Method and apparatus for retrieving distributed objects in a networked system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for use in a networked computer system having a first user at a local terminal with personal information pertaining to the first user stored therein, a second user at a remote terminal and a network directory server, the apparatus making available to the second user part of the information stored in the local terminal, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) business card class information in the local terminal and the remote terminal including information defining a data structure and program code defining logic for storing references to user information in the data structure, logic for copying user information from another business card object into the data structure;
(b) means responsive to a request from the first user for instantiating a master business card object from the business card class information in the local terminal;
(c) means controlled by the first user for executing the storing logic for storing references to a first part of the information stored in the local terminal in the data structure of the master business card object;
(d) means controlled by the first user for storing a second part of the information stored in the local terminal and a reference to the master business card object in the network directory server;
(e) means responsive to a request from the second user for instantiating a replicated business card object from the business card class information in the remote terminal; and
(f) means controlled by the second user for executing the copying logic in the replicated business card object to access the network directory server and copy the second information part stored in the network directory server into the data structure of the replicated business card object.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for representing the attributes of an object representing a person or entity in an object oriented operating system running on a computer. The information is presented in the form of a graphic depiction of a business card with information specific to a particular person, place or thing appearing on the business card. The information on the business card and the card itself can be used to invoke various actions. Further, any information on the card can be copied, pasted or otherwise manipulated by the system.
-
Citations
42 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for use in a networked computer system having a first user at a local terminal with personal information pertaining to the first user stored therein, a second user at a remote terminal and a network directory server, the apparatus making available to the second user part of the information stored in the local terminal, the apparatus comprising:
-
(a) business card class information in the local terminal and the remote terminal including information defining a data structure and program code defining logic for storing references to user information in the data structure, logic for copying user information from another business card object into the data structure; (b) means responsive to a request from the first user for instantiating a master business card object from the business card class information in the local terminal; (c) means controlled by the first user for executing the storing logic for storing references to a first part of the information stored in the local terminal in the data structure of the master business card object; (d) means controlled by the first user for storing a second part of the information stored in the local terminal and a reference to the master business card object in the network directory server; (e) means responsive to a request from the second user for instantiating a replicated business card object from the business card class information in the remote terminal; and (f) means controlled by the second user for executing the copying logic in the replicated business card object to access the network directory server and copy the second information part stored in the network directory server into the data structure of the replicated business card object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method for use in a networked computer system having a first user at a local terminal with personal information pertaining to the first user stored therein, as second user at a remote terminal and a network directory server, the method making available to the second user part of the information stored in the local terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) storing business card class information in the local terminal and the remote terminal, the business card class information including information defining a data structure and program code defining logic for storing references to user information in the data structure, logic for copying user information from another business card object into the data structure; (b) instantiating a master business card object from the business card class information in the local terminal in response to a request from the first user; (c) executing the storing logic for storing references to a first part of the information stored in the local terminal in the data structure of the master business card object; (d) storing a second part of the information stored in the local terminal and a reference to the master business card object in the network directory server; (e) instantiating a replicated business card object from class information in the remote terminal in response to a request from the second user for; and (f) executing the copying logic in the replicated business card object to access the network directory server and copy the second information part stored in the network directory server into the data structure of the replicated business card object. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. Object-oriented apparatus for storing and managing a collection of related data associated with a user having a name, the apparatus being for use in a computer system having a local workstation with a local storage and a remote workstation with a remote storage, the local and remote workstations being connected by a computer network with a name service directory, the database system comprising:
-
means for receiving the data collection and for storing the entire data collection in the remote workstation; means for storing in the name service directory the user name, an address for accessing the remote workstation via the network and at least a portion of the data collection; data collection class information in the local workstation having information defining a data structure for holding data, a first member function for retrieving the data from the name service directory and a second member function for retrieving information from the remote workstation; means for instantiating a first data collection object from the data collection class information; means for executing the first member function in the first data collection object with the user name to retrieve the data collection portion and the address stored in the name service directory and to store the data collection portion in the data structure.
-
-
42. The apparatus as recited in claim 43 further comprising means for executing the second member function with the retrieved address to retrieve the entire data collection from the remote workstation and to store the entire data collection in the data structure.
Specification