Managing, accessing, and retrieving networked information using physical objects associated with the networked information

• US 6,549,933 B1
• Filed: 08/04/1998
• Issued: 04/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Robert Carl, Maglio, Paul P., Selker, Edwin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Benson, Walter
• Application Number:
  US09/128,436
• Time in Patent Office: 1,715 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 709/203, 709/218, 709/246, 710/7
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for managing information through the use of physical objects. An Informative Thing that is a physical object stores a pointer thereon, and the pointer is used to retrieve information associated with the Informative Thing from a network-based system. The Informative Thing provides a user interface that gives the impression of storing information on the physical object, when, in reality, the system stores the information in the network. By hiding the details of information retrieval, information management is greatly simplified. By linking the physical and virtual worlds, users'"'"' highly-developed ability to work in the real world is leveraged.

Claims

1. A network-based system for information management, comprising:

(a) an independently portable physical object that is a data storage device (referred to as an Informative Thing), wherein;

(i) the Informative Thing has an ID (referred to as a Thing ID) that represents an identity of the Informative Thing; and

(ii) the Thing ID is associated with information stored at an information store separate from the Informative Thing;

(b) a client computer that is configured to;

(i) read the Thing ID from the Informative Thing;

(ii) determine a location for where the information is stored based on the Thing ID; and

(iii) request and receive the information; and

(c) a server computer, connected to the client computer, that is configured to;

(i) retrieve information pursuant to the request of the client computer from the information store; and

(ii) transmit the information to the client computer.

2. The network-based system of claim 1 above, wherein the Thing ID comprises a pointer to the information.

3. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the Informative Thing actively broadcasts its Thing ID.

4. The network-based system of claim 3, wherein the Thing ID varies with time.

5. The network-based system of claim 3, wherein the Informative Thing includes a personal area network transmitter.

6. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the Thing ID is passively read by the client computer.

7. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the Thing ID is automatically generated when the Informative Thing is first accessed by the client computer.

8. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a volume label and serial number.

9. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a timestamp, device ID, and random number.

10. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the client computer maps the Thing ID into a pointer and the server computer uses the pointer to retrieve the information associated with the Informative Thing.

11. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the client computer maps the Thing ID to a Thing Universal Resource Location (URL), wherein the Thing URL comprises a URL for a location of the Informative Thing, and the server computer uses the Thing URL to retrieve a Thing Description, wherein the Thing Description contains the information associated with the Informative Thing.

12. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the client computer is further configured to use an ID Lookup Service to determine the Thing URL from the Thing ID.

13. The network-based system of claim 12, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a centralized server.

14. The network-based system of claim 12, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a distributed system.

15. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the Thing URL and the information associated with the Informative Thing are stored on separate server computers.

16. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the Thing Description contains a list of URLs, which in turn point to the information associated with the Informative Thing.

17. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the Thing Description is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

18. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the information associated with the Informative thing is created by storing data to a location in the network-based system, creating a Thing URL to identify the location of the stored data, and associating the Thing URL with a Thing ID.

19. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the information associated with the Informative Thing is copied by transfecting it to a new location in the network-based system and updating the Thing Description to reflect the new location.

20. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein the client computer modifies the information by reading its original contents, making changes thereto, and then re-storing the information.

21. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can access the information associated with the Informative Thing.

22. The network-based system of claim 11, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can modify the information associated with the Informative Thing.

23. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the client computer chooses its own rendering of the retrieved information.

24. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the client computer exports the retrieved information.

25. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein the server computer is selected from a group comprising a local server, an Internet server, and an Internet server.

26. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of Informative Things store the same Thing ID.

27. The network-based system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of different information sets are associated with the Informative Thing and access to one or more of the different information sets is dependent upon who is in possession of the Informative Thing.

28. A method of information management in a network-based system, comprising the steps of:

(a) reading an ID (referred to as a Thing ID) from an independently portable physical object that is a data storage device (referred to as an Informative Thing), wherein;

(i) the Thing ID represents an identity of the Informative Thing; and

(ii) the Thing ID is associated with information stored at an information store separate from the Informative Thing;

(b) determining a location for where the information is stored based on the Thing ID; and

(c) retrieving the information associated with the Informative Thing from the network-based system using the Thing ID.

29. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Thing ID comprises a pointer to the information.

30. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Informative Thing actively broadcasts its Thing ID.

31. The method of information management of claim 30, wherein the Thing ID varies with time.

32. The method of information management of claim 30, wherein the Informative Thing includes a personal area network transmitter.

33. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Thing ID is passively read by a computer.

34. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Thing ID is automatically generated when the data storage device is first accessed by a computer.

35. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a volume label and serial number.

36. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a timestamp, device ID, and random number.

