ORGANIZING SCENARIO-RELATED INFORMATION AND CONTROLLING ACCESS THERETO

• US 20080235229A1
• Filed: 03/19/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Field, Scott A., Cross, David B., Kurien, Thekkthalackal Varugis, Jackson, Steven E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,311 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files

Abstract

Mechanisms for organizing scenario solution-related information based upon a user'"'"'s locality are provided. Locality refers to a collection of metadata created based upon scenario solutions executed by a user and/or enablers acquired by a user during scenario solution execution. Such metadata may be stored in association with a scenario solution execution workspace and/or in association with a user-specific information store. Once such information is acquired, a user may desire to share the information, or a portion thereof, with one or more other users, for instance, the members of a user group. However, often times, the user would prefer that the information not be made available to the general public. Thus, mechanisms for controlling access to user-specific information are also provided.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for organizing scenario-related information, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of executable scenario solutions; and

associating each received executable scenario solution with at least one of a namespace and a keyword space.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a scenario-related query;

determining if the at least one namespace or keyword space with which the received executable scenario solution is associated is relevant to the scenario-related query; and

if it is determined that the at least one namespace and/or keyword space with which the received executable scenario solution is associated is relevant to the scenario-related query, analyzing metadata associated with the at least one namespace and/or keyword space with which the received executable scenario solution is associated to identify at least one executable scenario solution associated therewith that is relevant to the scenario-related query, wherein metadata associated with namespaces and/or keyword spaces other than the at least one namespace and/or keyword space with which the received executable scenario solution is associated is not analyzed.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein associating each received executable scenario solution with at least one namespace and/or keyword space comprises:

associating a first scenario solution with a first namespace or keyword space, wherein the first namespace or keyword space is relevant to the first scenario; and

associating a second scenario solution with a second namespace or keyword space, wherein the second namespace or keyword space is relevant to the second scenario.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving user selection of the first scenario solution;

determining if one or more enablers is required to complete execution of the selected scenario solution; and

if it is determined that one or more enablers is required, analyzing metadata associated with the first namespace or keyword space to determine if the one or more required enablers is available, wherein metadata associated with the second namespace or keyword space is not analyzed.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving user selection of one of the executable scenario solutions;

identifying a namespace and/or a keyword space that is associated with the selected scenario solution;

creating a local instance of the associated namespace and/or keyword space; and

associating the selected scenario solution with the local namespace and/or keyword space instance.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

creating a workspace; and

associating metadata related to the local instance of the at least one namespace and/or keyword space with the workspace.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises controlling access to the workspace-metadata to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein metadata related to a plurality of local namespace and/or keyword instances is associated with the workspace, wherein the method further comprises controlling access to the metadata associated with each local namespace and/or keyword instance with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein at least one executable scenario solution is associated with the at least one namespace and/or keyword space, and wherein the method further comprises controlling access to the executable scenario with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein at least one executable scenario solution is associated with the workspace, wherein the method further comprises controlling access to the executable scenario solution with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein metadata that corresponds to at least one enabler is associated with the at least one namespace and/or keyword space, wherein the method further comprises controlling access to the enabler-metadata with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein metadata that corresponds to at least one enabler is associated with the workspace, wherein the method further comprises restricting access to the enabler-metadata with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

13. A computerized system for organizing scenario solution-related information, the system comprising:

a scenario solution authoring engine configured for receiving a plurality of scenario solution entities and associating the scenario solution entities to create executable scenario solutions;

an end-user device configured for receiving one or more scenario-related queries; and

a server configured for receiving the one or more scenario-related queries from the end-user device and the executable scenario solutions from the scenario solution authoring engine and for organizing the received one or more scenario-related queries and the executable scenario solutions,

wherein the scenario solution authoring engine, the end-user device, and the server are in communication with one another via a network.

14. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein the server comprises:

a receiving module configured for receiving the executable scenario solutions;

a determining module configured for determining at least one of a namespace, a keyword space, and a workspace with which each of the received executable scenario solutions is to be associated; and

an associating module configured for associating each received executable scenario solution with the determined namespace, keyword space and/or workspace.

15. The computerized system of claim 14, wherein the server further comprises a namespace creation module configured for creating the namespace and the keyword space and a workspace creation module configured for creating the workspace.

16. The computerized system of claim 15, wherein the server further comprises an access controlling module configured for controlling access to at least one of the namespace, the keyword space, and the workspace with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

17. The computerized system of claim 14, wherein the server further comprises an access controlling module configured for controlling access to one or more received scenario solutions with respect to security principals, and wherein the security principals comprise one or more of a user, a machine, an application, and any combination thereof.

18. The computerized system of claim 14, wherein the receiving module is further configured for receiving a scenario-related query, wherein the determining module is further configured for determining at least one of a namespace, a keyword space, and a workspace relevant to a received scenario-related query, and wherein the system further comprises an analyzing module configured for analyzing metadata and scenario solutions associated with a determined relevant namespace, keyword space and/or workspace, wherein metadata and scenario solutions not associated with a determined relevant namespace, keyword space, and/or workspace are not analyzed.

19. A method for organizing scenario solution-related information, the method comprising:

receiving an executable scenario solution;

associating the executable scenario solution with at least one of a namespace and a keyword space;

receiving a scenario-related query;

determining if the received scenario-related query is relevant to the at least one namespace and/or keyword space; and

if it is determined that the received scenario-related query is relevant to the at least one namespace and/or keyword space, transmitting the executable scenario solution for presentation.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising creating a local instance of the namespace and/or keyword space in association with at least one workspace.