Providing direct access to distributed managed content

• US 20070073831A1
• Filed: 09/15/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Text Corporation
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Spivak, Victor, Oscherov, Alex, Treyger, Alex, Lundblad, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,938 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method for providing direct access to distributed managed content is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a request to perform an operation with respect to content associated with a set of managed content and obtaining information required to respond to the request. The method further comprises providing in response to the request one or more content locators, each content locator being usable to perform the requested operation through direct communication with an associated one of a plurality of content systems used to store at a portion of the distributed managed content.

Claims

1. A method for providing direct access to distributed managed content comprising:

receiving a request to perform an operation with respect to content associated with a set of managed content;

obtaining information required to respond to the request; and

providing in response to the request one or more content locators, each content locator being usable to perform the requested operation through direct communication with an associated one of a plurality of content systems used to store at least a portion of the distributed managed content.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the operation is reading content.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the operation is writing content.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more content locators comprise a preferred content locator associated with a selected content system that has been selected as a preferred content system for servicing the request.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more content locators comprise a prioritized list of content locators.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the information required to respond to the request is determined at least in part by associating with the request one or more data objects comprising the set of managed content.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the information required to respond to the request is determined at least in part by associating one or more data objects with the request by querying a metadata database.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein the information required to respond to the request is determined at least in part by selecting the a preferred content system based on a metric.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the information required to respond to the request is determined at least in part by selecting a preferred content system based on one or more of the following:

a distance between a remote system that made the request and the preferred content system, an access time between a remote system that made the request and the preferred system, and an available bandwidth between a remote system that made the request and the preferred system.

10. A method as in claim 1, further including selecting a preferred content system, from among a plurality of content systems able to service the request.

11. A method as in claim 10, wherein the preferred content system is selected based on one or more of the following:

a distance between a remote system that made the request and the preferred content system, an access time between a remote system that made the request and the preferred system, and an available bandwidth between a remote system that made the request and the preferred system.

12. A method as in claim 1, wherein the request is received from a remote system.

13. A method as in claim 1, wherein the information required to respond to the request to perform the operation is obtained from a content system.

14. A method as in claim 1, wherein the content locator is provided to a remote system from which the request to perform the operation was received.

15. A method as in claim 1, wherein the content locator is based at least in part on at least part of the information required to respond to the request to perform the operation.

16. A method as in claim 1, wherein the content locator includes a URL.

17. A method as in claim 1, wherein the content locator includes executable or self-executing code.

18. A method as in claim 1, further comprising tracking the status of the content associated with the request and managing subsequent requests to perform operations with respect to content based on the status of the content.

19. A method for providing direct access to distributed managed content comprising:

sending to a content management system a request to perform an operation with respect to content associated with the content management system;

receiving from the content management system one or more content locators; and

using one of the one or more content locators to perform the requested operation through direct communication with an associated one of a plurality of content systems used to store at least a portion of the distributed managed content.

20. A system for providing direct access to distributed managed content comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a request to perform an operation with respect to content associated with a set of managed content;

obtain information required to respond to the request; and

provide in response to the request one or more content locators, each content locator being usable to perform the requested operation through direct communication with an associated one of a plurality of content systems used to store at least a portion of the distributed managed content;

and a memory coupled to the processor configured to provide instructions to the processor.

21. A system as in claim 20, wherein the operation is reading content.

22. A system as in claim 20, wherein the operation is writing content.

23. A system as in claim 20, wherein the one or more content locators comprise a preferred content locator associated with a selected content system that has been selected as a preferred content system for servicing the request.

24. A system as in claim 20, wherein the one or more content locators comprise a prioritized list of content locators.

25. A system as in claim 20, wherein the information required to respond to the request is determined at least in part by associating with the request one or more data objects comprising the set of managed content.

26. A system as in claim 20, further including selecting a preferred content system, from among a plurality of content systems able to service the request.

27. A computer program product for providing direct access to distributed managed content, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a request to perform an operation with respect to content associated with a set of managed content;

obtaining information required to respond to the request; and

providing in response to the request one or more content locators, each content locator being usable to perform the requested operation through direct communication with an associated one of a plurality of content systems used to store at least a portion of the distributed managed content.

28. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, wherein the operation is reading content.

29. A computer program product as recited in claim 27, wherein the operation is writing content.