer-related source and the second computer-related source in accordance with chronological relationships among the recorded actions.

24. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to undo the recorded action of the first computer-related source.

25. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to redo the recorded action of the first computer-related source.

26. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action.

27. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action of a different action type.

28. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with another action of the same action type having different action parameters.

29. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the executing operation comprises:

instructing a source-specific action management facility of the first computer-related source to replace the recorded action of the first computer-related source with multiple actions.

30. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the second computer-related source is an application.

31. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the second computer-related source is an inactive application and the computer process further comprises:

executing the inactive application responsive to execution of the action management operation.

32. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the second computer-related source is a document.

33. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the second computer-related source is an inactive document and the computer process further comprises:

executing an application on the inactive document responsive to execution of the action management operation.

34. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein the second computer-related source is a computer process.

35. A system comprising:

an action log recording action information pertaining to an action of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second computer-related source; and

an action management module executing an action management operation on the action of the first computer-related source and the recorded action of the second computer-related source.

36. A method comprising:

recording action information for one or more logical actions of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded logical action of a second computer-related source.

37. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

recording action information for one or more logical actions of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded logical action of a second computer-related source.

38. A system comprising:

an action log recording action information for one or more logical actions of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded logical action of a second computer-related source.

39. A method comprising:

registering a first computer-related source with an action management module;

registering a second computer-related source with the action management module; and

recording action information relating to an action of the first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second source.

40. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

registering a first computer-related source with an action management module;

registering a second computer-related source with the action management module; and

recording action information relating to an action of the first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second source.

41. A system comprising:

an action management module registering a first computer-related source with an action management module and registering a second computer-related source with the action management module; and

an action log recording action information relating to an action of the first computer-related source and an associated relationship with a recorded action of a second source.

42. A method in a computer system for displaying on a display device logical actions of a first computer-related source and a second computer-related source, the method comprising:

receiving a reference to an action of a first computer-related source and an associated relationship with an action of a second computer-related source;

displaying a representation of the action of a first computer-related source and a representation of the action of a second computer-related source; and

displaying a representation of a relationship between the action of a first computer-related source and the action of a first computer-related source.

43. One or more computer-readable media storing a data structure comprising:

a first data field storing an action identifier for a primary action;

a second data field storing a source identifier for a first computer-related source associated with the action identifier;

a third data field storing a related action identifier for a related action; and

a fourth data field storing a source identifier for a second computer-related source associated with the related action identifier.

44. The data structure of claim 43 further comprising:

a fifth field storing a relationship descriptor specifying the relationship between the primary action and the related action.

45. The data structure of claim 43 further comprising:

a fifth field storing a container action identifier identifying a container action containing the primary action within the action hierarchy.

46. The data structure of claim 43 further comprising:

a fifth field storing a component action identifier identifying a component action contained by the primary action within the action hierarchy.

47. The data structure of claim 43 wherein the data structure is recorded in an action log and further comprising:

a fifth field storing an inactive flag indicating that the primary action has been made inactive but the data structure remains persistent the action log.

48. The data structure of claim 43 further comprising:

a fifth field storing an action descriptor describing the primary action.