37. The method of information management of claim 28, further comprising the steps of mapping the Thing ID into a pointer and using the pointer to retrieve the information associated with the Informative Thing.

38. The method of information management of claim 28, further comprising the steps of mapping the Thing ID to a Thing Universal Resource Location (URL), wherein the Thing URL comprises a URL for the location of the Informative Thing, and using the Thing URL to retrieve a Thing Description, wherein the Thing Description contains the information associated with the Informative Thing.

39. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the mapping step comprises the steps of determining the Thing ID of the Informative Thing and then using an ID Lookup Service to determine the Thing URL from the Thing ID.

40. The method of information management of claim 39, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a centralized server.

41. The method of information management of claim 39, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a distributed system.

42. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein the Thing URL and the information associated with the Informative Thing are stored on separate computers.

43. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein the Thing Description contains a list of URLs, which in turn point to the information associated with the Informative Thing.

44. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein the Thing Description is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

45. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein the information associated with the Informative Thing is created by storing data to a location in the network-based system, creating a Thing URL to identify the location of the stored data, and associating the Thing URL with a Thing ID.

46. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein the information associated with the Informative Thing is copied by transferring it to a new location in the network-based system and updating the Thing Description to reflect the new location.

47. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein a computer modifies the information by readings its original contents, making changes thereto, and then re-storing the information.

48. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can access the information associated with the Informative Thing.

49. The method of information management of claim 38, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can modify the information associated with the Informative Thing.

50. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein a computer chooses its own rendering of the retrieved information.

51. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein a computer exports the retrieved information.

52. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein the network-based system includes a server computer selected from a group comprising a local server, an Internet server, and an Internet server.

53. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein a plurality of Informative Things store the same Thing ID.

54. The method of information management of claim 28, wherein a plurality of different information sets are associated with the Informative Thing and access to one or more of the different information sets is dependent upon who is in possession of the Informative Thing.

55. An article of manufacture comprising an independently portable physical object that is a data storage device (referred to as an Informative Thing), wherein:

(a) the Informative Thing stores and ID (referred to as a Thing ID), thereon, wherein the Thing ID represents an identity of the Informative Thing;

(b) the Thing ID is associated with information stored at an information store separate from the Informative Thing on a network-based system; and

(c) the Thing ID is used to determine a location for where the information is stored and retrieve the information associated with the Informative Thing from the information store.

56. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Thing ID comprises a pointer.

57. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Informative Thing actively broadcasts its Thing ID.

58. The article of manufacture of claim 57, wherein the Thing ID varies with time.

59. The article of manufacture of claim 57, wherein the Informative Thing includes a personal area network transmitter.

60. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Thing ID is passively read by a computer.

61. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Thing ID is automatically generated when the Informative Thing is first accessed by a computer.

62. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a volume label and serial number.

63. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein the Thing ID is a combination of a timestamp, device ID, and random number.

64. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a first computer maps the Thing ID into a pointer and a second computer uses the pointer to retrieve the information associated with the Informative Thing.

65. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a first computer maps the Thing ID to a Thing Universal Resource Location (URL), wherein the Thing URL comprises a URL for the location of the Informative Thing, and a second computer uses the Thing URL to retrieve a Thing Description, wherein the Thing Description contains the information associated with the Informative Thing.

66. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the first computer determines the Thing ID of the Informative Thing and then uses an ID Lookup Service to determine the Thing URL from the Thing ID.

67. The article of manufacture of claim 66, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a centralized server.

68. The article of manufacture of claim 66, wherein the ID Lookup Service is a distributed system.

69. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the Thing URL and the information associated with the Informative Thing are stored on separate computers.

70. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the Thing Description contains a list of URLs, which in turn point to the information associated with the Informative Thing.

71. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the Thing Description is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

72. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the information associated with the Informative Thing is crated by storing data to a location in the network-based system, creating a Thing URL to identify the stored data, and associating the Thing URL with a Thing ID.

73. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein the information associated with the Informative Thing is copied by transferring it to a new location in the network-based system and updating the Thing Description to reflect the new location.

74. The article of manufacture of claim 63, wherein a computer modifies the information by reading its original contents, making changes thereto, and then re-storing the information.

75. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can access the information associated with the Informative Thing.

76. The article of manufacture of claim 65, wherein only a person in possession of the Informative Thing can modify the information associated with the Informative Thing.

77. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a computer chooses its own rendering of the retrieved information.

78. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a computer exports the retrieved information.

79. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a plurality of Informative Things store the same Thing ID.

80. The article of manufacture of claim 55, wherein a plurality of different information sets are associated with the Informative Thing and access to one or more of the different information sets is dependent upon who is in possession of the Informative Thing.