Machine, Program Product, And Computer-Implemented Method For File Management, Storage, And Display

• US 20100131573A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Randall Reese
• Original Assignee: Randall Reese
• Inventors: Culotta, Keith, Reese, Randall
• Granted Patent: US 8,156,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/812
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/287 Visualization; Browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/08 Sorting, i.e. grouping record carriers in numerical or other ordered sequence according to the classification of at least some of the information they carry by merging two or more sets of carriers in ordered sequence G06F7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide machines, program products, and computer-implemented methods of file management, storage, and display. A user is displayed an icon palette having a palette boundary and including icons representing a plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in a life of the user. An unsorted file is assigned to at least one predetermined category through a user action so that dragging and dropping a file across the palette boundary onto an icon on the icon palette assigns the file to a category. The user is prompted to fill out a questionnaire associated with the file. The questionnaire includes any additional categories, album data, a journal entry, event information, and display information. The display device then displays an album of files using pre-selected formats, responsive to the questionnaires. Through the questionnaire, the user can specify the file for inclusion in a randomized slide show of files.

Claims

1. A file management machine to perform a process of assigning one of a plurality of unsorted files to at least one of a plurality of predetermined categories through a user action utilizing an icon palette and a process of prompting a user to fill out a questionnaire associated with the file responsive to the user action, the file management machine comprising:

a first computer configured as a file management server adapted to communicate through an electronic communications network with a plurality of second computers associated with a plurality of users and configured as user computers, each user computer being remote from the file management server, the file management server having at least a processor and a tangible memory; and

a computer program product operable on the file management server and stored in the memory, the computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the file management server, cause the file management server to perform the operations of;

displaying the icon palette on the user computer, the icon palette having a palette boundary and including icons representing the plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in a life of the user,

assigning one of the plurality of unsorted files to at least one of the plurality of predetermined categories through the user action so that dragging and dropping one of the plurality of unsorted files onto an icon on the icon palette assigns the file to one of the plurality of predetermined categories,

prompting the user to fill out a questionnaire associated with the file responsive to the user action assigning the file to the predetermined category, the questionnaire including album data, a journal entry, event information, and display information, and

displaying an album of files using pre-selected formats on a display device, responsive to questionnaire data associated with the files.

2. A file management machine of claim 1, wherein the plurality of unsorted files includes digital photographs;

and wherein the plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in the life of the user includes one or more of the following;

predefined default categories, and user-defined categories.

3. A file management machine of claim 2, wherein the plurality of predefined default categories include three or more of the following:

marriage, faith, family, children, school, travel, military, and health.

4. A file management machine of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing temporarily the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a first database on the user computer so that the user can assign files and fill out questionnaires in the event of slow or interrupted communication with the remote server; and

storing the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a second database on the remote file management server so that the user can access the file and associated data through an electronic communications network.

5. A file management machine of claim 1, wherein the display device is a first display device;

and

wherein the operations further comprise;

specifying through the questionnaire the file for inclusion in a slide show of randomized files, and

displaying the slide show of randomized files specified for inclusion on a second display device responsive to user criteria.

6. A file management machine of claim 5, wherein the user criteria for the slide show of randomized files includes a list of categories from which to draw files, a number of files to display, a start date of the files, an end date for the files, a duration to display the files, and a number of repetitions before selecting new files so that the user can tailor the randomized slide show for an audience.

7. A file management machine of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

aggregating individual journal entries, each associated with a file, into one master journal associated with the user; and

displaying a portion of the master journal on the display device responsive to user criteria so that the user can view journal entries for a category, a particular date range, or files in the album.

8. A computer program product, stored on a tangible computer memory media, operable on a computer, the computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of:

displaying an icon palette to a user, the icon palette having a palette boundary and including icons representing a plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in a life of the user;

assigning one of a plurality of unsorted files to at least one of the plurality of predetermined categories through a user action so that dragging and dropping one of the plurality of unsorted files onto an icon on the icon palette assigns the file to one of the plurality of predetermined categories;

prompting the user to fill out a questionnaire associated with the file responsive to the user action assigning the file to the predetermined category, the questionnaire including album data, a journal entry, event information, and display information; and

displaying an album of files using pre-selected formats on a display device, responsive to questionnaire data associated with the files.

