PROVIDING DIFFERENT ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS IN AN ONLINE DOCUMENT SHARING COMMUNITY DEPENDING ON WHETHER THE DOCUMENT IS PUBLIC OR PRIVATE

• US 20130246474A1
• Filed: 03/19/2012
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David W. Victor
• Original Assignee: David W. Victor
• Inventors: VICTOR, David W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,875,239 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/785
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for providing different access to documents in an online document sharing community depending on whether the document is public or private. A request is received for a page and a determination is made of a document to include in the page and whether document information for the determined document indicates the document as public or private. An access element is included in the page to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is public. Access to a public description of the document not including all the content of the document is included in the page in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

Claims

1. A computer program for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and a storage system storing documents, wherein the computer program is implemented in a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer program is executed to perform operations, the operations comprising:

maintaining in a database participant information for a plurality of participants registered with the database, wherein the participant information for at least one of the participants is associated with document information for at least one document owned by the participant, wherein the document information identifies a document in the storage system, an owner of the document, whether the document is public or private, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants allowed to access the document;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer, wherein the requesting participant computer comprises one of the participant computers operated by a requesting participant comprising one of the registered participants;

determining a document to include in the page;

determining whether document information for the determined document indicates the document as public or private;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is public; and

including in the page access to a public description of the document not including all the content of the document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the document information indicates that the document is private and whether the public description is to be provided to requesting participants not in the group, wherein the access to the public description is included in the page in response to further determining that public description is to be provided for the private document when the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including all the comments for the determined document in the database in response to determining that the document is public.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the document is private;

determining the comments associated with the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document; and

include in the page the determined comments for the document.

6. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

including in the page comments from participants that are not in the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group allowed to access the document.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the request includes a document identifier of the requested document, wherein the determined document information is for the document identified by the document identifier, wherein the operations further comprise:

including a publication time of the document in the page in response to determining that the determined document is public.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the request identifies a participant, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining each document for which the identified participant is an owner, wherein the operations of determining whether the document is public or private, including in the page access to the content, and including in the page access to the public description are performed for each document for which the identified participant is indicated as the owner.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the group of participants allowed to access the document have accepted terms of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with respect to the document.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the public description of the document does not include that portion of the document content eligible for legal protection under intellectual property laws.

11. A system for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and a storage system storing documents, comprising:

a processor;

a computer database having participant information for a plurality of participants registered with the database, wherein the participant information for at least one of the participants is associated with document information for at least one document owned by the participant, wherein the document information identifies a document in the storage system, an owner of the document, whether the document is public or private, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants allowed to access the document;

a computer readable storage medium including code executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer, wherein the requesting participant computer comprises one of the participant computers operated by a requesting participant comprising one of the registered participants;

determining a document to include in the page;

determining whether document information for the determined document indicates the document as public or private;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is public; and

including in the page access to a public description of the document not including all the content of the document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the document information indicates that the document is private and whether the public description is to be provided to requesting participants not in the group, wherein the access to the public description is included in the page in response to further determining that public description is to be provided for the private document when the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the document is private;

determining the comments associated with the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document; and

include in the page the determined comments for the document.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

including in the page comments from participants that are not in the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group allowed to access the document.

16. A method for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and comprising:

maintaining in a database participant information for a plurality of participants registered with the database, wherein the participant information for at least one of the participants is associated with document information for at least one document owned by the participant, wherein the document information identifies a document in the storage system, an owner of the document, whether the document is public or private, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants allowed to access the document;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer, wherein the requesting participant computer comprises one of the participant computers operated by a requesting participant comprising one of the registered participants;

determining a document to include in the page;

determining whether document information for the determined document indicates the document as public or private;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is public; and

including in the page access to a public description of the document not including all the content of the document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the document information indicates that the document is private and whether the public description is to be provided to requesting participants not in the group, wherein the access to the public description is included in the page in response to further determining that public description is to be provided for the private document when the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the document.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the document is private;

determining the comments associated with the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group allowed to access the document; and

include in the page the determined comments for the document.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

maintaining in the database comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

including in the page comments from participants that are not in the group allowed to access the document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group allowed to access the document.