Virtual documents generated via combined documents or portions of documents retrieved from data repositories

• US 6,397,231 B1
• Filed: 08/31/1998
• Issued: 05/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Paradise IP LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Petersen, Karin, Terry, Douglas B., Thornton, James D., Lamping, John O., LaMarca, Anthony G., Dourish, James P., Edwards, Warren K., Salisbury, Michael P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/143,555
• Time in Patent Office: 1,366 Days
• Field of Search: 707/515,523,517,513,102,522 434/236 709/200,201 705/14
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A virtual document generated within the environment of a document management system. The document management system provides for the separation of the document content from properties which describe the content. Bit providers are implemented to retrieve the content for a document in a manner such that the document is unaware of the location of the content which is retrieved. Generation of a virtual document recognizes that a one-to-one correlation between a document and the contents which make up that document are not required. Therefore, content for a single DMS document may be dispersed across numerous storage repositories. Alternatively, a virtual document may be a sub-portion of a file on a single repository, or a combination of such contents.

Claims

1. A method of generating a virtual document in a document management system comprising:

issuing a request by an application of the document management system for a document;

receiving the request by the document;

sending a request from the document to a bit provider capable of performing read/write operations to retrieve or store content of the document;

determining, by the bit provider, addresses of the content, wherein the content addresses are for more than one storage repository, and the content of the document is stored completely separate from the bit provider;

retrieving, by the bit provider, via a read operation, the content located in the more than one storage repository, wherein each of the storage repositories storing content hold a sub-portion of the document content;

combining the sub-portions of the content;

presenting the combined sub-portions of the document content to a user, wherein the user perceives the combined sub-portions as a single document; and

storing the contents of the document in the more than one storage repository via the bit-provider write operator.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining at least some of the content is a portion of a file located in at least one of the storage repositories or other on-line information sources.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generated virtual document is a full-fledged document of the document management system.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bit provider further provides caching of the retrieved contents of the document to a local storage area.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bit provider further provides access control to the document content.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bit provider further includes configuration management information.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bit provider further includes collections of documents stored in the more than one storage repository.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bit provider further includes the capability to translate protocols.

9. A method of generating a virtual document in a document management system comprising:

issuing a request by an application of the document management system for a document;

receiving the request by the document;

sending a request from the document to a bit provider capable of performing read/write operations to retrieve or store content of the document, wherein the content of the document is stored completely separate from the bit provider;

determining, by the bit provider, addresses of the content, wherein the content addresses are for data which is less than an entire file within a single storage repository;

retrieving, by the bit provider, via a read operation, the content located in less than an entire file of the storage repository, wherein the file in the storage repository storing the content holds additional data not included as part of the document content;

presenting the formatted content to a user, wherein the user perceives the content as a single document; and

storing the contents of the document in the more than one storage repository via the bit provider write operation.

10. The method according to claim 9 wherein the generated virtual document is a full-fledged document of the document management system.

11. The method according to claim 9 wherein the bit provider further includes the capabilities of:

caching of the retrieved document contents to a local storage area;

providing access control to the contents of the document;

providing configuration management information;

including collections of documents stored in the more than one storage repository; and

translating protocols of the document where appropriate.

12. A method of generating a document in a document management system of a computer system which includes at least one application for issuing instructions and a plurality of data storage repositories, the method comprising:

providing a first user of the computer system with access to properties of the document management system;

attaching by the first user, selected ones of the properties to a document of the document management system;

storing the attached selected properties;

storing content of the document, among more than one of the data storage repositories, separate from a location where the selected properties are stored;

issuing a first request, by the first user, for the document;

receiving the request by the document;

issuing a request, from the document, to a bit provider capable of performing read/write operations and attached to the document, to retrieve or store the content of the document, wherein the bit provider is stored completely separate from the content of the document;

determining, by the bit provider, the content is located in the more than one storage repository, wherein each of the storage repositories storing the content of the document holds sub-portions of the content of the document;

retrieving, by the bit provider via a read operation, the desired content located in the more than one storage repository, wherein each of said repositories hold a sub-portion of the document content;

combining the sub-portions of the content;

presenting the combined sub-portions to the first user, wherein the first user perceives the combined sub-portions as a single document; and

storing the contents of the document in the more than one storage repository via the bit provider write operation.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the first user has a capability of interacting with the presented document in the same manner as a document retrieved from a single storage repository.

14. The method according to claim 12 wherein the single document is a full-fledged document of the document management system.

15. The method according to claim 12 wherein the bit provider further includes the capabilities of:

caching of the retrieved document contents to a local storage area;

providing configuration management information; and

translating protocols of the document where appropriate.

16. A document management system of a computer system capable of forming virtual documents including at least one application for issuing instructions and a plurality of data storage repositories, the document management system comprising:

a plurality of properties of the document management system;

a document of the document management system to which are attached selected ones of the properties;

content of the document stored at locations separate from where the selected properties are stored, the content stored among more than one of the data storage repositories;

a bit provider attached to the document and capable of performing read/write operations, the bit provider configured to retrieve the content of the document via a read operation, and the bit provider being stored completely separate from the content of the document;

where the bit provider determines the locations of the content in the more than one storage repository, wherein each of the storage repositories storing the content of the first document holds sub-portions of the content of the first document;

the retrieved sub-portions are presented to the first user, wherein the first user perceives the combined sub-portions as a single document; and

the first user storing contents of the document in the more than one storage repositories via a write operation of the bit provider.

17. The virtual document according to claim 16 wherein the virtual document is a full-fledged document of the document management system.

18. The document management system according to claim 16 wherein the bit provider further comprises:

storing retrieved contents of the document to a cache in a local storage area;

information concerning configuration management;

ability to translate protocols of documents where appropriate.