SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATING SEPARATE INFORMATION SYSTEMS WITHIN AN APPLICATION

• US 20160085392A1
• Filed: 11/30/2015
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.), Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dargahi, Ross, Henrikson, Kevin M., Schemers, Roland, Lee, Jong Yoon
• Granted Patent: US 10,481,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

The present invention is, in one embodiment, a system and method based on a client-server architecture for seamlessly integrating various information systems. In one embodiment, a bundle of files is deployed to a collaboration client, in order to enable the integration of the collaboration client with disparate information systems and content. In one embodiment, content within a mailbox item is allowed to become a “live” object, and is associated with trigger events, and actions, including sending all or part of the content to a separate information system. In one embodiment, mailbox items are subjected to predefined searches to assess whether they include certain content objects. In another embodiment, panel item elements are visible in the overview panel of the collaboration client. The user may interact with the panel items by dragging content onto them, double clicking them, and invoking actions from a context menu if one is available.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for integrating a collaborative client with a plurality of information systems including a first information system and a second information system comprising:

receiving a bundle of files that enables the integration, wherein the bundle of files define a plurality of actions that are implemented in response to triggering events associated with respective types of content objects;

presenting a first content object to a user, wherein the first content object is associated with a first information system of the plurality of integration systems and wherein the first content object is configured to enable a first action defined by the deployed bundle of files to be executed when a particular triggering event associated with the first content object occurs;

detecting an occurrence of the triggering event associated with the first content object;

in response to detecting the triggering event, obtaining information associated with the first action from the second information system; and

presenting a user interface associated with the obtained information to the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more of the plurality of triggering events or the plurality of actions are defined by the user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining information from the second information system comprises requesting access to the second information system through a remote server.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the content object has a particular type of a plurality of types.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of types include one or more of a telephone number type, an address type, a purchase order type, or a calendar type.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the first information system is associated with a user mailbox and the first content object is included in a mailbox item of the user mailbox.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first content object is presented in response to a search of the mailbox item to detect whether the mailbox item contains a selected type of content object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the search is executed in response to code provided in the bundle of files corresponding to the selected type of content object.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the bundle of files further defines a behavior to be performed to access functionality of the second information system.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the bundle of files includes code to be executed to access functionality of the second information system.

12. A system for integrating a collaborative client with a plurality of information systems including a first information system and a second information system, the system comprising:

one or more computers configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving a bundle of files that enables the integration, wherein the bundle of files define a plurality of actions that are implemented in response to triggering events associated with respective types of content objects;

presenting a first content object to a user, wherein the first content object is associated with the first information system of the plurality of integration systems and wherein the first content object is configured to enable a first action defined by the deployed bundle of files to be executed when a particular triggering event associated with the first content object occurs;

detecting an occurrence of the triggering event associated with the first content object;

in response to detecting the triggering event, obtaining information associated with the first action from the second information system; and

presenting a user interface associated with the obtained information to the user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the plurality of triggering events or the plurality of actions are defined by the user.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein obtaining information from the second information system comprises requesting access to the second information system through a remote server.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the content object has a particular type of a plurality of types.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of types include one or more of a telephone number type, an address type, a purchase order type, or a calendar type.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the first information system is associated with a user mailbox and the first content object is included in a mailbox item of the user mailbox.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first content object is presented in response to a search of the mailbox item to detect whether the mailbox item contains a selected type of content object.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the search is executed in response to code provided in the bundle of files corresponding to the selected type of content object.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the bundle of files further defines a behavior to be performed to access functionality of the second information system.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the bundle of files includes code to be executed to access functionality of the second information system.