System and method for sharing data

• US 20080301245A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Conmy, Douglas W., Estrada, Miguel A., Prager, Scott H., Luecking, Christoph Josef
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail

Abstract

A method and computer program product for defining an activity. One or more members of the activity are defined. At least one piece of content is associated with the activity, thus defining at least one associated piece of content that is accessible by at least a portion of the members of the activity. Associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes determining if the at least one piece of content is from a private source.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining an activity;

defining one or more members of the activity; and

associating at least one piece of content with the activity, thus defining at least one associated piece of content that is accessible by at least a portion of the members of the activity;

wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes determining if the at least one piece of content is from a private source.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one associated piece of content includes a plurality of associated pieces of content, the method further comprising:

organizing the plurality of associated pieces of content in a hierarchical fashion.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is not from the private source, defining a pointer that locates the at least one piece of content.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is from the private source, determining if the at least one piece of content is copyable.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is not copyable, rendering a message that identifies the at least one piece of content as non-copyable.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is copyable, obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content includes:

requesting a stream of the at least one piece of content from the private source.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the stream requested is a MIME stream and wherein obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content includes:

receiving the MIME stream of the at least one piece of content from the private source.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the MIME stream is a multi-part MIME stream and at least one part of the multi-part MIME stream defines a file attachment.

10. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

defining an activity;

defining one or more members of the activity; and

associating at least one piece of content with the activity, thus defining at least one associated piece of content that is accessible by at least a portion of the members of the activity;

wherein associating at least one piece of content with the activity includes determining if the at least one piece of content is from a private source.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the at least one associated piece of content includes a plurality of associated pieces of content, the computer program product further comprising instructions for:

organizing the plurality of associated pieces of content in a hierarchical fashion.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the instructions for associating at least one piece of content with the activity include instructions for:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is not from the private source, defining a pointer that locates the at least one piece of content.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the instructions for associating at least one piece of content with the activity include instructions for:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is from the private source, determining if the at least one piece of content is copyable.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the instructions for associating at least one piece of content with the activity include instructions for:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is not copyable, rendering a message that identifies the at least one piece of content as non-copyable.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the instructions for associating at least one piece of content with the activity include instructions for:

if it is determined that the at least one piece of content is copyable, obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the instructions for obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content include instructions for:

requesting a stream of the at least one piece of content from the private source.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the stream requested is a MIME stream and wherein the instructions for obtaining a copy of the at least one piece of content include instructions for:

receiving the MIME stream of the at least one piece of content from the private source.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the MIME stream is a multi-part MIME stream and at least one part of the multi-part MIME stream defines a file attachment of the at least one piece of content.