System for performing collaborative tasks
First Claim
1. A system for supporting an arbitrary activity involving collaborators who are not specialists in information technology, the system comprising:
- a processor which has access to a representation of a model of the activity, the model including model entities, the model entities being in hierarchical relationships one with another, the hierarchical relationships including a first hierarchy and a second hierarchy, the first hierarchy neither containing nor being contained in the second hierarchy, the second hierarchy including a model entity that also belongs to the first hierarchy, and the representation including representations of the model entities and of the hierarchical relationships, the form of the model being defined by the collaborators and the representations of the model entities providing access to information relating to the activity; and
an interface to the system for the non-specialist collaborators, the interface being provided by the processor and the interface permitting a collaborator to observe and modify the model entities and their hierarchical relationships and to observe and modify the information to which the representations of the model entities provide access.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for performing collaborative tasks which permits collaborators to determine the form of a model of the collaborative work, to modify the model in the course of the collaborative work, and to use the model to access information related to the collaborative work. A graphical user interface permits collaborators to view the model and the information accessible via the model in various ways as well as to modify the model and the information. The information related to the collaborative work includes documents, discussions, email, reminders, and alerts. In a disclosed embodiment of the system, the model is made up of model entities which belong to hierarchies. A model entity may be a member of more than one hierarchy and the different hierarchies are used to provide different views of the model.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for supporting an arbitrary activity involving collaborators who are not specialists in information technology, the system comprising:
a processor which has access to a representation of a model of the activity, the model including model entities, the model entities being in hierarchical relationships one with another, the hierarchical relationships including a first hierarchy and a second hierarchy, the first hierarchy neither containing nor being contained in the second hierarchy, the second hierarchy including a model entity that also belongs to the first hierarchy, and the representation including representations of the model entities and of the hierarchical relationships, the form of the model being defined by the collaborators and the representations of the model entities providing access to information relating to the activity; and
an interface to the system for the non-specialist collaborators, the interface being provided by the processor and the interface permitting a collaborator to observe and modify the model entities and their hierarchical relationships and to observe and modify the information to which the representations of the model entities provide access. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
Specification