METHODS, APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUMS FOR USE IN SHARING INFORMATION BETWEEN ENTITIES

• US 20120150935A1
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Frick, Oliver Stefan, Sudhalkar, Atul M., Mulchandani, Priti, O'Carroll, Luan, Thierer, Jochen F., Garrish, Theodore John Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,918,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2474 Sequence data queries, e.g. querying versioned data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

In one aspect, a method comprises: receiving, by a first processing system, information indicating that a second processing system has content that is to be provided to the first processing system; receiving, by the first processing system, content and at least one identifier from the second processing system; determining, by the first processing system and based at least in part on the at least one identifier, whether the content is another version of content previously received by the first processing system; receiving, by the first processing system, information indicating that a third processing system is to receive content from the first processing system; and transmitting, by the first processing system, the content, at least one identifier and version information to the third processing system, wherein the version information indicates whether the transmitted content is another version of content that has been previously transmitted by the first processing system to the third processing system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first processing system, information indicating that a second processing system has content that is to be provided to the first processing system;

receiving, by the first processing system, content and at least one identifier from the second processing system;

determining, by the first processing system and based at least in part on the at least one identifier, whether the content is another version of content previously received by the first processing system;

receiving, by the first processing system, information indicating that a third processing system is to receive content from the first processing system; and

transmitting, by the first processing system, the content, at least one identifier and version information to the third processing system, wherein the version information indicates whether the transmitted content is another version of content that has been previously transmitted by the first processing system to the third processing system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the received content comprises a plurality of content records, and wherein the at least one identifier comprises a plurality of identifiers, each one of the plurality of identifiers being associated with and identifying a respective one of the plurality of content records.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining at least one global identifier based at least in part on the at least one identifier from the second processing system and a one-to-one mapping from the at least one identifier from the second processing system to the at least one global identifier.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system based at least in part on the at least one global identifier and a one-to-one mapping between the at least one global identifier and the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving content and at least one identifier comprises:

extracting the content and the at least one identifier from the second processing system after receiving the information indicating that the second processing system has content to be provided to the first processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting the content to the third processing system comprises:

deploying the content to the third processing system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the information indicating that a second processing system is to provide content to the first processing system is supplied by a graphical user interface in response to input from a user;

and

wherein the information indicating that the third processing system is to receive content from the first processing system is supplied by a graphical user interface in response to input from a user.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one global identifier comprises a global identifier, and wherein the determining whether the content is another version of content previously received by the first processing system comprises:

determining, based at least in part on the global identifier that a version of the content has been previously received by the first processing system; and

determining, based at least in part on the content, that the content is a same version or a different version of content previously received by the first processing system.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the version of the content received comprises a plurality of records, the method further comprising:

comparing the content to the version of the content received to identify one or more of the follow changes to the content compared to the version of the content previously received;

a first one of the plurality of record in the content is a same version as a first one of the plurality of records in the version of the content previously received;

a second one of the plurality of records in the content is a different version from a second one of the plurality of records in the version of the content previously received;

a third one of the plurality of records in the content is not another version of any of the plurality of records in the version of the content previously received;

or

one of the plurality of records in the version of the content previously received is omitted from the plurality of records in the content.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

providing a user interface to allow a user to reject one or more of the identified changes.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

transmitting content from the first processing system to the third processing system based at least in part on the users choices.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the at least one identifier received from the second processing system includes a global identifier having an originating vendor identifier, an authoring source identifier and an application namespace field.

13. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one global identifier includes an identifier having an originating vendor identifier, an authoring source identifier and an application namespace field.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is only a portion of a content group that has a plurality of content records and is received from the second processing system.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting, by the first processing system, the content to a fourth processing system.

15. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by a machine to result in a method comprising:

receiving, by a first processing system, information indicating that a second processing system has content that is to be provided to the first processing system;

receiving, by the first processing system, content and at least one identifier from the second processing system;

determining, by the first processing system and based at least in part on the at least one identifier, whether the content is another version of content previously received by the first processing system;

receiving, by the first processing system, information indicating that a third processing system is to receive content from the first processing system; and

transmitting, by the first processing system, the content, at least one identifier and version information to the third processing system, wherein the version information indicates whether the transmitted content is another version of content that has been previously transmitted by the first processing system to the third processing system.

16. The medium of claim 15 wherein the received content comprises a plurality of content records, and wherein the at least one identifier comprises a plurality of identifiers, each one of the plurality of identifiers being associated with and identifying a respective one of the plurality of content records.

17. The medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

determining at least one global identifier based at least in part on the at least one identifier from the second processing system and a one-to-one mapping from the at least one identifier from the second processing system to the at least one global identifier.

18. The medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

determining the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system based at least in part on the at least one global identifier and a one-to-one mapping between the at least one global identifier and the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system.

19. The medium of claim 15, wherein the receiving content and at least one identifier comprises:

extracting the content and the at least one identifier from the second processing system after receiving the information indicating that the second processing system has content to be provided to the first processing system.

20. The medium of claim 15 wherein the transmitting the content to the third processing system comprises:

deploying the content to the third processing system.

21. Apparatus comprising:

a processing system comprising a processor, the processing system to (i) receive information indicating that a second processing system has content that is to be provided to the first processing system;

receive content and at least one identifier from the second processing system;

determine, based at least in part on the at least one identifier, whether the content is another version of content previously received by the first processing system;

receive information indicating that a third processing system is to receive content from the first processing system; and

transmit the content, at least one identifier and version information to the third processing system, wherein the version information indicates whether the transmitted content is another version of content that has been previously transmitted by the first processing system to the third processing system.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the received content comprises a plurality of content records, and wherein the at least one identifier comprises a plurality of identifiers, each one of the plurality of identifiers being associated with and identifying a respective one of the plurality of content records.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, the processing system further to determine at least one global identifier based at least in part on the at least one identifier from the second processing system and a one-to-one mapping from the at least one identifier from the second processing system to the at least one global identifier.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, the processing system further to determine the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system based at least in part on the at least one global identifier and a one-to-one mapping between the at least one global identifier and the at least one identifier transmitted to the third processing system.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing system to receive the content comprises:

a processing system to extract the content and the at least one identifier from the second processing system after receiving the information indicating that the second processing system has content to be provided to the first processing system.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing system to transmit the content comprises:

a processing system to deploy the content to the third processing system.