DOCUMENT-BASED WORKFLOWS

• US 20130198624A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Aymeloglu, Andrew, Miyake, Nicholas, Burr, Brandon, Cicerone, Derek, Simler, Kevin, Tan, Garry
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities

Abstract

A workflow application allows users to store, manage, and perform tasks related to workflows comprised of ordered sets of documents. The application provides an interface for creating and managing a workflow. Each document added to the workflow is assigned to a particular position in the workflow. Via the interface, the user saves data defining the workflow. In this manner, the workflow may be shared or preserved for subsequent re-use. The application allows a user to perform various tasks with respect to the workflow. Via an interface control presented by the application, the user instigates such tasks. In response, the application causes the task to be performed for each document in the workflow in an order corresponding to the arrangement of the documents within the workflow. For example, the application may render and print each document in the workflow. Or, the application may generate a combined workflow report.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, in a graphical user interface area, first inputs specifying drag-and-drop operations with respect to icons representing documents, the drag-and-drop operations indicating that the documents are to be added to a workflow represented by the graphical user interface area;

depicting the documents within the graphical user interface area in a particular order, wherein the particular order reflects dependencies between the documents, the particular order indicating at least that processing of a second document of the documents is dependent upon an output of a first document of the documents;

processing the workflow to generate a first output for the workflow, wherein processing the workflow comprises at least iteratively generating outputs for each document of the second document and the first document, in accordance with the particular order;

receiving, via the graphical user interface area, second input that results in a change to the output of the first document;

based upon the change, reprocessing the workflow to generate a second output for the workflow, wherein the second output differs from the first output as a result of the change;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents include one or more of:

word-processing documents, image files, spreadsheets, or graphs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the second document comprises executing instructions within the second document that, when interpreted by a document viewing application, cause the document viewing application to render one or more dynamic items based on data imported from the first document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the second document comprises executing instructions within the second document that, when interpreted by a data analysis application, cause the data analysis application to output one or more graphs based on the output of the first document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the output of the first document comprises executing instructions within the first document that cause deriving a data set from a data source external to the first document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first document is a second workflow.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a workflow application performs the processing of the workflow, wherein processing the second document comprises the workflow application sending instructions to an external application via an programming interface or command-line interface, and receiving results from the external application.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to input in the graphical user interface at a first computer, causing a workflow data structure describing the workflow to be stored;

wherein processing the workflow occurs at the first computer;

subsequently accessing the workflow data structure at a second computer to reconstruct the workflow within the graphical user interface at the second computer;

wherein reprocessing the workflow occurs at the second computer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying information associated with the first document in response to receiving input in the graphical user interface that selects the first document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the workflow comprises iteratively processing each particular document of the documents by executing instructions associated with the particular document to generate particular output for the document, wherein the particular output for particular except for the second document is based upon the processing of a previous document of the documents, wherein the first output and the second output are outputs from processing a last document in the workflow.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause:

receiving, in a graphical user interface area, first inputs specifying drag-and-drop operations with respect to icons representing documents, the drag-and-drop operations indicating that the documents are to be added to a workflow represented by the graphical user interface area;

depicting the documents within the graphical user interface area in a particular order, wherein the particular order reflects dependencies between the documents, the particular order indicating at least that processing of a second document of the documents is dependent upon an output of a first document of the documents;

processing the workflow to generate a first output for the workflow, wherein processing the workflow comprises at least iteratively generating outputs for each document of the second document and the first document, in accordance with the particular order;

receiving, via the graphical user interface area, second input that results in a change to the output of the first document;

based upon the change, reprocessing the workflow to generate a second output for the workflow, wherein the second output differs from the first output as a result of the change.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the documents include one or more of:

word-processing documents, image files, spreadsheets, or graphs.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein processing the second document comprises executing instructions within the second document that, when interpreted by a document viewing application, cause the document viewing application to render one or more dynamic items based on data imported from the first document.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein processing the second document comprises executing instructions within the second document that, when interpreted by a data analysis application, cause the data analysis application to output one or more graphs based on the output of the first document.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein generating the output of the first document comprises executing instructions within the first document that cause deriving a data set from a data source external to the first document.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the first document is a second workflow.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein a workflow application performs the processing of the workflow, wherein processing the second document comprises the workflow application sending instructions to an external application via an programming interface or command-line interface, and receiving results from the external application.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause:

in response to input in the graphical user interface at a first computer, causing a workflow data structure describing the workflow to be stored;

wherein processing the workflow occurs at the first computer;

subsequently accessing the workflow data structure at a second computer to reconstruct the workflow within the graphical user interface at the second computer;

wherein reprocessing the workflow occurs at the second computer.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause:

displaying information associated with the first document in response to receiving input in the graphical user interface that selects the first document.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein processing the workflow comprises iteratively processing each particular document of the documents by executing instructions associated with the particular document to generate particular output for the document, wherein the particular output for particular except for the second document is based upon the processing of a previous document of the documents, wherein the first output and the second output are outputs from processing a last document in the workflow.