Story workflow management system and method

• US 6,557,013 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2000
• Issued: 04/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.), Cybercasters Limited
• Original Assignee: Successes Com Incorporated
• Inventors: Davidson, Allan L., Ziff, Susan Janette
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu M
• Application Number:
  US09/526,700
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 707/201, 707/205, 345/733, 345/751, 700/90, 703/1, 705/4, 705/26, 705/30, 709/203, 709/242
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99956 File allocation

Abstract

A system and method for story creation workflow management is provided which increases the speed, quality control and accuracy and reduces the cost of the story creation process by providing the steps of the story creation process in a single integrated system. The system also permits the users of the system to work at different times of the day and in different geographic locations. The system also permits the users of the system to rapidly determine the current status of any story in the system.

Claims

1. A story workflow management system, comprising:

a first computer comprising means for storing a plurality of data records, each data record containing information about a particular story including a story submission and a rating of the story, and means for managing the story workflow process from lead generation to publishing the story, the first computer further comprising one or more software modules for managing the one or more steps of the story generation process and wherein the one or more modules comprises a submission module comprising means for receiving a submission for a user, the submission including contact information about the submitter and information about the potential story and a story generation module comprising means for generating a story based on the story submission comprising means for rating a story submission as being publishable and means for managing a story submission rated as publishable in order to produce a publishable story, the managing means comprising means for tracking the one or more steps involved in publishing the story wherein each step is independent of each other step and the steps are completed in any order;

a submission client connected to the first computer by a communications network, the submission client comprising means for receiving data from the first computer about the story submission process, means for accepting a story submission and means for communicating the story submission to the first computer so that the story submission is stored in the first computer; and

an editor client connected to the first computer by a communications network, the editor client comprising means for rating each story submission and means for generating a published story in response to the rating of the story submission.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computer, the submission client and the editor client are located at different geographic locations and operate independently of each other so that the story workflow process may be completed at any time by a person at various different geographic locations.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the managing means of the first computer further comprises means for tracking the completion of one or more story generation steps wherein the story generation steps are independent of each other and are completed in any order.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computer further comprises means for generating one or more web pages provided to the submission client and the editor client in order to extract story generation information from the submitter and from the editor to generate the published story.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for managing further comprises means for graphically tracking the completion of each step in the story generation process so that a user can determine the status of any step of a story.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules comprises an administration module comprising means for administrating the usage of the system comprising means for providing a predetermined level of access to the system for a predetermined user so that different people view different information.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more modules further comprise a publishing module, a story lead module and a multimedia module wherein the publishing module comprises means for publishing the publishable story in one or more different formats, wherein the story lead module further comprises means for generating a plurality of story leads that may result in a story submission, and wherein multimedia module further comprises means for storing a plurality of multimedia objects associated with the stories so that one or more multimedia objects are associated with a particular story.

5. The system of 4 further comprising means for generating the one or more web pages based on the security access level of the user.