INBOXES FOR DOCUMENTS, MUSIC, VIDEOS, AND PHOTOS

• US 20130318582A1
• Filed: 05/23/2012
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: McCann, William Jon, Cecchi, Cosimo
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations

Abstract

A method and system for collecting, aggregating, and displaying type specific content in an inbox like view are described. An inbox manager collects information about data objects that are stored locally and stored remotely. This information may be stored as inbox information on a local computing system. Using the inbox information, the inbox manager creates an inbox view of merged inbox items from the local data objects and the remote data objects. The inbox view is configured to display the inbox items as being merged into a single view regardless of where the respective data objects are stored.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting information about a plurality of data objects, wherein a first data object of the plurality of data objects is stored locally on a first computing system, a second data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a second computing system of a first remote data storage service, and a third data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a third computing system of a second remote data storage service;

creating an identifier for each of the plurality of data objects;

creating a reference for each identifier, wherein the information about the plurality of data objects comprises the references;

maintaining each reference for each identifier in a database;

creating a data display of a plurality of data items from the plurality of data objects using the information, the data display to display the plurality of data items as being merged into a single view regardless of where the respective data objects are stored;

presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display of the computing system, the GUI displaying at least a portion of the data display;

detecting a change to a reference in the database; and

refreshing the at least a portion of the data display, in view of the detected change to the reference in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving account credentials for the first and second remote data storage services; and

storing the account credentials in a secure data store of the first computing system.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, at the first computing system, a user login request, wherein the user login request comprises single sign-on credentials to access the account credentials stored in the secure data store;

verifying the user login request; and

in response to successful verification of the user login request, accessing the account credentials stored at the first computing system to access the first and second remote data storage services.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said collecting information comprises:

retrieving the information from the first remote data storage service using the account credentials for the first remote data storage service; and

retrieving the information from the second remote data storage services using the account credentials for the second remote data storage service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining the information about the plurality of data objects in a data store of the first computing system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting the GUI comprises generating a link for each of the plurality of data objects to be displayed in the GUI, and wherein each of the links comprises a path to a storage location where the respective data object is stored.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said presenting the GUI comprises:

retrieving the second data object from the first remote data storage service when the link for the second data object is selected by a user; and

retrieving the third data object from the second remote data storage service when the link for the third data object is selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the links each comprise a mapping of an identifier of the respective data object and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the respective data object'"'"'s location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprising presenting the data display in at least one of a list view, a thumbnail view, an icon view, or a menu view.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprising presenting the GUI in at least one of a file browser, a web browser, a viewing area of an application executing on the computing system, or a main view of the display.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting the GUI comprises generating a link for each of the plurality of data objects to be displayed in the GUI, and wherein each of the links refers to one of the plurality of data objects stored in the first computing system or stored remotely from the first computing system.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to execute operations comprising:

collecting, by the computing system, information about a plurality of data objects, wherein a first data object of the plurality of data objects is stored locally on the first computing system, a second data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a second computing system of a first remote data storage service, and a third data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a third computing system of a second remote data storage service;

creating an identifier for each of the plurality of data objects;

creating a reference for each identifier, wherein the information about the plurality of data objects comprises the references;

maintaining each reference for each identifier in a database;

creating a data display of a plurality of data items from the plurality of data objects using the information, the data display to display the plurality of data items as being merged into in a single view regardless of where the respective data objects are stored;

presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display of the computing system, the GUI displaying at least a portion of the data display;

detecting a change to a reference in the database; and

refreshing the at least a portion of the data display, in view of the detected change to the reference in the database.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving account credentials for the first and second remote data storage services; and

storing the account credentials in a secure data store of the first computing system.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, at the first computing system, a user login request, wherein the user login request comprises single sign-on credentials to access the account credentials stored in the secure data store;

verifying the user login request; and

in response to successful verification of the user login request, accessing the account credentials stored at the first computing system to access the first and second remote data storage services.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said collecting information comprises:

retrieving the information from the first remote data storage service using the account credentials for the first remote data storage service; and

retrieving the information from the second remote data storage services using the account credentials for the second remote data storage service.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein said presenting the GUI comprises generating a link for each of the plurality of data objects to be displayed in the GUI, wherein each of the links comprises a path to a storage location where the respective data object is stored, and wherein each of the links each comprise a mapping of an identifier of the respective data object and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the respective data object'"'"'s location.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein said presenting comprising presenting the inbox view data display in at least one of a list view, a thumbnail view, an icon view, or a menu view.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein said presenting comprising presenting the GUI in at least one of a file browser, a web browser, a viewing area of an application executing on the computing system, or a main view of the display.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein said presenting the GUI comprises generating a link for each of the plurality of data objects to be displayed in the GUI, and wherein each of the links refers to one of the plurality of data objects stored in the first computing system or stored remotely from the first computing system.

20. A computing system, comprising:

a data storage device; and

a processing device, coupled to the data storage device, to execute an inbox manager, the inbox manager to;

collect information about a plurality of data objects, wherein a first data object of the plurality of data objects is stored locally on the first computing system, a second data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a second computing system of a first remote data storage service, and a third data object of the plurality of data objects is stored remotely on a third computing system of a second remote data storage service;

create an identifier for each of the plurality of data objects;

create a reference for each identifier, wherein the information about the plurality of data objects comprises the references;

maintain each reference for each identifier in a database;

create a data display of a plurality of data items from the plurality of data objects using the information, the data display to display the plurality of data items as being merged into in a single view regardless of where the respective data objects are stored;

present a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display of the computing system, the GUI displaying at least a portion of the data display

detect a change to a reference in the database; and

refresh the at least a portion of the data display, in view of the detected change to the reference in the database.

21. The computing system of claim 20, the inbox manager further to:

receive account credentials for the first and second remote data storage services; and

store the account credentials in a secure data store of the first computing system.

22. The computing system of claim 21, the inbox manager further to:

receive a user login request, wherein the user login request comprises single sign-on credentials to access the account credentials stored in the secure data store;

verify the user login request; and

in response to successful verification of the user login request, access the account credentials stored at the first computing system to access the first and second remote data storage services.

23. The computing system of claim 22, the inbox manager further to:

retrieve the information from the first remote data storage service using the account credentials for the first remote data storage service; and

retrieve the information from the second remote data storage services using the account credentials for the second remote data storage service.

24. The computing system of claim 20, further comprising a database stored in the data storage device, and the inbox manager further to:

maintain the information about the plurality of data objects in the database.