System and method for customized document selection

• US 7,395,267 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2004
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Hilbert, David M., Trevor, Jonathan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Paul
• Application Number:
  US10/777,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20050177580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,602 Days
• Field of Search: 707/9, 707/100, 707/219, 707/104, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226
• US Class Current: 707/827
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices

Abstract

An access server allows secure access to commonly used files stored on multiple file sources from a variety of client devices. The access server stores user identification and password information for each of a variety of file sources. Upon receiving a login request from a user, the access server extracts a list of file sources associated with the user, and accesses each of those sources. The server is then configured to extract a list of most recently used files by the current user as well as information associated with those files. The server presents to the user an interface including links to his most recently used files.

Claims

1. A method for providing access to remotely stored files, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier from a user to an access server;

determining, by said access server, a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier received, wherein each login data provides access to at least one of a plurality of file sources, said login data being stored on the access server;

contacting by the access server each of said plurality of file sources, one or more of said plurality of file sources having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module periodically gathers lists of recently used files to present to the access server upon contacting the file source by the access server; and

logging into each of said plurality of file sources by the file source wrapper module via the login data associated with each file source;

automatically retrieving, from each of said plurality of file sources, information associated with at least one file recently accessed by the user and generating a single unified list of recently accessed files from all of the plurality of file sources wherein the unified list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources; and

generating an optimized interface containing said unified list of recently accessed files automatically retrieved from the plurality of file sources and presenting said optimized interface to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the user with an option of printing a file in the unified list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one login data includes user names and passwords for each of the plurality of file sources.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises receiving a list of at least one recently modified or recently created file from the file source.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises:

reading a time of last access for files stored on the file source; and

selecting a file according to its time of last access.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the unified list of recently accessed files comprises:

determining an application available to the user; and

receiving from the file source a list of at least one file associated with the application.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving changes to a copy of a file in the unified list; and

transmitting the copy of the file to the file source.

8. A system for providing access to remotely stored files, the system comprising:

a client interface configured to receive an identifier from a user to an access server wherein said access server determines a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier, each login data used for accessing at least one of a plurality of file sources, one or more of said plurality of file sources having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module gathers lists of recently used files to present to the access server upon contacting the file source by the access server; and

a file selection generator configured to;

contact each of the plurality of file sources associated with the login data and request the file source wrapper to log into each of the plurality of file sources using said login data; and

retrieve information associated with files recently accessed by the user from each of the plurality of file sources; and

generate a single unified list of recently accessed files from all of the plurality of file sources wherein the unified list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources on multiple networks.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the client interface is further configured to present the user with an option to view a file in the unified list.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the list of recently accessed files comprises a list of most recently created files.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises generating a customized interface for the client.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises:

reading a time of last access for files stored on the file source; and

selecting a file according to its time of last access.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises:

determining an application available to the user; and

receiving from the file source a list of at least one file associated with the application.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the client interface is configured to receive changes to a copy of a file in the unified list, wherein said changes are then propagated to an appropriate file source in the plurality of file sources.

15. A computer program product, stored on a computer readable medium, and including computer executable instructions for controlling a processor to provide access to remotely stored files, the instructions comprising:

receiving an identifier from a user to an access server;

determining, by said access server, a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier received, wherein each login data provides access to at least one of a plurality of file sources, said login data being stored on the access server;

contacting by the access server each of said plurality of file sources, one or more of said plurality of file sources having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module periodically gathers lists of recently used files to present to the access server upon contacting the file source by the access server; and

logging into each of said plurality of file sources by the file source wrapper via the login data associated with the file source;

automatically retrieving, from each of said plurality of file sources, information associated with at least one file recently accessed by the user and generating a single unified list of recently accessed files from all of the plurality of file sources wherein the unified list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources; and

generating an optimized interface containing said unified list of recently accessed files automatically retrieved from the plurality of file sources and presenting said optimized interface to the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer code instructions further comprise providing the user with an option of transferring a file in the unified list to a system of the user or to another location.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the list of recently accessed files comprises a list of most recently modified files.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises receiving a list of at least one recently modified or recently created file from the file source.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises:

reading a time of last access for files stored on the file source; and

selecting a file according to its time of last access.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein generating the list of recently accessed files comprises:

determining an application available to the user; and

receiving from the file source a list of at least one file associated with the application.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving changes to a copy of the a file in the unified list; and

transmitting the copy of the file to the file source.

22. A system for providing access to files, the system comprising:

a plurality of file servers storing files and a list of at least one recently accessed file, one or more of said plurality of file servers having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module periodically gathers lists of recently used files; and

an access server configured to;

receive an identifier from a user;

determine a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier received, wherein each login data provides access to at least one of said plurality of file servers, said login data being stored on the access server;

contact each of the plurality of file servers in response to receiving the identifier and automatically log into each of the plurality of file servers by using said login data; and

retrieve the list recently accessed files from the plurality of file servers wherein the list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the access server is further configured to retrieve a file in the unified list from the file server upon receiving a request from the user.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the access server is further configured to provide the user with an option of emailing a file in the unified list to another location.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the file server stores a list of at least one recently used file associated with an application.

26. A method for enabling a user to access and manage files from a plurality of file sources, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier from the user to an access server;

determining, by said access server, a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier received, wherein each login data provides access to at least one of a plurality of file sources, one or more of said plurality of file sources having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module periodically gathers lists of recently used files to present to the access server upon contacting the file source by the access server;

contacting at least two file sources by the access server and logging into each file source by the file source wrapper module via the login data associated with each file source;

retrieving, from each of said two file sources, information associated with at least one file recently accessed by the user; and

generating a unified list of recently accessed files from the at least two file sources wherein the unified list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising presenting the user with an option of faxing a file in the unified list.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating a customized interface containing the unified list of recently accessed files.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein generating the unified list comprises receiving a list of recently used files from a file source.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein generating the unified list comprises:

determining an application available to the user; and

receiving from a file source a list of at least one file associated with the application.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising presenting to the user a startup screen which includes a visual display representing the list of recently accessed files.

32. A computer program product, stored on a computer readable medium, and including computer executable instructions for controlling a processor to provide access to enable a user to access and manage files from a plurality of file sources, the instructions comprising:

receiving an identifier from the user to an access server;

determining, by said access server, a plurality of login data associated with the user based on the identifier received, wherein each login data provides access to at least one of a plurality of file sources, one or more of said plurality of file sources having a file source wrapper module residing thereon, wherein the file source wrapper module periodically gathers lists of recently used files to present to the access server upon contacting the file source by the access server;

contacting at least two file sources by the access server and logging into each file source by the file source wrapper module via the login data associated with each file source;

retrieving, from each of said two file sources, information associated with at least one file recently accessed by the user; and

generating a unified list of recently accessed files from the at least two file sources wherein the unified list of recently accessed files is based on the user'"'"'s previous activities collected across the plurality of file sources.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the computer code instructions further comprise providing the user with an option of viewing a file in the unified list.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer code instructions further comprise generating a customized interface containing the unified list of recently accessed files.

35. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein generating the unified list of recently accessed files comprises:

determining an application available to the user; and

receiving from the file source a list of at least one file associated with the application.

36. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving changes to a copy of a file in the unified list; and

transmitting the copy of the file to the file source.

37. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the instructions further comprise presenting to the user a startup screen displaying the unified list.