Method and an apparatus for a collaborative clip board

• US 20060085756A1
• Filed: 10/15/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chone, Jeremy, Srivastava, Alok Z.
• Application Number:
  US10/966,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085756A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and an apparatus for a collaborative clip board. In one embodiment, a plurality of objects are collected into temporary storage associated with a collaborative clip board based on user specified information. A relationship specified by the user is established between a group of the plurality of objects. A user specified action is received and performed on the group of objects.

Claims

1. A method of performing an action on related objects stored in a computer system, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of objects into temporary storage associated with a collaborative clip board based on user specified first information;

establishing a relationship between a group of the plurality of objects based on user specified second information;

receiving a user specified action to be performed on the group of objects; and

performing the action based on the relationship between the group of objects.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the collecting the plurality of objects further comprises collecting a object from a group consisting of information about a person, a document, a message, a date, a description, and a place.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving the user specified action further comprises receiving an action from a group consisting of messaging, inviting, scheduling, and calendaring.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

providing a list of potential actions for user selection; and

receiving information indicating which action a user selected from the list.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the performing the action is performed by a tool selected from a group consisting of a messaging tool, a calendaring tool, a scheduling tool, and an invite tool.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

storing one or more of the plurality of objects into permanent storage.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 further comprising:

storing one or more of the plurality of objects in a database.

8. A method as recited in claim 6 further comprising:

retrieving the plurality of objects from permanent storage;

establishing a second relationship between a second group of the plurality of objects based on user specified third information;

receiving a second user specified action to be performed on the second group of objects; and

performing the second action based on the second relationship between the second group of objects.

9. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein the plurality of objects stored in permanent storage form a workspace and wherein the method further comprises:

searching objects from more than one workspace based on user specified criteria.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the receiving the plurality of objects is performed by a generalized user interface (GUI).

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the establishing the relationship between the group of objects further comprises receiving information indicating the relationship between the group of objects from a drag and drop operation.

12. A computer system comprising:

an object collector for collecting a plurality of objects into temporary storage associated with a collaborative clip board based on user specified first information;

a relationship establisher for establishing a relationship between a group of the plurality of objects based on user specified second information;

an action receiver for receiving a user specified action to be performed on the group of objects; and

an action performer that performs the action based on the relationship between the group of objects.

13. A computer system of claim 12, wherein the object collector collects a object from a group consisting of information about a person, a document, a message, a date, a description, and a place.

14. A computer system of claim 12, wherein the action receiver receives the action from a group consisting of messaging, inviting, scheduling, and calendaring.

15. A computer system of claim 12 further comprising:

a source of potential actions for providing a list of potential actions for user selection; and

an action receiver for receiving information indicating which action a user selected from the list.

16. A computer system of claim 12, wherein:

the action performer includes a tool for performing the action; and

the tool is selected from a group consisting of a messaging tool, a calendaring tool, a scheduling tool, and an invite tool.

17. A computer system of claim 12 further comprising:

permanent storage for storing one or more of the plurality of objects into permanent storage.

18. A computer system of claim 17, wherein the permanent storage is a database.

19. A computer system of claim 17 further comprising:

the relationship establisher establishes a second relationship between a second group of the plurality of objects based on user specified third information;

the action receiver receives a second user specified action to be performed on the second group of objects; and

the action performer performs the second action based on the second relationship between the second group of objects.

20. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer system to perform a method of performing an action on related objects stored in a computer system, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of objects into temporary storage associated with a collaborative clip board;

establishing a relationship between a group of the plurality of objects; and

performing an action based on the relationship between the group of objects.

21. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the collecting the plurality of objects further comprises collecting a object from a group consisting of information about a person, a document, a message, a date, a description, and a place.

22. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the method further comprises receiving an action from a group consisting of messaging, inviting, scheduling, and calendaring.

23. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, wherein the method further comprises:

providing a list of potential actions for user selection; and

receiving information indicating which action a user selected from the list.

24. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the performing the action is performed by a tool selected from a group consisting of a messaging tool, a calendaring tool, a scheduling tool, and an invite tool.

25. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the method further comprises:

storing one or more of the plurality of objects into permanent storage.

26. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the method further comprises:

storing the one or more of the plurality of objects in a database.

27. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the method further comprises:

retrieving the plurality of objects from permanent storage;

establishing a second relationship between a second group of the plurality of objects; and

performing a second action based on the second relationship between the second group of objects.

28. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the plurality of objects stored in permanent storage form a workspace and wherein the method further comprises:

searching objects from more than one workspace based on user specified criteria.

30. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20 wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the receiving the plurality of objects is performed by a generalized user interface (GUI).

31. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a computer system to perform the method, and wherein the establishing the relationship between the group of objects further comprises receiving information indicating the relationship between the group of objects from a drag and drop operation.