AGGREGATED INFORMATION ACCESS AND CONTROL USING A PERSONAL UNIFYING TAXONOMY

• US 20150128063A1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: William P. Jones
• Original Assignee: William P. Jones
• Inventors: Jones, William P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,104,082 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing users with aggregate access to and control over information from multiple storing applications and information services, and for enabling developers to integrate such aggregate access and control into applications. Textual markup language may represent the structure of grouping items. Examples using XML and XooML (“Cross Tool Mark-up Language,” an XML schema) are provided, such that users need not change the storing application or service in order for those users'"'"' informational structures to be represented.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for presenting aggregated user information, comprising:

providing, by one or more configured computing systems and to each of one or more remote information services, an indication of authorization by a user for the one or more configured computing systems to access the remote information service on behalf of the user;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems and from each of at least two distinct data sources, one or more information groups associated with the user, wherein at least one of the information groups is provided based at least in part on the indicated authorization;

generating, by the one or more configured computing systems and for each of the received information groups, a data structure representing the information group, each of the generated data structures including a tool-independent portion and a tool-dependent portion, the tool-dependent portion of each generated data structure corresponding to the data source from which the represented information group is received;

concurrently displaying, by the one or more configured computing systems and based at least in part on at least some of the generated data structures, an indication to the user of two or more of the information groups.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein generating the data structures includes generating at least one data structure that represents an information group stored by an application on a client device of the user.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the information groups comprises one or more of a group that includes an image and an electronic message of the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the information groups comprises one or more links to additional information groups, and wherein the generated data structure representing the at least one information group includes one or more elements representing each of the one or more links.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the generated data structures includes a specification of one or more snapshot versions of the at least one generated data structure, each of the one or more snapshot versions being specified by one or more of a location of the snapshot version and a driver associated with the snapshot version.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein providing the indication of the authorization to the one remote information service includes providing the indication via a programmatic interface of the one remote information service, and wherein receiving the at least one information group based at least in part on the indicated authorization includes receiving the at least one information group via the programmatic interface.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication of a selection by the user of at least one of the received information groups, wherein the at least one selected information group includes links to at least some of the information groups other than the at least one selected information group, and wherein the receiving of the other information groups is based at least in part on the one or more links of the at least one selected information group.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein one of the displayed information groups is received from one of the remote information services, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request from the user for one or more modifications to one of the displayed information groups and, based at least in part on the received indication;

modifying the one displayed information group;

generating an updated data structure representing the modified information group; and

providing, based at least in part on the indicated authorization, an indication of the modified information group to the one remote information service.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are located remotely from the user, and wherein concurrently displaying the indication to the user of the two or more information groups includes causing a remote client device of the user to concurrently display the two or more information groups.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems includes a client device of the user, and wherein the generating of the data structures representing the received information groups is performed by an application executing on the client device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

providing, by the configured computing device and to a remote information service, an indication from a user of authorization to access the remote information service on behalf of the user;

receiving, by the configured computing device and from each of multiple distinct data sources, one or more information groups associated with the user;

generating, by the configured computing device and for each of the received information groups, a data structure representing the information group, at least some of the generated data structures including a tool-independent portion and a tool-dependent portion, the tool-dependent portion of each of the at least some generated data structures corresponding to an information type of the represented information group;

causing, by the configured computing system and based at least in part on the generated data structures, a presentation device to concurrently display multiple of the information groups to the user.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein generating the data structures includes generating at least one data structure that represents an information group stored on the presentation device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein causing the presentation device to concurrently display multiple of the information groups to the user includes causing a first application executing on the presentation device to concurrently display the multiple information groups in a first manner, and wherein the stored contents further configure the computing device to cause a distinct second application executing on the presentation device to concurrently display, based at least in part on the generated data structures, a plurality of the received information groups in a distinct second manner.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein at least one of the information groups includes one or more links to additional information groups, and wherein the generated data structure representing the at least one information group includes an indication of each of the one or more links.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein at least one of the generated data structures specifies one or more snapshot versions of the at least one generated data structure, each of the one or more snapshot versions being specified by at least one of a location of the snapshot version and a driver associated with the snapshot version.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein at least one of the generated data structures includes an indication of one or more events related to the at least one generated data structure.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein receiving the one or more information groups includes receiving the one or more information groups via a programmatic interface of a remote information service.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising receiving an indication of a selection by the user of at least one information group, the at least one selected information group including links associated with at least some of the information groups other than the at least one selected information group, and wherein the receiving of the other information groups is based at least in part on the associated links of the at least one selected information group.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein one of the displayed information groups is received from the one remote information service, and wherein the stored contents further configure the computing device to receive a request from the user for one or more modifications to one of the displayed information groups and, based at least in part on the requested modifications:

generate an updated data structure representing a modified version of the information group; and

provide a request to the remote information service to store the modified version of the information group.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the configured computing device is a client device of the user, and wherein the method is performed by an application executing on the client device.