Method for abstract state transitions without requiring state machine knowledge

• US 6,976,259 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Tanmoy, Mazner, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng-Al T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong, LeChi
• Application Number:
  US09/677,443
• Time in Patent Office: 1,901 Days
• Field of Search: 709/316, 719/310
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

A system and method employ a client-server architecture that abstracts from the client the states of objects and transitions between the states. As a result, the server maintains objects, along with associated states, and state transitions that are provided to clients on demand. The client is only provided with a set of valid transitions between states that are based on the current state of the object and valid transitions out of that state. The states may be additionally filtered based on the permissions granted to the client. In this way, the client is relieved of prior knowledge of valid object states and state transitions. Hence, in a document management system, for example, new states and transitions for objects may be added at the server and propagated through to the clients.

Claims

1. An object management system comprising a computer system:

a data structure for at least one object in a set of objects in said object management system, comprising for said at least one object a set of object states in which said object may be maintained, a set of transitions between object states, and a current object state;

computer-readable server instructions that receive requests from a client for said object and computer-readable server instructions that retrieve from said data structure at least a subset of transitions between object states, where said subset of transitions to at least another state is based upon transitions out of the current object state;

computer-readable server instructions that return to said client an indication of at least the subset of transitions between object states; and

a set of computer-readable instructions residing on a client, said computer-readable instructions requesting from said computer-readable server instructions a subset of state transitions for the at least one object, receiving in return the subset of state transitions, and presenting a user with operations capable of being performed on said object where the operations are based on the subset of state transitions.

2. The object management system as recited in claim 1 further comprising computer-readable server instructions capable of changing the data structure to change the current state of the at least one object to a selected state of the states in the set of states where the selected state is based on a transition between states contained in the subset of transitions returned to the client.

3. The object management system as recited in claim 1 wherein the objects comprises documents.

4. The object management system as recited in claim 1 wherein the recited computer-readable instructions reside on a server accessible by way of a network.

5. The object management system as recited in claim 4 wherein the network comprises an Internet.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the indication of the subset states transitions are transmitted as operations that may be performed upon the object.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the indication of the operations are presented in accordance with a local language of the requester.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the set of states are maintained in a table of states and associated valid state transitions that are associated with the object.