Persistent Object Linkage Using Ghosting

• US 20090240725A1
• Filed: 03/18/2008
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ezekiel, Margo L., Bentley, Thomas M., O'Brien, Michael R., Champlin, Jonathan D., Curtis, John D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A system that persistently maintains and exposes one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belonged across one or more hierarchy destroying operations, such as operations that delete parent objects, add parent objects subsequent to addition of their descendent objects, forward objects to or from the hierarchy, and/or modify hierarchy determining rules. A user interface object allows user access to one or more persistent hierarchies for the corresponding object. A hierarchy list or the like allows a user to select a desired one of the persistent hierarchies. A persistent hierarchy can be accessed in the disclosed system through a display object associated with any object within the hierarchy, including the root, leaves, and any intervening objects. When objects are deleted, “ghost” objects are maintained and displayed to the user in the hierarchical positions of the deleted objects when a persistent hierarchy is displayed.

Claims

1. A method for persistently maintaining and exposing one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belongs, comprising:

maintaining said previous object hierarchies for said object across one or more hierarchy destroying operations;

generating a user interface object that allows a user to select one of said persistent hierarchies; and

responsive to said user selecting one of said persistent hierarchies, displaying said selected persistent hierarchy with said object as a currently selected object within said selected persistent hierarchy.

put in dependent claims for having the object as latest (most recently received message), and the object is the founding object of the thread

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more persistent hierarchies comprise a plurality of persistent hierarchies.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said object is a latest object in said selected persistent hierarchy.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said object is a root of said selected persistent hierarchy.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said object is a sub-root of said selected persistent hierarchy.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said object is a leaf of said selected persistent hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said object is a non-leaf, non-root node of said selected persistent hierarchy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said hierarchy destroying operations include deleting at least one object from said selected persistent hierarchy.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising maintaining and displaying a ghost object in a hierarchical position of said at least one object deleted from said selected persistent hierarchy.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said hierarchy destroying operations further include forwarding at least one object from said selected persistent hierarchy.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said hierarchy destroying operations further include adding a parent object to said selected persistent hierarchy subsequent to adding of a descendent object of said parent object to said selected persistent hierarchy.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said hierarchy destroying operations further include modifying at least one hierarchy determining rule of said selected persistent hierarchy.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said selected persistent hierarchy is, at least in part, automatically defined.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said selected persistent hierarchy is, at least in part, manually defined.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein objects within said selected persistent hierarchy are electronic mail messages and said selected persistent hierarchy is displayed through an electronic mail application.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein objects within said selected persistent hierarchy are Web pages and said selected persistent hierarchy is displayed through a Web browser.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said one or more persistent hierarchies are stored as vectors of object identifiers.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said vectors of object identifiers are stored together with corresponding objects in an object repository.

19. A computer system including at least one processor and a computer readable memory having program code stored thereon for persistently maintaining and exposing one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belongs, said program code comprising:

program code for maintaining said previous object hierarchies for said object across one or more hierarchy destroying operations;

program code for generating a user interface object that allows a user to select one of said persistent hierarchies; and

program code for, responsive to said user selecting one of said persistent hierarchies, displaying said selected persistent hierarchy with said object as a currently selected object within said selected persistent hierarchy.

20. A computer program product including a computer readable medium, said computer readable medium having program code stored thereon for persistently maintaining and exposing one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belongs, said program code comprising:

program code for maintaining said previous object hierarchies for said object across one or more hierarchy destroying operations;

program code for generating a user interface object that allows a user to select one of said persistent hierarchies; and

program code for, responsive to said user selecting one of said persistent hierarchies, displaying said selected persistent hierarchy with said object as a currently selected object within said selected persistent hierarchy.

21. A system for persistently maintaining and exposing one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belongs, comprising:

means for maintaining said previous object hierarchies for said object across one or more hierarchy destroying operations;

means for generating a user interface object that allows a user to select one of said persistent hierarchies; and

means for, responsive to said user selecting one of said persistent hierarchies, displaying said selected persistent hierarchy with said object as a currently selected object within said selected persistent hierarchy.