9. A computer program product of claim 8, wherein the plurality of unsorted files includes digital photographs;

and wherein the plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in the life of the user includes one or more of the following;

predefined default categories, and user-defined categories.

10. A computer program product of claim 9, wherein the plurality of predefined default categories include three or more of the following:

marriage, faith, family, children, school, travel, military, and health.

11. A computer program product of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing temporarily the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a first database on a first computer being local to the user and configured as a user computer so that the user can assign files and fill out questionnaires in the event of slow or interrupted communication with a second computer, the second computer being remote from the user; and

storing the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a second database on the second computer so that the user can access the file and associated data through an electronic communications network.

12. A computer program product of claim 8, wherein the display device is a first display device;

and

wherein the operations further comprise;

specifying through the questionnaire the file for inclusion in a slide show of randomized files, and

displaying the slide show of randomized files specified for inclusion on a second display device responsive to user criteria.

13. A computer program product of claim 8, wherein the user criteria for the slide show of randomized files includes a list of categories from which to draw files, a number of files to display, a start date of the files, an end date for the files, a duration to display the files, and a number of repetitions before selecting new files so that the user can tailor the randomized slide show for an audience.

14. A computer program product of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

prompting the user for login information, the login information including a username, a password, and a status to thereby allow complete access to a member and restricted access to a visitor.

15. A computer-implemented method for causing a computer to perform a process of assigning one of a plurality of unsorted files to at least one of a plurality of predetermined categories through a user action utilizing an icon palette and a Process of prompting the user to fill out a questionnaire associated with the file responsive to the user action, the computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying the icon palette to the user, the icon palette having a palette boundary and including icons representing the plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in a life of the user;

assigning one of the plurality of unsorted files to at least one of the plurality of predetermined categories through the user action so that dragging and dropping one of the plurality of unsorted files onto an icon on the icon palette assigns the file to one of the plurality of predetermined categories;

prompting the user to fill out the questionnaire associated with the file responsive to the user action assigning the file to the predetermined category, the questionnaire including album data, a journal entry, event information, and display information; and

displaying an album of files using pre-selected formats on a display device, responsive to questionnaire data associated with the files.

16. A computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of unsorted files includes digital photographs;

wherein the plurality of predetermined categories representing notable events in the life of the user includes one or more of the following;

predefined default categories, and user-defined categories; and

wherein the plurality of predefined default categories include three or more of the following;

marriage, faith, family, children, school, travel, military, and health.

17. A computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the display device is a first display device;

and

wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises;

storing temporarily the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a first database on a first computer being local to the user and configured as a user computer so that the user can assign files and fill out questionnaires in the event of slow or interrupted communication with a second computer, the second computer being remote from the user,

storing the file and data associated with the questionnaire in a second database on the second computer so that the user can access the file and associated data through an electronic communications network,

specifying through the questionnaire the file for inclusion in a slide show of randomized files, and

displaying the slide show of randomized files specified for inclusion on a second display device responsive to user criteria.

18. A computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the user criteria for the slide show of randomized files includes a list of categories from which to draw files, a number of files to display, a start date of the files, an end date for the files, a duration to display the files, and a number of repetitions before selecting new files so that the user can tailor the randomized slide show for an audience.

19. A computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

aggregating individual journal entries, each associated with a file, into one master journal associated with the user; and

displaying a portion of the master journal on the display device responsive to user criteria so that the user can view journal entries for a category, a particular date range, or files in the album.

20. A computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the files displayed using pre-selected formats in the album of files are linked to the associated journal entries in the displayed portion of the master journal so that when the user highlights the file, the associated journal entry is also highlighted, and when the user highlights the journal entry, an associated file is also highlighted.