METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING A WORKFLOW

• US 20070250613A1
• Filed: 04/25/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: GULLEDGE, ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US11/380,076
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250613A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An apparatus and method are disclosed for configuring a workflow. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device having a controller programmed to identify one or more active objects from a content source, and structure the one or more active objects into a workflow having a networking topology and a plurality of operational paradigms. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for:

structuring content into one or more active objects having a plurality of operational paradigms;

applying a networking topology selected by an end user to the structured content thereby generating a workflow; and

presenting one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of the workflow according to the networking topology.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for invoking at least one application in response to a selected action applied to a portion of the workflow.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the networking topology comprises at least one among a group of topologies comprising a ring topology, a mesh topology, a star topology, a fully connected topology, a line topology, a tree topology and a bus topology.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the networking topology comprises a hybrid of one or more topologies from the group of topologies.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein communication between the active objects is limited by the networking topology.

6. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for presenting a nested view of the GUIs.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more active objects are associated with one or more end users, and wherein the storage medium comprises computer instructions for transmitting a portion of the workflow to a select one of the end users for presenting another GUI having a limited view of the workflow according to the selected end user'"'"'s position in the workflow.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the GUI presented to the selected end user comprises a grouping structure corresponding to the limited view of the workflow.

9. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operational paradigms comprise at least two among a file system browsing paradigm, a remote server browsing paradigm, an operating system management paradigm, a data management paradigm, and a communications management paradigm.

10. The storage medium of claim 8, comprising computer instructions for detecting a selected action on at least one among a level of the grouping structure, and one or more of the active objects of the grouping structure.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions for detecting the selected action as one or more tasks applied to the grouping structure.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, comprising computer instructions for presenting at least one additional GUI corresponding to the one or more tasks associated with the selected action.

13. The storage medium of claim 8, comprising computer instructions for adjusting the GUI in response to a request by the end user to expand or collapse a view of one or more levels of the grouping structure.

14. A computing device, comprising a controller programmed to:

identify one or more active objects from a content source; and

structure the one or more active objects into a workflow having a networking topology and a plurality of operational paradigms.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the controller is programmed to present a graphical user interface (GUI) of the workflow according to the networking topology.

16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the networking topology comprises at least one among a group of topologies comprising a ring topology, a mesh topology, a star topology, a fully connected topology, a line topology, a tree topology and a bus topology.

17. The computing device of claim 14, comprising a transceiver, wherein the one or more active objects are associated with one or more end users, and wherein the controller is programmed to transmit a portion of the workflow to a select one of the end users for presenting another GUI having a limited view of the workflow according to the selected end user'"'"'s position in the workflow.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the GUI presented to the selected end user comprises a hierarchical structure corresponding to the limited view of the workflow.

19. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the controller comprises a plurality of processors each programmed to perform different portions of the foregoing steps, and wherein the plurality of processors operate in a distributed network.

20. A method, comprising generating a workflow having a network topology of one or more active objects derived from content having a plurality of operational paradigms.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the networking topology comprises at least one among a group of topologies comprising a ring topology, a mesh topology, a star topology, a fully connected topology, a line topology, a tree topology and a bus topology.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more active objects are associated with one or more end users, and wherein the method comprises transmitting a portion of the workflow to a select one of the end users for presenting another GUI having a limited view of the workflow according to the selected end user'"'"'s position in the workflow.