METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING INFORMATION IN AN ON-LINE COMMUNITY

• US 20070130164A1
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rodriguez, Carlos, Kembel, Jeremy, Kembel, Geoff, Kembel, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,400,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A method and system for managing information in an on-line community is described. One embodiment assigns, in an information management system, a distinct domain to each member of the on-line community, each member of the on-line community being associated with a client computer that is connected with the information management system over a network, each distinct domain being capable of hosting at least one on-line information archive associated with the member assigned to that distinct domain; associates with each on-line information archive at least one member-configurable data entry form, each member-configurable data entry form associated with a given on-line information archive defining a format of a specific type of information item that may be posted to that on-line information archive, each member-configurable data entry form associated with the given on-line information archive including a name and at least one form field, the name being specifiable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive, the at least one form field being definable and configurable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive; and sets access permissions for each on-line information archive in accordance with preferences of the member associated with that on-line information archive, the access permissions specifying which members of the on-line community are permitted to access that on-line information archive and to what extent each of those members is permitted to access that on-line information archive.

Claims

1. A method for managing information in an on-line community, the method comprising:

assigning, in an information management system, a distinct domain to each member of the on-line community, each member of the on-line community being associated with a client computer that is connected with the information management system over a network, each distinct domain being capable of hosting at least one on-line information archive associated with the member assigned to that distinct domain;

associating with each on-line information archive at least one member-configurable data entry form, each member-configurable data entry form associated with a given on-line information archive defining a format of a specific type of information item that may be posted to that on-line information archive, each member-configurable data entry form associated with the given on-line information archive including a name and at least one form field, the name being specifiable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive, the at least one form field being definable and configurable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive; and

setting access permissions for each on-line information archive in accordance with preferences of the member associated with that on-line information archive, the access permissions specifying which members of the on-line community are permitted to access that on-line information archive and to what extent each of those members is permitted to access that on-line information archive.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching at least one on-line information archive in the information management system in response to a search query from a particular member of the on-line community; and

returning search results to the particular member.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one form field included in a given member-configurable data entry form is configurable through the selection of a field type from a set of predetermined field types.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a new on-line information archive in response to a request from a member of the on-line community.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a new member-configurable data entry form in response to a request from a member of the on-line community.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting a fee from a first member of the on-line community on behalf of a second member of the on-line community as a condition on granting the first member access to an on-line information archive associated with the second member.

7. An information management system for managing information in an on-line community, the information management system comprising:

a domain-administration module configured to manage a plurality of domains, each domain corresponding to a member of the on-line community, each member of the on-line community being associated with a client computer that is connected with the information management system over a network, each domain being capable of hosting at least one on-line information archive associated with the member of the on-line community to which that domain corresponds;

a data-format-management module configured to associate with each on-line information archive at least one member-configurable data entry form, each member-configurable data entry form associated with a given on-line information archive defining a format of a specific type of information item that may be posted to that on-line information archive, each member-configurable data entry form associated with the given on-line information archive including a name and at least one form field, the name being specifiable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive, the at least one form field being definable and configurable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive; and

a data-access-control module configured to assign access permissions to each on-line information archive in accordance with preferences of the member associated with that on-line information archive, the access permissions specifying which members of the on-line community are permitted to access that on-line information archive and to what extent each of those members is permitted to access that on-line information archive.

8. The information management system of claim 7, further comprising:

a member-relationships module configured to designate, for each member of the on-line community, at least one other member of the on-line community as belonging to that member'"'"'s social network.

9. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the information management system includes at least one domain that corresponds to a plurality of members of the on-line community.

10. The information management system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of members of the on-line community jointly control access permissions governing on-line information archives associated with the domain that corresponds to the plurality of members of the on-line community.

11. The information management system of claim 9, wherein at least one member in the plurality of members of the on-line community has administrative privileges exceeding those of the other members in the plurality of members of the on-line community with respect to on-line information archives associated with the domain that corresponds to the plurality of members of the on-line community.

12. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the data-access-control module is configured to assign to members of the on-line community different access privileges with respect to the information management system depending on their respective membership types.

13. The information management system of claim 12, wherein the domains that correspond to members of a particular membership type are configured not to be capable of hosting on-line information archives.

14. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the access permissions govern at least posting of information items, modification of information items, and viewing of information items.

15. The information management system of claim 7, further comprising:

a data-importation module configured to;

receive external data from a submitting computer; and

integrate the external data with at least one on-line information archive.

16. The information management system of claim 7, further comprising:

a data-exportation module configured to;

extract, in response to a requesting computer, information items contained in an on-line information archive; and

export the extracted information items to a destination specified by the requesting computer.

17. The information management system of claim 7, further comprising:

a search module configured to;

search at least one on-line information archive in the information management system in response to a search query from a particular member of the on-line community; and

return search results to the particular member.

18. The information management system of claim 7, further comprising:

a tag-management module configured to associate with a data object in the information management system a tag in response to a request from a member of the on-line community, the tag enabling the information management system to locate the data object in response to a search request for data objects associated with the tag.

19. The information management system of claim 18, wherein a data object is one of a domain shared by a plurality of members of the on-line community, a domain corresponding to a member of the on-line community, an on-line information archive, an information item in an on-line information archive, and a comment regarding an information item in an on-line information archive.

20. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the on-line community is private and the information management system is in communication with another information management system associated with another private on-line community.

21. The information management system of claim 7, wherein at least one on-line information archive in the information management system is accessible, at least to some degree, to any computer user with access to the network.

22. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the network includes the Internet.

23. The information management system of claim 7, wherein the information management system is implemented in accordance with a client-server model, the information management system including a fully hosted Web application that interfaces with a browser application on each of the client computers associated with the respective members of the on-line community.

24. An information management system for managing information in an on-line community, the information management system comprising:

a server partitioned into a plurality of domains, each domain in the plurality of domains corresponding to a member of the on-line community, each member of the on-line community being associated with a client computer that is connected with the server over the World Wide Web, each domain being capable of hosting at least one on-line information archive associated with the member of the on-line community to which that domain corresponds; and

a fully hosted Web application running on the server, the fully hosted Web application being configured to;

interface the server with a Web browser application on each of the client computers associated with the respective members of the on-line community;

designate, for each member of the on-line community, at least one other member of the on-line community as belonging to that member'"'"'s social network;

associate with each on-line information archive at least one dynamic Web form, each dynamic Web form associated with a given on-line information archive defining a format of a specific type of information item that may be posted to that on-line information archive, each dynamic Web form associated with the given on-line information archive being modifiable by the member of the on-line community associated with the given on-line information archive; and

set access permissions for each on-line information archive in accordance with preferences of the member associated with that on-line information archive, the access permissions specifying which members of the on-line community are permitted to access that on-line information archive and to what extent each of those members is permitted to access that on-line information archive.

25. The information management system of claim 24, wherein the specific type of information item is one of a note, a blog, a collaborative Web document, a contact, a recipe, a review, an image, an audio file, a video file, an electronic drop box, an e-mail message, a Webzine, and a newsletter.